From the article:
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By Kimberly Edds
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 20, 2004; Page A17
Visitors to the Grand Canyon won't be able to find a U.S. park ranger
who will tell them the chasm was created as a result of the very same
flood that threatened to drown Noah and sink his ark, but they can
walk away from the park souvenir shop with a book that tells that
version of how the canyon came to be.
The book, "Grand Canyon: A Different View," compiled by Colorado River
guide Tom Vail, hit park bookshelves in August and includes
breathtaking views of the canyon along with a collection of essays by
two dozen other creationists who maintain the canyon is just over a
few thousand years old. While no one disputes that the photographs
capture the park's beauty, some critics want the pro-creationist book
pulled from park bookshelves because it flies in the face of what they
say is the park's mission: to teach science.
According to geologists, the rocks in the deepest part of the canyon
are as much as 2 billion years old and the canyon itself was created
about 6 million years ago when the Colorado River slowly carved
through the layers over thousands of years.
Vail and his fellow creationists argue that all science is theory and
say their theory is just as valid as current geological theories.
"Young Earth creationists" say the rocks were formed by deposits from
the flood told of in Genesis and the canyon itself was cut when a lake
broke its natural dam and cut through the rock in just a few days.
Last month, the heads of seven national geological organizations sent
a letter to Joseph Alston, superintendent of Grand Canyon National
Park, expressing concern that visitors might see the sale of the book
as an endorsement of a religious idea by the park and urging him to
remove it from park shelves.
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Read the rest at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29972-2004Jan19.html
J. Spaceman
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