Sun
Jun 10 2007
09:20 am

Local residents oppose a planned "Bible Park USA" theme park in Rutherford County near Nashville, citing concerns about noise, congestion, pollution, property values, and the project not being compatible with the rural setting.

According to the The New York Times, opposition began before the plans were even made public, which has put the developer, SafeHarbor Holding of NYC, on the defensive.

The Murfreesboro Daily News Journal has a project fact sheet circulated by the developer of the proposed theme park.

A developer-sponsored bill passed in the state legislature clears the way for the county to setup a tourist development zone and use taxpayer funds to help pay for the project. The governor has not signed it and says he is still studying it.

Meanwhile, the financially ailing Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando was taken over by the Trinity Broadcast Network just this week. Trinity plans to locate broadcast facilities for a newly acquired TV station there, and setup "back lot" sets for movie and music video production similar to Universal Studios except a "smaller, faith-based version of that". The theme park enjoys tax exempt status because the previous and new owners are nonprofit religious organizations.

The folks in Rutherford County might want to consider the prospects of a religious theme park there given the fact that a theme park that doesn't even have to pay taxes apparently can't make it in Orlando, the international tourist mecca and home of Disney World and Universal Studios among others.

This also raises the question of whether taxpayer funds should be used to build religious facilities, and whether mega-dollar theme parks should be tax exempt depending on their theme.

CathyMcCaughan's picture

where exactly?

I looked at the fact sheet but my sense of direction gene is absent and I don't understand where they are talking about building this monstrous joke. Is it near the battlefield? The campus? Or the massive strip malls?

Carole Borges's picture

Developers vs Rubes?

In another NYT interview (link...)
this woman felt it was an insult to the locals.

“A lot of people think this is a big boy who’s come in to a small town, and he’s pulling the wool over our eyes and feeding us a line, and hopes the Tennessee hillbilly people don’t catch on,” said Melissa Batey, who lives on a nearby farm that has been in her husband’s family for 200 years."

R. Neal's picture

Somewhere near SR840 and

where exactly?

Somewhere near SR840 and Beesley Rd. Here's the general vicinity...

CathyMcCaughan's picture

no way

That looks much too close to the Civil War site since people like to leisurely ride their bikes through the area and farmers STILL dig up bullets, buttons and other pieces of the past. Keep in mind that that area of Tn is also home to a nudist colony.

Rachel's picture

I thought the nudist colony

I thought the nudist colony was up on the plateau. That's nowhere near Murfresboro.

Carole Borges's picture

Gee Cathy that does make the mind reel

Visions of athletic people wheeling bicycles along a road littered with Civil War artifacts while every now and then glancing through a thicket where buck-naked men and women are playing a serious game of volleyball. And there along the tops of the trees, the looming Tower of Babble...gee what a picturesque part of the state that Rutherford County turns out to be!

CathyMcCaughan's picture

I think things are a teeny

I think things are a teeny bit more spread out than that but imagine the roller coaster of apocalypse overlooking it all.

SammySkull's picture

What are the chances that

What are the chances that any opposition will be turned into anti christian agenda?

Rachel's picture

What are the chances that

What are the chances that any opposition will be turned into anti christian agenda?

Pretty much zero.

What are the chances that it'll be portrayed that way?

Pretty high.

talidapali's picture

oh boy did you ...

nail that one.

The most likely opposition will be to using taxpayer funds to support and build this religious theme-park. Separation of church and state you know...and the taxpayers of Rutherford County are gonna get rooked if they have to not only pay for this project, but then afterwards it will pay no taxes, being a "non-profit, religious organization" like the one in Florida. But if anyone protests it, they'll be called anti-Christian bigots.

_________________________________________________________

"You can't fix stupid..." ~ Ron White"

"I never said I wasn't a brat..." ~ Talidapali

Carole Borges's picture

There are times when it's better to be called anti-Christian

Christians like all other groups contain the good, the bad, and the ugly. When they're being ugly, I have no qualms about saying so. Given a choice, I'd rather be thought of as anti-Christian than to cowtow to herd mentality and be shown as a total fool.

Lindaw's picture

Jesus still loves you!!!

Jesus still loves you!!!

Andy Axel's picture

TBogg _______________________

TBogg

____________________________

I'm a guy in a Reagan mask -- and I'm running for President!

bizgrrl's picture

Creation Museum in Kentucky

There seems to be a trend.

Despite the showmanship behind the $27 million museum opening tomorrow, the evangelists who put it together contend that none of the gleaming exhibits are allegorical. God did create the universe in six days, they say, and the earth is about 6,000 years old.

The Orlando Sentinel reports (registraton required), More than 20 years ago, he helped create the Jaws and King Kong rides at Universal Studios Orlando. Today, Marsh is the chief designer of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., a high-tech, $27 million theme park built to illustrate -- and prove -- the truth of the biblical origins of the Earth.

redmondkr's picture

I once read that students at

I once read that students at Oral Roberts University called it "Six Flags Over Jesus". A check with Google suggests that the phrase is commonly used to describe any ostentatious display used in the Holierthanthouist faith.


Come See Us at

The Hill Online

lovable liberal's picture

Tax free

It's really bad public policy when theme parks are tax exempt just because they call themselves religious. It's the kind of nonsense that leads to L. Ron Hubbard.

Liberty and justice for all.

Factchecker's picture

Thank you, fearless one!!!

Well, that's some consolation to the polls, I guess.

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