Quote:
THE GRAND CANYON'S AGE
How old? Well, the official stance on that question when asked of the National Park Service – a federal agency supported by our tax dollars! – is that they don't know! That's a lie. They do know, but they're not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. This is a direct, illegal, catering to the creationist nuts.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) report that despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book – "Grand Canyon: A Different View" – claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces – no review has ever been done, and that book, a creationist book production, remains on sale at the park. That review was promised three years ago. Says PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch:
In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology. It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is "no comment."
In August of 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale of the book at park bookstores at the Grand Canyon. The book claims that the canyon developed on a Biblical, rather than an evolutionary, time scale. The National Park Service Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. To explain, NPS Chief of Communications David Barna told reporters and members of Congress that there would be a high-level policy review of the issue. According to a recent NPS response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by PEER, no such review was ever requested, let alone conducted or completed.
I find it interesting that records now 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. Ironically, in 2005, two years after the Grand Canyon creationist controversy erupted, the Park Service approved a new directive on "Interpretation and Education (Director's Order #6)" which reinforces the posture of the NPS. Ruling 8.4.2, titled "Historical and Scientific Research," states:
Superintendents, historians, scientists, and interpretive staff are responsible for ensuring that park interpretive and educational programs and media are accurate and reflect current scholarship…Questions often arise round the presentation of geological, biological, and evolutionary processes. The interpretive and educational treatment used to explain the natural processes and history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism. The facts, theories, and interpretations to be used will reflect the thinking of the scientific community in such fields as biology, geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and paleontology. Interpretive and educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes. Programs, however, may acknowledge or explain other explanations of natural processes and events.
Come on, folks, this is a faith-based administration which ignores such directives so that religious claptrap may be freely distributed. We gave up democracy only recently, but we'd better get used to doing without it.
How old? Well, the official stance on that question when asked of the National Park Service – a federal agency supported by our tax dollars! – is that they don't know! That's a lie. They do know, but they're not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. This is a direct, illegal, catering to the creationist nuts.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) report that despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book – "Grand Canyon: A Different View" – claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces – no review has ever been done, and that book, a creationist book production, remains on sale at the park. That review was promised three years ago. Says PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch:
In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology. It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is "no comment."
In August of 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale of the book at park bookstores at the Grand Canyon. The book claims that the canyon developed on a Biblical, rather than an evolutionary, time scale. The National Park Service Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. To explain, NPS Chief of Communications David Barna told reporters and members of Congress that there would be a high-level policy review of the issue. According to a recent NPS response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by PEER, no such review was ever requested, let alone conducted or completed.
I find it interesting that records now 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. Ironically, in 2005, two years after the Grand Canyon creationist controversy erupted, the Park Service approved a new directive on "Interpretation and Education (Director's Order #6)" which reinforces the posture of the NPS. Ruling 8.4.2, titled "Historical and Scientific Research," states:
Superintendents, historians, scientists, and interpretive staff are responsible for ensuring that park interpretive and educational programs and media are accurate and reflect current scholarship…Questions often arise round the presentation of geological, biological, and evolutionary processes. The interpretive and educational treatment used to explain the natural processes and history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism. The facts, theories, and interpretations to be used will reflect the thinking of the scientific community in such fields as biology, geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and paleontology. Interpretive and educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes. Programs, however, may acknowledge or explain other explanations of natural processes and events.
Come on, folks, this is a faith-based administration which ignores such directives so that religious claptrap may be freely distributed. We gave up democracy only recently, but we'd better get used to doing without it.
