“Evolution has falsely become the foundation of our society. We need the studio to advocate Genesis across this land in order to remove this falsehood which presently is destroying the church foundation.”

Was this quote from some whack job in fundie land? Sadly, no.

A UK charity, AH Trust, plans to build its version of the Creation Museum across the pond, a “Christian

Theme Park” with a 5,000-seat television studio where the group can produce and show family-friendly religious films. And the above quote was in its report on the plans for the theme park. Here’s a description of the facilities:

In the Evenings, the television studio will be used:

Saturday – Invite 5,000 people to watch the recording of a television show. Thursday – Musical Concerts and drama sketches.

Sunday  afternoon  will be an opportunity   for  Church Leaders  to hold a service in the Studio which will be recorded  free of charge and broadcasted on National Television.     This will also provide  trainees the  necessary  training to  produce DVDs,  and help  train them to meet the Television Broadcasting Companies demand for high quality recordings.

One thing you won’t find anywhere on the site, and it isn’t particularly surprising, is the usual homophobic or ex-gay conversion nonsense you might normally see on a stateside project like this. The facilities and services will be open to both the general public and all  church dominations denominations.

Below the fold is the reaction of some who don’t think that England will see a rise in Christian fundamentalism.  The reaction of Liz Jepson, an organizer with theMediaNet, a group for Christians working in the media there about the planned venture:

Creationists were generally viewed by the British religious mainstream as “lunatics,” she said, and the charity would likely have trouble attracting audiences.

“Who’s going to go to that thing?” Jepson asked. “People who want their views supported or those people who want a laugh?”

Don’t laugh, honey. No one took the fundies seriously here and look what happened. They’ve overrun the GOP. And it appears they are getting organized in Europe as well.

Hanne Stinson, head of the British Humanist Association, said Wednesday he was surprised at how much attention creationism had received in the past few years.

In part, he put this down to a growing distrust of science among some people, and he said there was a need to improve the teaching of science in schools.

Also, some Christian groups were becoming increasingly organized, as well as being very well funded.

“There’s an increase in how vocal religious groups are getting,” he said. “Ten years ago, people didn’t discuss religion at all.”

Mark my words, ignore these folks at your own peril.