Ken Ham, the creator of the Ark Encounter theme park, claims 'intolerant athiests' and 'secularists' are trying to undermine the Kentucky attraction.

Ham has written a long blog post outlining his complaints against the way the media has covered the Ark, which opened in July 2016.

The attraction aims to portray the story of the flood as literal historical fact and has been the subject of much mainstream media interest.

Ham says articles which claim the park is failing are wrong. In the blog on the young earth creationist group Answers In Genesis website, he claims that 'reporters generally do very poor or lazy research, they will actually make things up for their agenda purposes'.

He takes particular aim at the Lexington Herald Leader, saying the newspaper, 'has been known for antagonism toward anything Christian, and AiG has experienced this agenda from the paper over the years, what's occurred here is yet another example of its anti-Christian bias'.

The park has been dogged by controversy since its inception. Critics have queried the tax exemptions given to it, as well as the need for such a costly project in the first place. Some Christians have opposed the park and the way it has been funded.

Answers in Genesis is the most prominent young earth creationist organisation with partners around the world. It has been heavily criticised by scientists for promoting anti-scientific methods.