UPDATE: "Laugh or else" is a category that ought to only be used by people with a sense of humor. All others just stay clear. Apparently poking fun at Ark hunters qualifies me as an angry, Bible rejecting heretic. Well, I'd like to thank all the little people who made this possible...

Since we're talking about religion and science, let's see what Baptists are up to.

It has to make you feel good that Liberty University- practically a Southern Baptist School and the recipient of thousands of dollars and students from trusting Southern Baptists- has employed its very own Indiana Jones, who is off to do guess what?

Guess. Really. Guess.

Thank you. Find Noah's Ark.

A Kurdish shepherd told the ark hunters that he had seen the ark, and even climbed on top of it, when he was a boy.

The team hypothesizes that the ark is preserved in several pieces beneath a glacier on the mountain, and every so often the glacier recedes, exposing part of the vessel.

"That's when he saw it as a boy," Price said, adding that they had interviewed the shepherd and could find no reason to distrust him.

The shepherd asked for nothing in return, and agreed to lead Bright to the site where he said he had seen the ark.

Bright first climbed to the site in September. Then a team including Price, the shepherd, a mountaineer and several others made a follow-up ascent to 15,000 feet later the same month.

They found the spot, Price said, but it now is covered by an estimated 60-foot-deep pile of boulders. Price believes the landslide may have resulted from attacks against Kurdish rebels on the mountain, or perhaps from explosives that were set off to cover up the ark.

Wow. The chills are going up my spine. Almost like the first time I watched "The Search for Noah's Ark" on tv.

Somewhere in the archives around here is a box of "Bible teaching" material that I've quietly managed to not use. Donated materials. Inherited material. And there's no less than three videos on the "search" for Noah's Ark in that box. There must be a convention somewhere of Ark hunters. The Omaha Holiday Inn? Somewhere.

It's under a glacier. Jimmy Carter may have seen it. A Russian princess wore a piece of it around her neck. One resident climbed on it with his father, and saw stalls. It's been seen by satellites, and pilots. It's petrified. It's in pieces. It's down. It's up. It's in pieces. Every different sighting is different piece. (Bet you didn't know that.)

It's evangelicals' version of Nessie and Sasquatch is what it is. Plus, it's a great way to set your kids up to dump their Christianity as well. Two for the price of one.

My favorite section in bold.

Price estimated that the team needs to raise about $60,000 to pay for permission to use the site, to buy the necessary machinery and to fund about two months of work on location.

Bright said a discovery would "mean so much to so many, many people worldwide."

"Keep your ear to the road, so to speak, this summer," he said. "Because there will be discovery. The only thing that's holding us back is to finance the machinery that we need."

I don't know about keeping your ear to the road, but I'd keep my eye on my wallet. I have a feeling some of that $60,000 may wind up in the local Turkish economy. (If you don't get this, read Bruce Feiller's Walking the Bible and his experiences with the locals on Mt. Ararat.)

What would mean a lot to some people is one more television documentary and one more book for sale to a few thousand evangelicals.

I don't know anyone whose faith journey is waiting for a chunk of wood with "Noah was here" carved on the side to be finally judged as worthwhile.

In fact, this sort of "prove the Bible" mentality does an outright disservice to the discussion of the Bible's truthfulness and authority. If you aren't saying you have to have scientific evidence to judge that the story is truly inspired by God, then what are you saying.

I see that Mr. Price gets a check from the good Baptists at Liberty University as director of their Judaic Studies department. I'm sure Jewish scholars everywhere want to get that address.

Well, to all of those who are willing to donate the $60,000 for Dr. Jones....uh Mr. Price to go Ark hunting, I'd like to suggest you send the money to me. I could actually use the money to relieve my school of my salary, live modestly and allow me to teach the Bible to my students for several years. If you need a piece of Noah's Ark, I can probably come up with something equally impressive as Mr. Price. God may have shown me that some of the old lumber in our barn came from the Ark. Or was it the temple? I forget.

It's good to know that Liberty University is continuing the quality of evangelical scholarship we've come to expect from Baptist fundamentalists. Who says America's conservative Bible believers haven't created a great university?