Faith-Based Parks?

http://www.peer.org/press/524.html

PARK SERVICE STICKS WITH BIBLICAL EXPLANATION FOR GRAND CANYON
Promised Legal Review on Creationist Book Is Shelved

Washington, DC — The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand
by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by
Noah’s flood rather than by geologic forces, according to internal
documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER).

Despite telling members of Congress and the public that the legality and
appropriateness of the National Park Service offering a creationist book
for sale at Grand Canyon museums and bookstores was “under review at the
national level by several offices,” no such review took place, according
to materials obtained by PEER under the Freedom of Information Act.
Instead, the real agency position was expressed by NPS spokesperson
Elaine Sevy as quoted in the Baptist Press News:

“Now that the book has become quite popular, we don’t want to
remove it.”

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 late February, Barna crafted a draft letter to concerned
members of Congress stating: “We hope to have a final decision on the
book in March 2004.” That draft was rewritten in June and finally sent
out to Congressional representatives with no completion date for the
review at all;
* NPS Headquarters did not respond to a January 25th memo from its
own top geologists charging that sale of the book violated agency
policies and undercut its scientific education programs;
* The Park Service ignored a letter of protest signed by the
presidents of seven scientific societies on December 16, 2003.

“Promoting creationism in our national parks is just as wrong as
promoting it in our public schools,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff
Ruch, “If the Bush Administration is using public resources for
pandering to Christian fundamentalists, it should at least have the
decency to tell the truth about it.”

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.

Washington, DC - The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand
by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by
Noah’s flood rather than by geologic forces, according to internal
documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER).