That is a crazy idea, but the story is even more absurd than that.

The commonly repeated time is 40 days (much like how people say there were 3 wise men during the birth of Jesus when really it’s not specified). The truth is that while it rained for 40 days they were on the boat much, much longer.

On top of those 40 days it took 7 days to load the animals, 5 months of sailing on the flooded world, 5 months for the waters to recede and additional time for the land to dry enough to walk on it.

In total it comes to 1 year and 10 days aboard the ark.

And these animals were supposedly cared for by a single family of Noah, his (nameless) wife, his three sons and their (nameless) wives. Who then incestually repopulated the world following God’s “grace” of biocide…

What I’d like to know is what the animals (including the people) ate once they got off the ark. There would be no vegetation left after such a cataclysm (that creationists claim created the Grand Canyon) and definitely no animals.

Oh, and they also claim the millions of different types of insects weren’t aboard the ark and they happily floated around on mats made of plants.

And what happened to the fish that were fresh water fish and then had to survive in salt water when the oceans flooded their lakes and rivers?

Simply stunning that people believe such nonsense.

And most Christians are not outright trying to ban the teaching of evolution. Most of the major sects have said evolution is ok to believe in. It is annoying to take a segment of a population, and use their position to brand the entire population with a stereotype.

Except that Irish guys don’t step forward to remind me that all true Irish guys are alcoholic wife beaters.

You can’t say that fundamentalist young-earth creationist wackaloons who were surprised not to be raptured last month, are a stereotype. They are real people, and they are Christians. The other followers of Christ can distance themselves from them (which they are not doing), or be ridiculed along with them.

“Professor Emeritus John Bradshaw from Monash University talks about ghosts, miracles, religion and he also takes a light-hearted look at certain practical problems in theology. All this was inspired by a visit to a dentist.”

mp3:
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2011/05/orr_20110508.mp3

Transcript:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2011/3208808.htm#transcript

And most Christians are not outright trying to ban the teaching of evolution. Most of the major sects have said evolution is ok to believe in. It is annoying to take a segment of a population, and use their position to brand the entire population with a stereotype.

The overlap between the Noah’s Ark segment of Christianity and the Don’t Teach Evolution segment of Christianity must be close to 100%. How many mainstream Christians do you know who believe that Noah crated up every species on the planet and saved them from a flood?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6675381.stm

Is it powered by faith in sea currents?

The earlier poster’s implicit point that this is getting much more criticism here at BoingBoing because it’s Christian-themed than it would be if it were almost any other religion cannot seriously be argued with. I assume you have no idea whatsoever whether the creator of this ark wants evolution taught in schools. Perhaps I’m wrong, and I’m happy to be corrected if that’s the case

It is the duty of moderate and rational Christians to stand up against the power of ignorant Christian groups to mislead and miseducate our children. I know they must be out there, but how many Christians are out there fighting the fight to teach real information in schools as opposed to junky theology which can be debunked using logic alone? Sadly not enough.

If moderate Christians don’t want to be tarred with the same brush, then they have to be more vocal in distancing themselves from the actions and opinions of extremists. If the teaching of evolution makes it harder for extremely religious parents to feed their creationist lies to their children then good. If their arguments don’t hold water then they are wrong.

What is the value of that point when such criticism is to be expected? The majority of BB regulars probably hail from societies based on christo-judaic values. The majoirty of BB readers have an interest in critical thinking. It therefore stands to reason that this will recieve criticism on BB. To suggest the BB readership does not criticise the retarded beliefs of other religions is simply not true. Comments about virgins in the sky are plentiful in posts about idiocy relating to Islam.

You did make that 100% figure up, right?

Where would you get such data? There is no way it exists, so all we can do is guess. “must be” is the qualifier that signifies he was speculating. In any case do you disagree with his assertion? Why? I agree that it is likely those who believe Noah’s Ark is a literal description of a real-life event would also tend to believe that the earth is 6000 years old and humans walked the earth at the same time as dinosaurs. What makes you think otherwise?

But maybe, like the Tardis, Noah’s Ark was bigger on the inside.

Also, technically there were 7 each of the “clean animals” and 2 each of the “unclean” so they would have to cram a little bit more into that little boat. Another thing, they were to survive for all that time on five each of the “clean” animals, that is also pretty hard to swallow, ow.

I wonder how many Jews take it literally…

@teapot re: “how many Christians are out there fighting the fight to teach real information in schools.”

I dunno, but I do remember my science teacher being an Irish Catholic and she taught evolution in High School.(in Kansas, even!)

Personally I have spent hours arguing with people on the issue – hopefully influencing lurkers. I have been toying with writing a paper that is sort of a primer on evolution and how it can play nicely just fine with religion. But as a home schooler, I have seen the ‘science’ books with ‘apologetic’ sections. :o(

re: “If moderate Christians don’t want to be tarred with the same brush,”

You could say that about any population that has negative stereotypes. If I were to say all blacks are thugs and theives, or all Irish are drunk wife beaters, or all Asians are bad drivers I would not only be incorrect, but condemned for branding those populations as such.

The real kicker: they´re building it on dry land, and plan to get massive tax exemptions.