"Caesar demands a building permit."
It may have been built with heavenly intentions, but a judge has ruled that the creationism theme park known as Dinosaur Adventure Land still must obey earthly laws.
Escambia County authorities this week locked up a museum building at the theme park on North Palafox Street in Pensacola after Circuit Judge Michael Allen ruled the owners were in contempt of court.
Owners of the park, which shows how dinosaurs may have roamed the Earth just a few thousand years ago, did not obtain a building permit before constructing the building in 2002. They have argued in and out of court that it violates their "deeply held" religious beliefs, and that the church-run facility does not have to obtain permits.
After almost four years of litigation, the judge disagreed and said the county has the authority to close the building until the owners comply with regulations.
The judge also fined two church leaders $500 each per day for every day the building is used or occupied. If church officials continue to refuse to comply with local ordinances, the judge may decide that the building can be razed, Allen's ruling said.
County commissioners showed no sympathy to members of the Creation Science Evangelism ministry who spoke out Thursday night at a commission meeting about the county's actions.
"Scripture also says 'Render unto Caesar what Caesar demands.' And right now, Caesar demands a building permit," County Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead said.
A building permit and inspection by county authorities is vital to ensuring the theme park is safe for the thousands of people who reportedly visit the park and museum every year, Whitehead said.
Church leader Kent Hovind vowed to appeal the case.
"We will continue our legal fight," Hovind said Thursday.
"This is pure religious persecution," said Glen Stoll, who works closely with Hovind on legal issues.
Legal questions are nothing new for Dinosaur Adventure Land and the leaders of the church group that operates it:
· In 2004, The Internal Revenue Service raided Hovind's home and businesses. Agents said Hovind had failed to pay taxes. That case is pending, and federal attorneys declined to comment about it.
· While the building permit case was in court, the ownership of the theme park was transferred to Stoll, who resides in Washington State, according to court papers. Stoll has been investigated at least twice by federal authorities, court records show.
Last year, the U.S. attorney in Seattle filed a lawsuit against Stoll, charging him with promoting a scheme encouraging people to avoid paying taxes by claiming to be religious entities, according to news reports.
Oh, the patriots, who payeth not their taxes and care less for thine safety when visiting dinosaur-land to see what a trickster good old Jehovah is to hide those fake dinosaur bones!
Have these guys ever heard of Loki?
Via Pharyngula.
Posted by binky at May 8, 2006 10:00 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Science"Scripture also says 'Render unto Caesar what Caesar demands.' And right now, Caesar demands a building permit," County Commission Chairman Mike Whitehead said.
O to be the one who came up with that brilliant line.
Posted by: moon at May 9, 2006 03:34 PM | PERMALINKThe frightening part is that they probably really believe that they are being persecuted. Think about how far outside reality their worldview is.
Thanks for this, it made me laugh.
Mike
Posted by: mikevotes at May 9, 2006 06:26 PM | PERMALINKIt's easy to feel persecuted when the whole world seems to be laughing at the things you and your community take most seriously. I'm not sure why you'd call that "frightening"; it's basic human nature. It'll also be basic human nature when they try to get the right to practice religion without criticism enshrined as a "fundamental human right", as the more extreme corners of the Vatican are already trying to do. That might deserve the label "frightening".
Posted by: jacflash at May 9, 2006 07:56 PM | PERMALINKIt's easy to feel persecuted when there's a media blitz to convince you that you are persecuted.
That's the thing that gets me about this whole thing. The mentality that I grew up with as a christian was to feel superior, and to look down on non-christians (including "non-christians" like catholics and greek orthodox). And the superiority was definitely tied to being the dominant group. It was just a matter of fact. Other groups could convert, conform, or be invisible.
As with other privileged groups threatened with equality movements that make them one among many (see the MRA stuff), rather than recognize the urge not to live under oppressive hegemonic power, the tendency to self-construct as victim is strong.
I always get an image out of something like the Christmas Story, with the big mean snot nosed kids, who pick on the little kids. It's like finally one day the little kid doesn't give over the lunch money, and the bully cries that he is being persecuted.
And for an appropriate graphic to the original post, go check out Ryan's photo.
Posted by: binky at May 9, 2006 10:56 PM | PERMALINKTo the extent that I "grew up Christian", it was a very different vibe -- my parents' church was (and is) a wealthy New England parish, where there wasn't much sense of religious superiority but there was plenty of talk about duty to those less fortunate, coupled with general reminders (to those who might already consider themselves plenty superior for reasons having nothing to do with religion) to remember the humanity of everyone else.
It was all very Yankee, in a not-overly-obnoxious sort of way. At times the Jesus bit seemed almost incidental.
Posted by: jacflash at May 10, 2006 07:47 AM | PERMALINKThe other thing worth mentioning is that, of course, my parents' Episcopalianism is definitely a minority religion in that corner of the world. How the Catholic institutions in RI and MA handle threats to their hegemony would be an interesting discussion, but this probably isn't the space for it.
Posted by: jacflash at May 10, 2006 08:33 AM | PERMALINK