Friday, June 01, 2007

Non-Religious "Bible Park U.S.A"?

Huh?

Pardon me, but how in the world can you think to have a Bible Amusement park that won't be religious? Well that is what an investment group is hoping to accomplish in Tennesee.

...the park would feature Bible stories as part of a cultural history, “with the quality of Disney World and the size of Dollywood.” Entrance will be through the “Gates of Jericho” (presumably depicted prior to Joshua’s fanfare). There will be a pastoral “Garden of Eden” with a Tree of Life and a Tree of Knowledge (no word on Adam and Eve’s wardrobe). Populated with actors dressed as animals, there will be a play area with Noah’s ark for children. A movie about the Exodus will be shown on a “water screen” where Moses will stand before the flames of the burning bush.
Of course it will have the New Testament theme area as well.

What is so mind boggling is that they claim the park will be "non-denominational and non-evangelical".

They are trying to stress the point that:
...the project is a “family-friendly education and entertainment park.” “If you want a religious perspective on the park, you will come with your minister,” Bar-Tur added.
Yeah, we are going to use your Bible, you dumb Christians, to make a buck because it's just a story book anyway, right? We think it's okay to make a mockery of your Holy Book. All we care about is "show me the money".

Gee, I wonder how this idea would fair if they wanted to do this with the Koran?

Michael Linton who is head of the Division of Music Theory and Composition at Middle Tennessee State University had this to say:
A New York investment fund builds a Bible Park square on the buckle of the Bible Belt. Just as they hope to profit from folks interested in rock ‘n’ roll with their Myrtle Beach funland, here they hope to profit from folks interested in the Bible. But folks are interested in the Bible because they are religious and find religious answers to religious questions in this religious book. Yet the Bible park isn’t religious; that would be bad for business, because it would jeopardize the state subsidy (remember those “lower-risk, higher-reward investment opportunities”). So the holy stories are presented as secular “history” by costumed archeologists as its evangelists.

But these “historic” stories from the Bible are presented in ways that are not only ahistoric but also religiously so goofy that only Monty Python could do them critical justice.
What do you think?