Just when you thought it couldn't get more surreal

[pecunium]

Did you know the Grand Canyon is an artifact of the Noachian flood? Me neither.

But if you want the details on how that glorious ditch was formed, you can read all about it in Grand Canyon: A Different View, by Tom Vail.

"Where," I hear your breathless cries, "can I get a copy of this wonderful tome, full of wit and wisdom?"

At the visitor centers of the National Park Service.

It seems it somehow ended up on the shelves, and in response to protest, according to Peer News... nothing happend.

"In August of 2003, Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, by Tom Vail, a book explaining how the park’s central feature developed on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time scale. NPS Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. To quiet the resulting furor, NPS Chief of Communications David Barna told reporters that there would be a high-level policy review, distributing talking points stating: “We hope to have a final decision in February [2004].” In fact, the promised review never occurred

In an interview with The Baptist Press News NPS spokesperson Elaine Sevy said, “Now that the book has become quite popular, we don’t want to remove it.” Which is the sort of thing any author wants to hear.

Me, I happen to want to hear that the National Parks Service is teaching truth. Not "T"ruth, which is unknowable (are we to hear about the Lammanites in Zion? Shall the Elephants, standing on turtles; all the way down, also be taught?) but simple science. Theories, even hypothosies; things which can be tested, and falsified.

But nope... this is not going to happen. The link to PEER has other links to .pdfs of documents in the dispute., but for now... Your tax dollars are buying these books, so they can be resold, and save you money, on taxes. They are rubbish, but hey... we're saving money, and that's what it's all about, right?

Comments

[ketzl.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I don't really get TOO bugged about the NPS gift store having a book in it that promotes such virulent BS as Noah's flood creating the Grand Canyon. The end of the article you linked to, though, has the following paragraph:

The creationist book is not the only religious controversy at Grand Canyon National Park. One week prior to the approved sale of Grand Canyon: A Different View, NPS Deputy Director Donald Murphy ordered that bronze plaques bearing Psalm verses be returned and reinstalled at canyon overlooks. Superintendent Alston had removed the bronze plaques on legal advice from Interior Department solicitors. Murphy also wrote a letter of apology to the plaques’ sponsors, the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. PEER has collected other instances of what it calls the Bush Administration’s “Faith-Based Parks” agenda.

I expect to encounter all sorts of crap in a gift store, but when I'm trying to enjoy Nature's splendor I don't want to be evangelized by the Government, thank you. What's next then, creche scenes in Carlsbad caverns? Jesus hanging on the cross atop Mt Rushmore?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Actually, I find the book more offensive. The Plaques are a nuisance, but they aren't presented as science, or explanation, just inspiration.

TK

[ketzl.livejournal.com]

The book is just one book among many, but the plaques stand out all by themselves. If there were other plaques from other religions and non-religious sources then it would bug me less.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

I love my country, but my government is in the hands of pinheads.

[(Anonymous)]

I can imagine these books being quite popular. It's exactly the kind of weird "can-you-belive-it" stuff people buy in gift stores. If they don't buy silly hats.

inge