Contrary to a widely held view, the Grand Canyon was formed by Noah’s Flood. Yes, it must be true because it says so in a book. And this book is being sold at the Grand Canyon at the direction of Bush appointees according to PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Washington, DC-Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
One is immediately reminded of efforts by certain parts of the military to promote religion.
But rest assured that there is good reason to institute this policy. In doing this, the Park Service hopes to avoid being offensive to our fundamentalist friends.
“In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’”
Apparently, offending those who hold scienficically-based views was of little concern.
And so the spinning began. But spinning is perhaps an understatement.
Park officials have defended the decision to approve the sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, claiming that park bookstores are like libraries, where the broadest range of views are displayed. In fact, however, both law and park policies make it clear that the park bookstores are more like schoolrooms rather than libraries. As such, materials are only to reflect the highest quality science and are supposed to closely support approved interpretive themes. Moreover, unlike a library the approval process is very selective. Records released to PEER show that during 2003, Grand Canyon officials rejected 22 books and other products for bookstore placement while approving only one new sale item-the creationist book.
But why stop here. One employee suggested other fertile ground.
“As one park geologist said, this is equivalent of Yellowstone National Park selling a book entitled Geysers of Old Faithful: Nostrils of Satan,” Ruch added,…
PEER’s letter to the NPS director is here.
The NPS admission that no review of the book took place is seen here.
The NPS director’s order on interpretation is seen here.
History of the controversy is seen here.
More about the administration’s faith-based parks is seen here.
Contact information for the NPS is here, where you can state your considerable disgust.
While the rest of the world forges ahead with stem cell research, stricter environmental laws and other progressive ideas this country is literally being dragged back into the Dark Ages.
We are not only going to be seen as a country of warmongers but also seen as the laughingstock of the free world faster than you can say Noah’s Flood.
The infestation of fundamentalist whacko’s in this administration is almost like having a plague of biblical proportions foisted on the rest of us who really do live in the real world…not the one that is only about 6 thousand years old.
This particular antic was mentioned in the excellent 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Fight The Right, which is where I read about it.
50 Simple Things only covered the fact that this . . . well, I’ll call it a book, that’s what it’s closest to in the real world — the fact that this book is being sold at the park bookstore, though. The rest of the information fills in some of the blanks. And of course, the fact that a story like this has been reported before doesn’t make it any less of an indication that we are indeed living in Backwards World.
is almost over.
I don’t think that we’re on the winning side.
Despite the fact that it is featured here, on DKos, and HuffPo, this story needs more research. My “garbage in/garbage out” antenna is up.
Not saying the book isn’t being sold–sure it is. But the Park website clearly talks about 2 billion year old rocks.
So we need to find out WHO authorized the book, WHO specifically told the park rangers to obfiscate the geology, and WHO is the fundy who is destroying science at the Grand Canyon.
Remember the political appointee at NASA? He was riding high until he was outed. Then he was fired. THey only go so far, and then hit the brick wall.
Sorry, I’m 2000 miles from the canyon right now. But isn’t there someone over there who can actually get more details than this post?
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The Grand Canyon: A Different View is not about science and we strongly urge that, if it remains available in Grand Canyon bookstores, it be clearly separated from books and materials that do discuss our scientific understanding of Grand Canyon geology …
NOTE: Contrary to what has been reported, the book has always been sold in the “inspirational” section of the bookstores, not in the “natural sciences” section, even though the book is filled with scientific evidence of a Global Flood from many scientists who have Ph.D.’s in the fields of geology, paleontology, biology, physics, and geophysics.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Don’t believe it! I’ve spent a lot of quality time looking at the actual academic credentials of those who say they have those degrees. In some cases, they are degrees from fundy colleges. In others, the degrees are actually non-research degrees in things like “science curriculum” rather than science. Very, very few of them have actually done a research degree.
Give me the names. I’ll give you the “skinny” on their credentials. If someone has never done research, the Ph.D. means nothing. I can tell you a dozen places off the top of my hat that will give you a Ph.D. with a sciency name.
Tom Vail was an executive in a computer company when he decided to “jump ship” and become a tour guide in the Canyon about 25 years ago. He’s not a geologist by any means. He’s been making a fortune on his fundy book and his tours specialized for Creationists for the past decade or so.
This isn’t a new idea. The book first surfaced in 1998 and there was an attempt to ban it in 2003. Why a new story now?
Nothing is as it seems.