Extreme right-wing Christian Nationalist to speak at Ark

An extreme right-wing racist and Christian Nationalist has been invited to speak at Ken Ham’s Ark in October.

On September 4, Ken Ham blogged on speakers/preachers at his upcoming “Answers for Pastors and Leaders” event at the Ark. Several are far-right extremists and Christian Nationalists, but one in particular takes the cake: Tony Perkins, the President of Family Research Council.

Tony Perkins merits not only a Wikipedia page but also an entry in The Encyclopedia of American Loons.

Ham claims he and his ministry, Answers in Genesis, are against racism, in spite of receiving an Allosaurus skeleton valued at $1 million from neo-Confederate and former League of the South Board member Michael Peroutka in 2013 that is on display at the Creation Museum. Perkins makes Peroutka look moderate.

Besides the usual extreme right-wing policies promoted by Perkins, such as attacks on LGBTQ people and their right to marry, he has some astounding racist ties. According to Wikipedia, he has disquieting associations and also paid Klansman David Duke $82,500 for his mailing list while managing a US Senate campaign. See this part of the Wikipedia page:

On May 17, 2001, Perkins gave a speech to the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist group that has described black people as a "retrograde species of humanity". Perkins said he did not know the group's ideology at the time. In an April 26, 2005, article in The Nation, Max Blumenthal reported that while managing the unsuccessful U. S. Senate campaign of Woody Jenkins in 1996, Perkins "paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,500 for his mailing list." Perkins denied knowing about the purchase. A document authorizing the payment was reported to contain Perkins' signature. The incident resurfaced in the local press in 2002, during Perkins' unsuccessful Senate run.

Perhaps Kentucky media could be persuaded to cover this, as the Ark receives $1.825 million per year as part of a sales tax rebate incentive from Kentucky Tourism.

Reprinted and lightly edited with permission from an e-mail circulated by Mr. Phelps.