The Grand Canyon-Creationist Book
Controversy
Articles compiled by Steven Schafersman
for the Bad Geology Website
for the Bad Geology Website
Grand Canyon: A Different View
A book by Tom Vail
http://www.canyonministries.com/page10.html
For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years. Then I met the Lord. Now, I have "a different view" of the Canyon, which, according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than about a few thousand years old. Come and view the Grand Canyon with 23 creation scientists and theologians from around the world. This 10" X 8", 104 page hard cover book is filled with informative essays and stunning photos, many by Canyon guide Charly Heavenrich. Grand Canyon, a different view will take your breath away, stimulate your imagination and presents the facts about the Grand Canyon from a Biblical perspective. Though educational enough for a home school book, it is equally beautiful as a gift or coffee table book.
What do some of the contributors say about the Grand Canyon?
It is not just an icon of beauty. It is a solemn witness to the mighty power of God. -- Dr. Henry Morris
The Grand Canyon is one of the greatest memorials of God's work that we possess. If only the Christian church took God at His Word, it could be used as one of the great reminders of His power. -- Ken Ham
The Bible says that the evidence of God's existence is seen in the things that He has made, and I confirm that in my studies as a scientist.-- Dr. Andrew Snelling
Where did the Grand Canyon itself come from? The Flood may have stacked the rock like a giant layer cake, but what cut the cake? One thing is sure: the Colorado River did not do it.-- Dr. Gary Parker
Man continues to marvel at the monument God has left. The Canyon is a testimony of our Lord's judgment and mercy.-- Dr. Kurt Wise
And what does Dr. Carl Wieland, CEO, Answers in Genesis, Australia, and editor of Creation Magazine, say about the book? "It is an absolutely STUNNING product. I am VERY EXCITED about it, truly."
The book can be ordered for $16.99 plus $3.50 for S&H.
Religion on Display in National Parks
Christian Fundamentalist Influence on Park Service Decisions
"Faith-Based Parks" Decried
For Immediate Release: Monday, December 22, 2003
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337
Source: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Posted by: Public Employees for Envir. Responsibility
http://www.peer.org/
http://www.ems.org/rls/authors.php?author=public_employees_for_envir_responsibility
Posted on: Dec 22, 2003
Environmental Media Services
http://www.ems.org/rls/2003/12/22/religion_on_disp.html
Washington, DC -- In a series of recent decisions, the National Park Service has approved the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Also, under pressure from conservative groups, the Park Service has agreed to edit the videotape that has been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 to remove any image of gay and abortion rights demonstrations that occurred at the memorial.
"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "The Bush Administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks."
This July, NPS Deputy Director Donald Murphy, ordered the Grand Canyon National Park to return three bronze plaques bearing biblical verses to public viewing areas on the Canyon's South Rim. Murphy overruled the park superintendent who had directed the plaques' removal based on legal advice from the Interior Department that the religious displays violated the First Amendment. In a letter to the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, the group sponsoring the plaques, Murphy apologized for "any intrusion resulting from" the temporary removal of the plaques quoting Psalms 68:4, 66:4 and 104:24 and pledged "further legal analysis and policy review" before any new action is taken.
This fall, the Park Service also approved a creationist text, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" for sale in park bookstores and museums. The book by Tom Vail, claims that the Grand Canyon is really only a few thousand years old, developing on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time scale. At the same time, Park Service leadership has blocked publication of guidance for park rangers and other interpretative staff that labeled creationism as lacking any scientific basis.
Last month, the Park Service announced that it would alter an eight-minute video containing photos and footage of demonstrations and other events taking place at the Lincoln Memorial. Conservative groups have asked to cut out footage of gay rights, pro-choice and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations because it implies that "Lincoln would have supported homosexual and abortion 'rights' as well as feminism." The Park Service has promised to develop a "more balanced" version that include rallies of the Christian group Promise Keepers and pro-Gulf War demonstrators though these events did not take place at the Memorial.
The Park Service is also engaged in an extended legal battle to continue displaying an eight-foot-tall cross, planted atop a 30-foot-high rock outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve in California. PEER Board Member and former-Park Service manager Frank Buono filed suit to force removal of the cross. That suit is now pending before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Pray to Play
Bush's Faith-Based National Parks
By Jeffrey St. Clair
CounterPunch
December 22, 2003
http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair12222003.html
The view from the south rim of the Grand Canyon, smogged up as it is these days, still retains the power to prompt even the most secular of visitors into transcendentalist reveries as they cast theirs eyes toward Shiva's Temple and Wotan's Throne. Now tourists at the federal park in northern Arizona will be greeted with scriptural passages affixed to park signs to help interpret the religious experience of gazing into God's mighty chasm.
This autumn Donald Murphy, deputy director of the National Park Service, ordered three bronze plaques featuring quotes from Psalms 68:4, 66:4 and 104:24 placed on viewing platforms on the south rim of the Canyon. The plaques were made and donated by the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Phoenix, who live in a convent called Cannan in the Desert. The convent was founded in 1963 by Mother Basilea, who visited the Sinai where said said she conversed with the Supreme Diety about the moral decline of the western world.
The nuns' website warns that "avalanche of moral decay is upon us... our society is disintegrating." As evidence, the nuns point to the removal of Judge Roy Moore's monument to the 10 Commandments in the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court and to the appearance of the Dalai Lama at the National Cathedral-"another illustration of how God's commandments are pushed aside, step by step. May Jesus help us and guard our hearts!"
At the urging of the sisters, Murphy overturned a decision to ban the plaques by the Park's superintendent, who contended the religious messages violated the US Constitution.
That's not all. Now, after soaking in the grandeur of the canyon, visitors can retire to the Park bookstore where they can broze through the diaries of John Wesley Powell, Edward Abbey's Down the River, historian Stephen Pyne's excellent How the Canyon Became Grand and numerous volumes on the geology of the canyon. After all, the Grand Canyon has long been viewed as a kind of living encyclopedia of geological forces, a layered history of the Earth that debunked fundamentalist dogma on the age of the earth. "Nowhere on the earth's surface, so far as we know, are the secrets of its structure revealed as here," wrote the great American geologist John Strong Newberry.
But startng this summer the Park's bookstore began offering a volume titled The Grand Canyon: a Different View. The view is indeed different. This book of lavish photographs and essays presents the creationist account of the origins of the great canyon of the Colorado River. The book is edited by Tom Vail, a river guide, who offers Christian float trips through the canyon. "For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years," Vail writes in the introduction to the book. "Then I met the Lord. Now, I have "a different view" of the Canyon, which, according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than about a few thousand years old."
One of the contributors is creation "scientist" Dr. Gary Parker who observes: "Where did the Grand Canyon itself come from? The Flood may have stacked the rock like a giant layer cake, but what cut the cake? One thing is sure: the Colorado River did not do it."
Earlier this year, the Bush administration prevented park rangers from publishing a rebuttal to the book for use by interpretive staff and seasonal employees who are often confronted during tours by creationist zealots.
In southern California, a similar battle is raging over a Latin cross erected on the Sunrise Rocks in the Mojave National Preserve. Apparently, the cross was erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and has since become a site for sunrise Easter services and a meeting ground for Wise-Use ranchers associated with the Christian Identity movement.
In December 2000, Park Service managers agreed to remove the cross based on advice from the Justice Department that the icon violated the Constitution and Park Service regulations. But the Park Service backed down after Congressman Jerry Lewis, the right wing firebrand from San Diego, intervened. The ACLU sued the Park Service in March of 2001 and won an injunction. The Bush Administration appealed and the case remains pending before the Ninth Circuit.
Meanwhile, in the nation's capital the Park Service has bowed to pressure from the religious right to rewrite the history of protests on the national mall. Since 1995, the interpretive center at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington has shown an 8-minute long film depicting various demonstrations and gatherings at the monument, including anti-war protests, concerts and Martin Luther King's most famous speech. Last month, the Park Service bowed to demands from Christian groups to edit out footage of anti-Vietnam War protests and images of gay rights and pro-choice demonstrations. In a letter to the Park Service, the Christian groups charged that the film implied that "Lincoln would have supported homosexual and abortion 'rights' as well as feminism."
The Park Service HQ responded that they would edit the film to present a "more balanced" version. The new film will included footage of rallies by anti-abortion and Christian groups, such as the Promisekeepers, and shots of a pro-Gulf War demonstration. Neither of these events took place at the Lincoln Memorial.
"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," says Jeff Ruch, director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "The Bush Administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks."
What's next? Live reenactments of the witchtrials at Salem National Historical Park, presided over by John Ashcroft?
Biblical flood created Grand Canyon, book says
by Julie Cart
Los Angeles Times
Jan. 7, 2004
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0107CanyonBook07-ON.html
How old is the Grand Canyon? Most scientists agree with the version that rangers at Grand Canyon National Park tell visitors: that the 10-mile chasm in northern Arizona was carved by the Colorado River 5 million to 6 million years ago.
Now, however, a book in the park's bookstores tells another story. On sale since last summer, "rand Canyon: A Different View," by veteran Colorado River guide Tom Vail, asserts that the Grand Canyon was formed by the Old Testament flood, the one Noah's Ark survived, and can be no older than a few thousand years.
The book, which sells for $16.99, includes essays from creationist scientists and theologians. Vail wrote in the introduction, "For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years. Then I met the Lord. Now, I have a different view of the Canyon, which according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old."
Reaction to the book has been sharply divided. The American Geological Institute and seven geo-science organizations sent letters to the park and to agency officials calling for the book to be removed.
In part to appease some outraged Grand Canyon employees, the book was moved from the natural sciences section to the inspirational reading section of park bookstores.
"I've had reactions from the staff all over the board on it," said Deputy Superintendent Kate Cannon. "There were certainly people on the interpretive staff that were upset by it. Respect of visitors' views is imperative, but we do urge our interpreters to give scientifically correct information."
Park Service spokesman David Barna, who is based in Washington, D.C., said each park determines which products are sold in its bookstores and gift shops. The creationist book at the Grand Canyon was unanimously approved by a panel of park and gift shop personnel.
But the book's status at the park is still in question. Grand CanyonSuperintendent Joe Alston has sought guidance from Park Service headquarters in Washington.
Meanwhile, the book has sold out and is being reordered.
The flap at the Grand Canyon highlights what officials say is a problem for the national park system: how to respect visitors' spiritual views that may directly contradict the agency's accepted scientific presentations and maintain the necessary division of church and state.
"We struggle. Creationism versus science is a big issue at some places," said Deanne Adams, the Park Service's chief of interpretation for the Pacific Region.
Adams said the questions arise most often at western parks where geology is often highlighted, and singled out John Day Fossil Beds Monument in southern Oregon as a place where scientifically determined dates have been challenged.
"We like to acknowledge that there are different viewpoints, but we have to stick with the science. That's our training," Adams said. She said there is no federal guideline for how to answer religious inquiries. "Every fundamentalist or Christian group has a take on how they interpret the Bible. They are entitled to believe whatever they believe. It's not our job to change their minds."
Last summer, the Park Service ordered the reinstatement of three plaques bearing Bible verses that were erected at Grand Canyon National Park in 1970 by a group called the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. Alston called for their removal last summer after a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Park Service Deputy Director Donald Murphy, who ran the California state parks department under former Gov. Pete Wilson, ordered the brass plaques be returned, and sent the group a letter apologizing for "any intrusion."
The plaques are affixed to buildings at Hermits Rest, Lookout Studio and Desert View Tower, all popular tourist stops along the South Rim. They quote verses from the Book of Psalms, including "Sing to God, sing praises to His name, lift up a song to Him who rides upon the clouds. His name is the Lord, exult before Him!"
Barna said Deputy Director Murphy overruled the Grand Canyon superintendent because he and the agency's regional attorney were not sufficiently well versed in Constitutional law.
"We contend that our superintendent knows a lot about wilderness protection but not enough about separation of church and state," Barna said.Critics say that by condoning religious material in the park, the federal government is endorsing a particular spiritual point of view.
"The Bush administration appears to be sponsoring a program of faith-based parks," said Jeff Ruch, Executive director of the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "Any time a question arises, the professionals and lawyers are reversed and being told to respect the displays of religious symbols. We believe the actions by these officials violate their oath of office to defend the Constitution."
Yet religion and geology are intertwined in many parks and monuments that are dotted with shrines and various sites sacred to Native Americans who are often afforded special access to worship.
Nor are spiritual references absent. Indeed, viewed from the Grand Canyon's popular Bright Angel Trail are rock formations named by 19th century explorers after Hindu deities, such as Vishnu.
Some scholars say they have no objection to books that offer religious interpretations of the parks, providing they are not marketed as science.
Historian Stephen J. Pyne, whose book, "How the Canyon Became Grand," is also on sale in the park's bookstores, said he doesn't mind if Vail's book is sold at the park, as long as it's not displayed in the science section.
"I have not read the book, but I'm familiar with the genre," Pyne said. "I think the Park Service would be remiss if it did not explain that there is not an agreed-upon story about the canyon, that there are conflicting stories. But science assumes it was not formed by a great flood or divine intervention. What this creationists' group is looking for is some sort of validation by the Park Service. There's an agenda there."
Not so, says an official of the organization that published Vail's book, the San Diego-based Institute for Creation Research. Steven Austin, who heads ICR's geology department, said he worked with Vail on the book. Like Vail, Austin believes the oldest parts of the gorge are no older than 10,000 years. Vail himself could not be reached for comment.
"We have a secular presentation at the Grand Canyon and we don't want to suppress other ways of thinking," Austin said. "But there needs to be room for more than one interpretation. It is appropriate to discuss theology to express a creationist view. As long as all sides are presented, I don't see any problem with it."
George Billingsley, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, has been studying the Grand Canyon for 36 years and said scientists have never agreed about the exact age of the canyon, although most concur that the oldest formations are nearly 2 billion years old. A scientific symposium held in 2000 to resolve the question of how the canyon was formed dissolved in acrimony and adjourned without consensus, he said.
As far as the creationist theory, Billingsley said, "If someone presented that theory to me, I'd say you gotta have proof. You have to have some kind of mechanism to show what you say happened. I don't know how to argue with someone like that. But as far as putting the book in the bookstore, that's fine. That's the freedoms we have. Everyone has to make up their own mind. You could put a book in there that says alien beings created the canyon. The more ideas you have out, the better."
Grand Canyon 'Coffee Table' Book Too Controversial for
Evolutionists
Author Calls the Arizona Canyon 'Exhibit A for Creation'
By Jody Brown
AgapePress
January 7, 2004
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/72004a.asp
Last year, officials at the Grand Canyon decided plaques with quotations from the Book of Psalms had no place in a national park. That decision was later overturned and is now under review. But now, apparently, a book's alternative view on how the Canyon was created is too "religious" for some prominent evolutionists who want it removed from bookstores in the park.
Grand Canyon: A Different View (Institute for Creation Research, May 2003) is a 104-page "coffee table book" compiled by Tom Vail, a veteran tour guide of the Canyon. For years he told people how the Grand Canyon had formed over millions of years. Then Vail met Jesus -- and now the tour guide has a different view. Thus the title of the hardback pictorial, which contains the essays of 23 contributors, many of whom hold earned doctorates in science.
Vail's book presents a view of the Canyon's formation not normally heard by visitors to the park. That view, held by creation scientists and a growing number of secular geologists, maintains that the Canyon was formed by a lot of water over a few thousand years -- not by the slow erosion of the Colorado River over millions of years. The Grand Canyon exhibits "classic flood geology," Vail says. "It's just on a scale that's so massive, the evolutionists can't see it."
Vail's explanation of the Canyon's creation, however, does not sit well with the presidents of seven science organizations, who in December urged in a letter to the park superintendent that the book be removed from Canyon bookstores because of its "religious" content. That recommendation was referred to National Park Service headquarters in Washington, DC.
Associated Press now reports that David Barna, a spokesman for the Park Service, says officials there are preparing to draft a letter telling Grand Canyon administrators that the book's claims fall outside accepted science, so it likely will not be restocked.
Contributor's Reaction
One of the contributors to Vail's book is Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, a Christian apologetics ministry. He says the effort by evolutionists to ban the book is "remarkable."
"Although Tom's beautifully illustrated book is low key, it still has managed to shake up the evolutionary community and its strongly held beliefs about the Grand Canyon and its supposed history of millions of years," Ham says. He adds that he is hopeful that the controversy will lead people to read and consider the alternative, scientific viewpoint in the book.
And what about the book being removed from Canyon bookstores? Ham sees no purpose behind the demand by the evolutionists. "Since the book shares the conclusion of most Canyon geologists -- whether creationist or evolutionist -- that most of the Canyon was created in a relatively short period of time, why then shouldn't its visitors be exposed to this view?" he asks.
Ham's organization believes that a worldwide flood covered the earth only a few thousand years ago, and that as the flood receded, huge lakes formed. They later breached their earthen dams and rushed through northern Arizona, carving out the Canyon quickly. Ham offers as one example of evidence of that view a large canyon system near Mount St. Helens in Washington. That system, approximately one-fortieth the scale of the Grand Canyon, was formed relatively quickly after the volcano erupted in 1980.
Geologists Demand Removal of Creationist Book from Grand Canyon Bookstores
By Jeremy Reynalds
Talon News
January 8, 2004
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/january/0108_geologists_book.shtml
FLORENCE, KY -- A new book offering an alternative view of how the Grand Canyon was formed is the object of a book-banning effort by prominent evolutionists, who have demanded that the Grand Canyon National Park Service remove the text from bookstores within the park.
"Grand Canyon: A Different View" is the 2003 work of Tom Vail, who collected essays from 23 contributors, most of whom hold doctorates in science-related fields. His book presents a creation science viewpoint of the Canyon's formation that is quite different than what most Canyon visitors are told.
Creation scientists present evidence that the Grand Canyon was formed not by the slow erosion of the Colorado River over millions of years, but by a lot of water over a short period of time.
The controversial "Grand Canyon: A Different View" has been on sale at the Canyon's bookstores since last fall. It quickly raised the hackles of the presidents of seven science organizations, who jointly signed a December 16, 2003 letter to the park's superintendent urging him to remove the book.
Apparently in an effort to placate some outraged Grand Canyon employees, the book has been moved from the natural sciences section to the inspirational reading section of park bookstores.
"I've had reactions from the staff all over the board on it," park Deputy Supt. Kate Cannon told the Los Angeles Times. "There were certainly people on the interpretive staff that were upset by it. Respect of visitors' views is imperative, but we do urge our interpreters to give scientifically correct information."
Washington-based Park Service spokesman David Barna told the Los Angeles Times that each park determines which products are sold in its bookstores and gift shops. The creationist book at the Grand Canyon was unanimously approved by a new-product review panel of park and gift shop personnel.
But the book's status at the park is still up in the air. Grand Canyon's superintendent Joe Alston has sought guidance from Park Service headquarters in Washington. Meanwhile, the book has sold out and is being reordered, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Creationist Comments
Ken Ham, one of the book's essayists and president of Answers in Genesis commented, "The effort to ban the book is remarkable. Although Tom's beautifully illustrated book is low key, it still has managed to shake up the evolutionary community and its strongly held beliefs about the Grand Canyon and its supposed history of millions of years. I hope the controversy will lead many more people, including Canyon visitors, to read its alternative, scientific viewpoint."
Ham added, "Since the book shares the conclusion of most Canyon geologists -- whether creationist or evolutionist -- that most of the Canyon was created in a relatively short period of time, why then shouldn't its visitors be exposed to this view?"
Answers in Genesis (web site) is a self-described "Christian apologetics ministry that equips the church to uphold the authority of the Bible from the very first verse. The thousands of articles and media programs on this site answer questions about creation/evolution, dinosaurs, and much more."
Origins of the Controversy
The controversy apparently began with comments from Dr. Wilfred A. Elders, a professor at the University of California-Riverside.
"During my visit to the Grand Canyon in August 2003, I learned that this book, 'Grand Canyon: a Different View,' was being sold in bookstores within the national park," Elders said.
Elders then published a scathing review of the book.
Elders summed up his review by saying, "[The book] is not a geological treatise. It is 'Exhibit A' of a new, slick strategy to proselytize by biblical literalists using a beautifully illustrated, multi-authored book about a spectacular and world-famous geological feature. Allowing the sale of this book within the National Park was unfortunate. In the minds of some buyers, this could imply National Park Service (NPS) approval of young Earth creationists and their religious proselytizing. I believe that the continued sale of this book within the National Park will undermine the work of the NPS interpreters who work so hard to educate the public."
Admittedly, Elders did have a few nice things to say about the book.
He wrote, "To me GCDV is remarkable; it is the only young earth creationist text that I have enjoyed reading. Its author and compiler, Thomas Vail of Canyon Ministries, has been a river guide for many years and knows the Grand Canyon at river-level better than most people. However, it is not his ideas that I found attractive but rather the striking layout and many beautiful photographs of the Grand Canyon that enhance the text. These are largely the work of another river guide, Charley Heavenrich, about whom Vail writes, 'Although he does not share the creationist point of view, he is profoundly moved by the canyon and the depth of courage and ability he sees in the people who travel with him.'"
The complete review appears on a site titled "No Answers in Genesis." The site's home page is subtitled "Creationism is not the answer to evolution; ignorance is."
Scientific Societies Weigh in on Book Controversy
In December, the superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park received a letter of protest, signed by seven presidents of a number of prestigious scientific societies. Signers included the American Geophysical Union, the American Geological Institute, and the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology
The letter read in part, "It has come to our attention that a book espousing a particular religious interpretation of the Grand Canyon is being sold in bookstores within the Grand Canyon National Park under the guise of a being a scientific explanation for the origin of the canyon. The book, The Grand Canyon: A Different View (compiled by Vail, 2003), makes claims about the age of the rocks and the formation of the canyon that are at odds with the well-documented scientific understanding of Earth history. The book is not about geology but, rather, advances a narrow religious view about the Earth. We urge you to remove the book from shelves where buyers are given the impression that the book is about Earth science and its content endorsed by the National Park Service."
The letter writers told Grand Canyon Superintendent Joseph Alston, "The National Park Service should be extremely careful about giving the impression that it approves of the anti-science movement known as young Earth creationism or endorses the advancement of religious tenets as science. The book aggressively attacks modern science and broadly accepted interpretations of the geologic history of the Grand Canyon. As such, any implied approval or endorsement by the NPS for the book and others like it undermines efforts to educate the public about the scientific understanding of Grand Canyon geology."
The writers continued by telling the park superintendent that the book "is not about science."
As such, they commented, "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. As you know, the Grand Canyon provides a remarkable and unique opportunity to educate the public about Earth science. In fairness to the millions of park visitors, we must clearly distinguish religious tenets from scientific knowledge."
Commenting on the Answers in Genesis web site, Vail said he is not surprised at the letter.
"The book presents a different view, one that goes against the grain of everything they [evolutionary geologists] believe. Without an earth that is millions of years old, the entire evolutionary house of cards falls apart, and think about what that would mean to those that have been trying to 'prove' this theory their whole careers. Not only does their theory crumble, but their world view crumbles with it," Vail said.
Controversy Deepens
The situation escalated when a group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a self-described "private, non-profit organization that protects the government employees who protect our environment" got involved and issued a press release lambasting what they saw as a "Christian fundamentalist" takeover of the National Park Service.
Posted by Environmental Media Services, the press release was headlined "Religion on Display in National Parks; Christian Fundamentalist Influence on Park Service Decisions - 'Faith-Based Parks' Decried."
The statement read in part, "In a series of recent decisions, the National Park Service has approved the display of religious symbols and Bible verses, as well as the sale of creationist books giving a non-evolutionary explanation for the Grand Canyon and other natural wonders within national parks, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Also, under pressure from conservative groups, the Park Service has agreed to edit the videotape that has been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 to remove any image of gay and abortion rights demonstrations that occurred at the memorial."
"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "The Bush administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks."
Environmental Media Services (web site) is a self-described non-profit organization "dedicated to providing journalists with the most current information on environmental issues."
Writing on the Answers in Genesis web site, writer Mike Matthews commented in part, "It's simply untrue and deceptive to claim that those who believe in a young earth are 'anti-science' and that the book 'Grand Canyon: A Different View' 'aggressively attacks modern science.' In fact, three creationist scientists made poster presentations of their radiometric dating research at a conference of the American Geophysical Union in December 5 -- and all three of these men (Dr. John Baumgardner, Dr. Russell Humphreys and Dr. Larry Vardiman) are contributors to Vail's Grand Canyon book."
Matthews said that another contributor to Vail's book, Dr. Steven Austin, presented a paper at a Geological Society of America conference. This concerned "his discovery of massive numbers of nautiloid fossils (a squid-like creature) catastrophically deposited in a rock formation of Grand Canyon over hundreds of kilometers and including billions of nautiloids. The National Park Service even asked Dr. Austin to write a monograph for them, explaining his findings."
Matthews said Austin's discovery was made in part because of his adherence to a literal interpretation of Genesis when considering the world's geology and history.
Matthews added, "Evolutionists missed the story because they were not looking for evidence of catastrophe on such a massive scale."
This latest controversy followed one last year when Canyon officials required that plaques containing Biblical Psalms be removed from the Canyon. That decision was later overturned and is now under review.
Shaving years off Grand Canyon
Richard Ruelas
602) 444-8473
richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com.
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 12, 2004
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0112ruelas12.html
He entered the Grand Canyon believing it was formed over millions of years by the rushing Colorado River. He climbed out nine days later ready to accept that the natural wonder is 4,500 years old, carved by waters from a great flood that buoyed Noah's Ark.
Tom Vail has published a testimony of his conversion. Titled Grand Canyon: A Different View, it is 104 pages of photography and quotations that present the Canyon as living proof of God's creation. It was published in May, but sales really took off in August after the National Park Service agreed to carry it in the official bookstores at Arizona's most popular tourist attraction.
Vail said he's surprised that his book, which flies in the face of geologic science, was accepted for sale. "I don't view it as a stamp of approval," he said, sitting at the kitchen table of his central Phoenix home. "I do view it as (the Park Service) being open-minded."
The book is contradicted everywhere else on the park grounds. Interpretive talks by rangers and literature handed to visitors speak of the Canyon being cut by the Colorado River over millions upon millions of years.
That is what Vail believed until 15 years ago, when he met a Christian woman on a nine-day rafting trip. She is now his wife. At the time, Vail was a hedonistic river guide. "I was drinking and my language wasn't always godly," he said.
After accepting Christ, Vail accepted the Bible as the inerrant word of God. And, he said, there is no way to cram millions of years of evolution into the pages of Scripture. Adam was the first man, says Genesis, and he lived to be 930 years old. His third son, Seth, lived to be 912, according to Genesis 5:8. Seth's son Enosh died at the age of 905, according to Genesis 5:11.
Using the lineages in the Bible in that fashion dates the Earth's creation to about 6,000 years ago. The catastrophic flood of the Earth, using the same method of dating, would have occurred 4,500 years ago.
Vail does not take the entire Bible literally. The Book of Psalms, he said, is poetic literature. "But Genesis is not poetic literature. Genesis is historical literature."
Where geologists use such numbers as Planck's constant, Vail uses the figure 6,000 as a biblical constant. Any theory that supposes a universe older than that, he dismisses. And while he rejects scientific theories as unproven, he said that his own belief in the Bible is on faith and doesn't require proof.
I told him that unlike his own unshakable beliefs, science would probably welcome evidence that supported creation. "That's how it's supposed to be," he said. "But that's not what's happening with this book."
He was referring to a letter that seven geologic science organizations sent to the National Park Service last month. The letter said Vail's book "makes claims about the age of the rocks and the formation of the Canyon that are at odds with the well-documented scientific understanding of Earth history."
The letter expressed concern that the book's placement in the bookstore implied a government endorsement and asked that the book be stocked apart from scientific texts.
The director of the non-profit group that runs the bookstores said they saw Vail's offering as an alternative view, but not science. Brad Wallace, of the Grand Canyon Association, likened it to Native American folklore about the Canyon.
"I don't see a big difference between one creation myth and another," Wallace said.
However, Vail's book does not present the Genesis story as a myth, or even a possible explanation. It is given as hard fact. There is no room for interpretation. Although nothing on the cover suggests a creationist view, it is apparent on every page inside. In his introduction, Vail says the Canyon sprang from "a judgment by water of the world broken by the sin of man . . . "
Vail operates Christian and secular tours of the Canyon through his business, Canyon Ministries. On his secular trips, he presents both the scientific and creation theories, and he said he gets a lot of puzzled looks from people who claim to be Christian. "The vast majority of them have never thought it through," he said.
That was the main point of the publishing the book, he said. "It's not about selling books," Vail said.
Although the volume has sold nearly 300 copies since August, Vail will have a much easier time getting into heaven than a camel passing through the eye of a needle. "It's getting people to examine beliefs, to realize the question is really a question of the authenticity of the Scripture," he said.
If the Bible is true, then the truth starts with Genesis, Vail said. "If He really didn't mean He created everything in six days, if that's not true, where does truth begin?" he asked.
There is one definite truth about the book. Proceeds from each sale put more money into the hands of the Grand Canyon Association. That money goes to support scientific education and geologic research about the Canyon. Vail's volume about creation helps advance evolution.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
The Grand Canyon Tears America Apart in Battle Between Science and Faith
by Andrew Gumbel
Los Angeles
Common Dreams News Center
Monday, January 12, 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0112-06.htm
Tom Vail is an official guide in the Grand Canyon National Park, and for years he told his visitors how the extraordinary layer-cake rock formations had been dug out of the Colorado River valley over a period of millions of years.
That, though, was before Jesus entered his life.
Now he is convinced, along with a sizeable portion of America's creationist movement, that the formation of the Grand Canyon had nothing to do with evolutionary geology but was rather the product of a Biblical flood - the same one that Noah survived half a world away on Mount Ararat.
"Now, I have a different view of the Canyon, which according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old," Mr Vail writes in the introduction to a lavish picture book he has edited, entitled simply Grand Canyon: A Different View.
The book is causing consternation among mainstream scientists because, for the past few months, it has been on sale in the Grand Canyon National Park bookshop. Alongside the photographs, it includes essays by more than 20 prominent creationists who use much of the language, but little of the method, of science to support their literal reading of the Bible.
Most gallingly for secularists and scientific rationalists across the United States, the fundamentalist interpretation of one of the great natural wonders of the world appears to have the blessing of the Bush administration.
Not only has the National Park Service in Washington given every encouragement to the sale of Mr Vail's book, it has - according to one secular interest group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) - blocked the publication of a detailed rebuttal of the arguments set out by Mr Vail's contributors.
PEER sees this as part of a pattern of what it calls "faith-based parks" policy. In a separate controversy, the Bush administration recently overruled the superintendent of the Grand Canyon park who wanted to remove three plaques inscribed with Biblical quotations overtly suggesting that the Canyon was the direct creation of God.
"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," said Peer's executive director, Jeff Ruch.
The spat is a classically American confrontation between scientific evidence and religious belief - a cultural faultline that has grown more pronounced under the presidency of George Bush because of his own fundamentalist beliefs and reliance on the religious right for much of his bedrock support.
The controversy over Mr Vail's book began last summer, when a professor of geology from the University of California, visited the Grand Canyon bookshop and raised a ruckus over its inclusion in the natural sciences section. In a subsequent review for the journal Eos, the professor, Wilfred Elders, characterized the book's arguments as "absurdities".
But the book has proved so popular that it has sold out and the bookshop has had to reorder it from its publisher.
Mr Vail's friends are delighted, both by his success and by the controversy itself. His publishing house, Arksansas-based New Leaf Press, has described the dispute as "the next battlefield in the struggle for Christian rights". On that point, at least, the creationists may well be correct.
Protests hit Grand Canyon book with creation science essays
By Keith Hinson
Baptist Press News
Jan 13, 2004
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=17427
PHOENIX (BP)--Secular scientists have taken aim at the National Park Service for a book advocating creation science available at Grand Canyon bookstores.
The volume in question, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" compiled by Tom Vail, describes the canyon's formation as part of the worldwide flood recounted in Genesis. The book also describes the earth as much younger than the usual estimates of secular scientists.
News reports in recent days have highlighted the controversy which has been growing since the hardcover book of photos and essays went on sale last August in bookstores operated at the national park by the independent, nonprofit Grand Canyon Association. The GSA identifies itself as "a non-profit organization established in 1932 to support education, research, and other programs for the benefit of Grand Canyon National Park and its visitors."
The decision to sell Vail's book has drawn barbs from numerous critics in the secular scientific community.
The inclusion of Vail's book among items for sale initially was approved "unanimously ... by a panel of park and gift shop personnel," The Los Angeles Times reported. The book now has been "moved from the natural sciences section to the inspirational reading section" of the canyon's bookstores in an effort to appease park and bookstore employees, The Times reported.
Although acknowledging GCA's independent status, a webpage of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) complains, "Most visitors to the park will not distinguish between facilities managed by the National Park Service (NPS) and the nonprofit association's management of the bookstores; hence it is reasonable to assume that people will believe that the young-earth position is accepted by NPS staff.
"This makes the job of interpretation more difficult -- and interpreters already receive pressure from creationist visitors to 'give all of the evidence' and present a young-earth view," the NCSE webpage states.
The book also was targeted in a letter signed by the presidents of several science organizations, including the Paleontological Society, American Geophysical Union, National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Association of American State Geologists, Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, American Geological Institute and the Geological Society of America.
"We urge you to remove the book from shelves where buyers are given the impression that the book is about Earth science and its content endorsed by the National Park Service," the officials wrote to the superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park. "The book aggressively attacks modern science and broadly accepted interpretations of the geologic history of the Grand Canyon."
Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis and one of 20 contributors to Vail's book, urged those who want the book sold at the Grand Canyon to contact Frances Mainella, director of the National Park Service, and Gale A. Norton, U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Ham suggested several points could be made by those contacting the NPS, including:
-- "Why shouldn't Canyon visitors be allowed the choice to read this book and then decide for themselves which view of the Canyon's formation is correct?"
-- "Please don't allow censorship and book banning to occur."
-- "Even many evolutionists believe that much of the Canyon was formed by a lot of water over a short period of time -- so why the effort to silence the book's view?"
-- "Many of the essays in the book are written by scientists with doctorate degrees who have also conducted serious research at the canyon." Among the contributors are such well-known creation science proponents as Henry and John Morris, Duane Gish and Ken Ham; Kurt Wise, a Harvard Ph.D. on the faculty of Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.; and pastor-author John MacArthur.
Vail and his wife, Paula, operate Canyon Ministries in Phoenix, Ariz., and arrange "Christ-centered motorized rafting trip(s)" through the Grand Canyon.
Vail's book, published by New Leaf Press, is available on such websites as Amazon.com, which allows websurfers to post online reviews and comments.
An unnamed reader from Lodi, Calif., said those adhering "to a naturalistic, evolutionary paradigm will not be happy with this book, because it offers people a look at alternative interpretations of science. Many naturalistic evolutionists want to be people's brains for them."
Tom Sholes, a reviewer from Larkspur, Colo., complimented the book as graphically attractive but criticized its scientific views. "The photographs are stunning, but much like the literal view from the Bible, this book is all image and no real substance. ... Great book for creationists though. It will help them feel much more secure in their collective ignorance."
Richard Ruelas, a metro columnist for the Arizona Republic, wrote in a Jan. 12 column about an interview he conducted with Vail: "I told him that unlike his own unshakable beliefs, science would probably welcome evidence that supported creation. 'That's how it's supposed to be,' [Vail] said. 'But that's not what's happening with this book'" in a reference to the letter of protest from the presidents of the scientific organizations.
Ruelas reported the book has sold almost 300 copies since August and noted "each sale put more money into the hands of the Grand Canyon Association. That money goes to support scientific education and geologic research about the Canyon. Vail's volume about creation helps advance evolution."
But Vail's book clearly contends for the biblical account of creation: "When viewed from a biblical perspective, the Canyon has 'God' written all over it, from the splendor and grandeur of the Canyon walls, to the intelligent design of the Creator," he writes. "The Canyon gives us a glimpse of the effects of a catastrophic global flood, as well as an appreciation for the scale of the biblical flood of Noah's day."
In the introduction, Vail also recounts: "For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years. Then I met the Lord. Now, I have a different view of the Canyon, which according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old."
Keith Hinson is public relations associate for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. Art Toalston contributed to this article.
E-mails on creation flap 'swamp' Park Service
Thousands flow into agency amid controversy about Grand Canyon
book
By Ron Strom
WorldNetDaily.com
January 14, 2004
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36580
Thousands of Americans on both sides of a heated debate over a book offered in a Grand Canyon gift shop have e-mailed their opinions to the National Park Service in the last several days.
"I'm swamped," David Barna, chief of public affairs for the agency, told WorldNetDaily. Barna estimated the number of e-mails and phone calls to be "probably 2,000 easily."
Causing the flow of e-mail is the controversy over a book for sale at the Grand Canyon that claims the famous area was formed by the Old Testament flood Noah survived and can be no older than a few thousand years. That contention has some scientists calling for the book to be pulled from store shelves. Most geologists contend the canyon is millions of years old.
Organizations such as the American Geological Institute and the American Institute of Biological Sciences have expressed concern about the book, saying its presence could leave visitors with the impression that it is endorsed by the Park Service.
"The Grand Canyon was formed millions of years ago," said William Ausich, president of the Paleontological Society, according to Religion News Service. "It is the job of the National Park Service to present the best scientific information possible to the public, and the book is complete pseudoscience."
Mark Looy disagrees, saying the canyon is much younger. Looy is vice president of Answers in Genesis, a creationist organization that contributed essays to the book.
"The canyon was formed as a result of the aftereffects of Noah's flood, a worldwide global flood," he said. "Most of the canyon was formed by a lot of water over a relatively short period of time."
Looy told WND Answers in Genesis appears to be leading the effort of creationists to let the Park Service know what they think of the call to remove the book. He says the organization encouraged the 17,000 people on its e-mail list to contact the Park Service.
Answers in Genesis has a staff of 130 full-time employees worldwide, including 12 scientists with doctorates in various fields.
Though the book, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" by veteran Colorado River guide Tom Vail, sold out recently, gift shop staff reordered it. In the meantime, Park Service personnel are trying to determine how to resolve the issue.
"Policy folks are meeting with the interpretive staff and attorneys to figure out what kind of guidance we can give the park," Barna said.
Barna, who says the e-mails have been "split about 50-50" on the issue, emphasized the Park Service does not make decisions based on the opinions of e-mailers.
"We don't run things based on how many e-mails we've received," he told WND.
Barna says Park Service interpreters teach that the canyon is millions of years old, but that fact doesn't preclude the gift shop from carrying other opinions.
"Bookstores are not necessarily part of the interpretive program," he said. "Just because it's in our bookstore doesn't mean we endorse those views."
He likened the creationist book to Native American books for sale in Park Service shops that explain geological formations based on ancient Indian stories.
Asked when he thought the controversy would be resolved, Barna said, "Within the next three or four weeks," adding, "Upper management knows what's going on."
Vail's book features colorful photographs of the canyon and essays presenting the creationist view of the Grand Canyon's origin.
"For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years," writes Vail on the website of his Phoenix-based Canyon Ministries. "Then I met the Lord. Now, I have 'a different view' of the canyon, which, according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old."
The book, which reportedly has been moved from the natural sciences section to the inspirational reading section, was unanimously approved by a panel of park and gift shop personnel, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Deanne Adams, the Park Service's chief of interpretation for the Pacific Region, says personnel often struggle with how to address different opinions about the age of the Earth.
"We like to acknowledge that there are different viewpoints, but we have to stick with the science. That's our training," Adams told the Times. She says there is no federal guideline for how to answer religious inquiries. "Every fundamentalist or Christian group has a take on how they interpret the Bible. They are entitled to believe whatever they believe. It's not our job to change their minds."
Answers in Genesis' website appeal asks supporters to urge the Park Service to keep the book in the natural sciences section rather than the inspirational reading section.
"Please don't move the book to an 'inspirational' section," the site suggests supports tell the agency. "It presents the serious scientific viewpoint of many scientists."
Ron Strom is a news editor for WorldNetDaily.com.
National park's sale of creationist book draws geologists' ire
by Rex Dalton
Nature 427:186
15 January 2004
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v427/n6971/full/427186b_fs.html&filetype=&_UserReference=C0A804EF4650151CEC3BEDA57BF3400ED0E0
[SAN DIEGO] A slim volume of creationist views on how the Grand Canyon formed has sparked a legal review of books on sale in US national parks.
Lawyers for the National Park Service (NPS) began the review late last year after leading scientists objected to the sale of the creationist book, Grand Canyon: A Different View, in the bookstore at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
The review is intended to help the NPS to develop a policy for the sale of such material. "The book has raised issues much broader than this book and the canyon," explains David Barna, a spokesman for the NPS.
The beautifully photographed book was compiled by Tom Vail, a river guide with no scientific training. It features a collection of essays by 23 creationists who argue that the towering canyon walls are a record of the six days of creation which, they say, took place about 6,000 years ago. Most geologists say that the Colorado River cut out the canyon between 4 million and 6 million years ago, exposing 1.8 billion years' worth of geological formations.
Wilfred Elders, a geologist at the University of California, Riverside, who first complained about the book's sale at the park, called the volume a collection of "absurdities" that scientifically is "an extraordinary failure".
Complaints from Elders and others caused seven leading Earth-science organizations to write to the NPS on 16 December asking for the book to be removed from the shop -- or at least for it to be separated from legitimate scientific texts with which it had been placed last August.
"The book is not about geology, but rather advances a narrow religious view," says the letter signed by presidents of the organizations, which included the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.
The 104-page book has subsequently been moved from the science section, but remains on sale in the bookstore. Nearly 300 copies have been sold, according to the bookstore.
Vail says that an alternative to evolutionary science should be offered to members of the public visiting the canyon. "Who is to say whose material should be or shouldn't be in the bookstore?" he asks. That's the tricky question that the NPS review will seek to answer, as it weighs issues such as the display of sound science, the right to free speech and the avoidance of censorship charges.
Legal Group: Park Service May Face Litigation If Creationist Book Moved
by Jody Brown
AgapePress
January 15, 2004
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/1/152004c.asp
Controversy over a book about a flood has generated another type of deluge -- thousands of e-mails to the National Park Service.
The book Grand Canyon: A Different View is a compilation of breathtaking views of the Canyon and essays written by scientists from the fields of geology, paleontology, biochemistry, physics, and geophysics and by theologians who hold to the "young earth" view of the origins of the universe. Part of that view, held by creation scientists and a growing number of secular geologists, maintains that the Grand Canyon was formed by a lot of water over a few thousand years -- not by the slow erosion of the Colorado River over millions of years.
The book, compiled by Tom Vail -- a veteran tour guide of the Canyon -- was drawn into controversy recently when a group of prominent evolutionists called for it to be removed from the park's bookstores because they considered it too "religious." Now, according to reports from Associated Press, the book will likely remain on sale in Canyon bookstores -- but will probably be stocked in the "cultural" or "inspirational" section instead of the "science" section, where it had been located. Park Service spokesman David Barna tells AP that would be a "reasonable" solution.
"That's probably where we're going to end up," Barna says. "I don't expect to see the Park Service banning any books any time soon. Our bookstores are of limited size, so we don't offer and carry everything, but certainly this is a book that people are interested in -- and we respect that."
But in a letter to the Department of the Interior last week, the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund -- which is representing Vail in the threatened censorship -- said such a remedy would be unconstitutional. ADF stated that "to either relocate Mr. Vail's book to a different section in the Canyon bookstores or remove it altogether ... would lead to a patent violation of the United States Constitution."
The legal group explains that just because the contributors' views are informed by both theology and science, it does not diminish the constitutional protection to which they are entitled. "The opinions expressed in this book cannot be dismissed simply as the fanciful bemusing of amateur scientists presenting novel theories," ADF says. "On the contrary, the contributors are well-trained scientists presenting a legitimate, albeit minority, scientific theory."
And while those writers' views are obviously rejected by those scientists calling for the book's removal, "difference of opinion among scientists ... is grossly insufficient justification to censor the book and would expose the [National Park Service] to almost certain legal liability," the legal group says.
According to Barna, the Park Service has received "several thousand" e-mails about the controversy. He says about half of those messages are from people "who support the beliefs of the book." The other half, he says, oppose the book's presence in the park because they consider it "pseudo-science" or because it is a "religious book."
"Part of the controversy is that this book purports to be a scientific text," Barna says. "We don't have to treat it that way because its conclusions and the premise it's based on has been determined by the Supreme Court that that is not science. It is a point of view, it is a belief, and we respect that -- and we can offer those books for sale."
But the NPS spokesman says strict church-state separationists want all religion purged from the national parks. He says that is not possible. "Like it or not, religion has played a big part in the formation of American history," he says, "and our job in the Park Service is not just these natural resource sites [like the Grand Canyon] -- it's also [about] 200 cultural sites nationwide."
The controversy does not seem to have discouraged sales of the book. According to ADF, the Park Service contacted Vail on Tuesday -- to order 64 more copies of the book.
There's a great divide over Grand Canyon's age
Scientific groups express concern about book that says a biblical
flood created the landmark
Dallas Morning News
Religion News Service
Friday, January 16, 2004
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion/stories/011704dnrelgrandcanyon.d9ea6.html
WASHINGTON -- Traditional scientists and Christian creationists have lined up on either side of a dispute over sales of a new book at Grand Canyon National Park that claims the canyon dates to the biblical flood of Genesis rather than millions of years ago.
The presidents of organizations such as the American Geological Institute and the American Institute of Biological Sciences have written or signed letters to the park's superintendent expressing concerns that the book's presence could leave visitors with the impression that it is endorsed by the National Park Service.
Answers in Genesis, a ministry whose president wrote an essay in the book, is urging its supporters to ask park service officials to permit Grand Canyon: A Different View (Master Books, $16.99) to remain on the shelves of the park's three bookstores.
The debate has reached a Washington policy office of the National Park Service, which is considering how to handle the matter, officials said.
"They sent the book in here, and we're looking at it with our attorneys to try to get a policy statement out," said David Barna, spokesman for the National Park Service.
"It's not so much about this book as it is about what we do with the other views of the way geologic features in parks were created."
The difference between the views of some groups is -- literally -- millions of years apart.
"The Grand Canyon was formed millions of years ago," said William Ausich, president of the Paleontological Society, who signed a letter along with presidents of six other scientific organizations.
"It is the job of the National Park Service to present the best scientific information possible to the public, and the book is complete pseudoscience."
Mark Looy, vice president of Answers in Genesis, said four staff members of his organization contributed essays to the book and believe the canyon is much newer.
"The canyon was formed as a result of the aftereffects of Noah's flood, a worldwide global flood," he said. "Most of the canyon was formed by a lot of water over a relatively short period of time."
The book, written by Tom Vail, features photographs of the canyon and essays reflecting a creationist's view of its development.
"For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years," Mr. Vail wrote on the Web site of his Phoenix-based Canyon Ministries. "Then I met the Lord. Now, I have 'a different view' of the canyon, which, according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old."
Mr. Barna, of the park service, said interpreters who guide visitors through the park are aware there are different viewpoints on the canyon's development.
"They're instructed in the current scientific and geological explanation, which means very, very old, as in hundreds of millions of years," he said. "I'm certain that park interpretative rangers get stopped frequently by people who believe the creationist view or maybe the Native American view. ... Our explanation is that we recognize that there are a variety of opinions."
Mr. Barna expects the books will remain in place -- additional copies have been ordered, he said.
A Washington-based group called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has complained not only about the book but also about the Grand Canyon National Park's decisions concerning plaques featuring biblical verses.
The plaques, which date to the 1960s, were removed last summer after a park superintendent feared they were going to prompt a suit, Mr. Barna said. The superintendent was overruled by the deputy director of the National Park Service, Donald Murphy, who apologized to the religious organization that donated the plaques and had them restored pending a review of the matter by the Justice Department.
RESOURCES
Creation sources
- Answers in Genesis www.answersingenesis.com
- Canyon Ministries www.canyonministries.com
Geo-scientific sources
- American Geological Institute www.agiweb.org
- American Institute of Biological Sciences www.aibs.org
Critics Say the Park Service Is Letting Religion and Politics Affect Its Policies
By Michael Janofsky
The New York Times
January 18, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/politics/18PARK.html
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 -- To halt the removal of a cross placed in the Mojave National Preserve almost 70 years ago to commemorate World War I veterans, a Republican lawmaker from California has proposed swapping the land it sits on with a private group.
The National Park Service recently ordered the return of plaques bearing biblical verses that had hung in Grand Canyon National Park for more than 30 years before they were taken down last summer. The Park Service also approved selling a book at the Grand Canyon that suggests the canyon was created in six days several thousand years ago.
And here at the Lincoln Memorial, an eight-minute film that shows historical events at the memorial, including demonstrations for civil rights, abortion rights and gay rights, is being revised by the Park Service to add four minutes of more politically neutral events.
While the Park Service says these are unrelated incidents, reflecting no overarching political policy, a national alliance of public environmental workers says the efforts are evidence of a new program of "faith-based parks" promoted by the Bush administration with the strong support of conservative groups.
The apparent trend, the alliance says, has resulted in a willingness by Republican appointees now in senior positions in the Park Service to resolve disputes by protecting religious or conservative content, even in the face of arguments that the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which safeguards the separation of church and state, is being violated.
"What this shows," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the alliance, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, "is that Christian fundamentalists and morally conservative groups have a special entree with the decision makers at the Park Service and the White House."
A spokesman for the Park Service, Dave Barna, denied that decisions made in these recent cases reflected political motives, insisting that political appointees have sought advice from career employees in resolving problems. "These are a few unrelated issues that have been put together just to criticize this administration," said Mr. Barna, who has worked for the Park Service for eight years.
Even so, in all but the case involving the cross, a senior political appointee at the Park Service has influenced the resolution of the dispute, fueling at least the impression that political considerations could have played a part in the decision.
At the Grand Canyon, three plaques quoting psalms had been hanging on buildings at the South Rim since the plaques were given to the park in the late 1960's by the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, a Christian group founded in Germany during World War II.
Maureen Oltrogge, a Grand Canyon spokeswoman, said that a handful of visitors each year complain about them, but that it was not until the American Civil Liberties Union inquired last February that officials at the canyon sought counsel from regional Park Service officials in Denver and a Park Service lawyer in Santa Fe, N.M. Those discussions led to a decision last July by the Grand Canyon superintendent, Joe Alston, to take the plaques down.
Within a few weeks, however, complaints over his ruling had reached Washington, prompting the Park Service's deputy director, Donald W. Murphy, to ask the Sisterhood to return the plaques so they could be displayed again.
In a letter to the Sisterhood last July, Mr. Murphy said he regretted that "further legal analysis and policy review did not take place" before the plaques were removed and apologized for any inconvenience. He said he would like to "return to the historical situation that had been in place" while the department conducted a more comprehensive examination of the issue.
Mr. Barna said the issue was still under review.
The other matter, involving a coffee-table book that promotes a creationist view of the Grand Canyon, has been resolved -- at least for now.
After the book, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" (2003, Master Books), by Tom Vail, a river guide and evangelical Christian who leads religious-oriented excursions, first appeared on shelves at the park's six bookstores last summer, a park employee raised objections. That led to a review by several members of the Grand Canyon staff, who recommended that the book remain on the same shelves with books that offer evolutionary explanations of how the park formed. About 300 copies have been sold, Ms. Oltrogge said, and more have been ordered.
But the book's presence clearly troubles some Park Service employees. As Mr. Barna said, "We're still struggling with it."
When the controversy arose at the Grand Canyon, a copy of the book was sent to Park Service officials in Washington for review. This month, the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative law firm that specializes in First Amendment issues and is representing Mr. Vail, threatened to sue the Interior Department if the book did not receive "the same treatment as books on the same topic from differing viewpoints."
Mr. Barna said that Mr. Vail's book had not led senior officials to ask for a change in policy. They have determined, he said, that the book can remain on sale as an alternative theory to Grand Canyon history -- but one that the Park Service does not necessarily support.
The film at the Lincoln Memorial has been shown for nearly a decade. But because so many of the events held there have been large protests sponsored by liberal groups, they tend to dominate the presentation. Last year, Mr. Barna said, several conservative groups complained that the film reflected "a leftist political agenda," leading to a decision by Fran P. Mainella, the Park Service's director, to order the film lengthened to include events like the gulf war victory parade in 1991 and tape of every president since the memorial opened in 1922.
A dispute over the Mojave Desert cross arose when a former Park Service employee, Frank Buono, objected to the presence of a religious symbol on federal land. After Mr. Buono and the American Civil Liberties Union tried repeatedly to have it taken down, Congress passed a measure in December 2000, sponsored by Representative Jerry Lewis, a 13-term Republican from California, that prohibited spending money on its removal. A year later, the cross was designated a National Memorial, giving it federal protection.
Mr. Buono then sued the Park Service and won, with a federal judge in Riverside, Calif., ordering the government to remove the cross. Rather than comply, the Park Service appealed.
With the case now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Mr. Lewis succeeded in getting a provision into the 2004 defense appropriations bill that could resolve the dispute by trading the acre around the cross for land owned by a private veterans group in Barstow, Calif.
The government now claims that the land transfer, which could take several years, makes the litigation moot. Not so, say Mr. Buono's lawyers, who argue that the designation of the cross as a memorial keeps it in federal hands -- and should keep the court case alive.
At Grand Canyon Park, a Rift Over Creationist Book
By Kimberly Edds
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 20, 2004; Page A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29972-2004Jan19.html
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.
"The National Park Service should be extremely careful about giving the impression that it approves of the anti-science movement known as young Earth creationism or endorses the advancement of religious tenets as science," the geologists wrote. "The book aggressively attacks modern science and broadly accepted interpretations of the geologic history of the Grand Canyon. As such, any implied approval or endorsement by the NPS for the book and others like it undermines efforts to educate the public about the scientific understanding of Grand Canyon geology."
Vail's book, which was unanimously approved for sale at the Grand Canyon by a board of park employees, has been sent to national headquarters for a review "on the appropriateness for our bookstores to have that type of book on creation for sale in a park bookstore," said Maureen Oltrogge, public affairs officer for the park. "We are waiting for that decision."
The souvenir shop on park grounds is run by the Grand Canyon Association, but the National Park Service approves what may be sold there. The book, which is found in the inspiration section of park bookstores, is a "medium seller," Oltrogge said, with about 300 copies sold since August.
Park rangers are instructed to give a scientific view of the age of the canyon and how it was created, based on currently accepted geology, Oltrogge said. If park visitors raise questions about creationism, rangers are supposed to defer to science, she said.
"National Park Service policy on interpretation is to teach current geological science," Oltrogge said, adding: "We also recognize there are other beliefs out there. We don't teach that. We teach current accepted geological science and history. Of course, they get questions during their interpretive sessions. You avoid confrontation."
Vail argues that removing his book because it presents another view of how the canyon was formed would be religious discrimination -- and he's prepared to battle the Park Service if the book is removed.
"None of it is science," said Vail, who leads Christian-oriented white-water rafting tours down the Colorado River. "Science has to be repeatable and measurable. What they call science is theory just as what is in my book is theory. All the scientists here [in the book] have as much a right to their opinion as anyone else."
Grand Canyon officials last year were caught up in another spat over public displays of religion at the park when three bronze plaques with biblical quotations were ordered removed by Alston after complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union. Park Service Deputy Director Donald Murphy ordered the plaques restored and wrote a letter of apology to the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, which had put up the plaques more than 30 years ago.
Wilfred Elders, a professor emeritus of geology at the University of California at Riverside, said the plaques and the park's continued sale of the book demonstrate an increasing willingness by park officials to bend to the political pressures of the religious right.
"It undermines the park rangers who are trying to explain the natural history of a world-class geological phenomenon," said Elders, who has done extensive research on the canyon. "You can preach about Genesis in churches. That's fine. But don't do it in science class and don't put books on a bookshelf of science books when it is not science."
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit advocacy group, believes the creationist book does not belong in a shop on government property.
"The park's mission is to promote science. I don't see anything in their charter that they are supposed to provide a forum for debate," PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said. "It is a public place. People can have debates. The problem is when the government takes a side in the debate."
The park ordered dozens more books last week.
High Tech Protest On Grand Canyon Book Controversy
Jeremy Reynalds
01/20/04
American Daily
http://www.americandaily.com/item/4403
A controversy surrounding a new book sitting on Grand Canyon Bookstore shelves that offers a creationist viewpoint of how the Grand Canyon was formed has generated between 6,000 and 7,000 e-mails to the National Park Service.
According to David Barna, the Park Service's Chief of Public Affairs, the e-mails have been about equally divided between those who have a "scientific view" and want "religion" kept out of the parks, and those who believe that the book represents an accurate view of the federally managed Grand Canyon's origins.
The controversy centers over the contention offered up by "Grand Canyon: A Different View" that the Grand Canyon is no more than a few thousand years old. That claim has a number of prominent evolutionists, most of whom claim that the Canyon is millions of years old, demanding that the Grand Canyon National Park Service remove the book from the park.
"We were not expecting this level of attention. It never ceases to amaze me what becomes a big issue," Barna said.
The book is the 2003 work of Tom Vail, who collected essays from 23 contributors (most of whom hold earned doctorates in science). The book's creation science viewpoint of the Canyon's formation is very different from what Grand Canyon visitors are told by Park guides, who according to Barna "use the latest information backed by the National Academy of Sciences."
That notwithstanding, Barna said "We recognize there are a diversity of viewpoints and beliefs. It is not unusual to find books in our store (dealing with) how our parks were created from a Native American viewpoint. (But) while we recognize diverse viewpoints and we have these books in our bookstores we are not teaching that. The big issue this book raises is that it purports to be the scientific explanation for how the Grand Canyon was formed."
The book has been moved from the bookstore's natural sciences section to the inspirational reading section and its status at the park is still up in the air. Grand Canyon's superintendent, Joe Alston, has sought guidance from Park Service headquarters in Washington. Meanwhile, the book has sold out and is being reordered, the Los Angeles Times reported recently.
Barna said, "I'm not sure where the book will remain but I anticipate it remaining."
In a separate interview, Barna told the Los Angeles Times that each park determines which products are sold in its bookstores and gift shops. Vail's book at the Grand Canyon was unanimously approved by a new-product review panel of park and gift shop personnel.
Regarding all the attention that the book has generated, Barna pointed out that while the parks welcome comment from the public it will not be the number of e-mails that decides the issue. He said, "Managing the national parks is not necessarily a popularity contest. We do want public input, but we operate under legislation.People on both sides of the issue want to win. We're somewhere in the middle."
Answers in Genesis (AiG), a well-known creationist organization, is still encouraging people at its website to contact the National Parks Service.
"While we sincerely thank (those) people who have written to the NPS to protest this attempted book ban by prominent evolutionists, we are encouraging all AiG supporters to continue sending emails to the NPS Director ... and respectfully ask the Director: 1) that the book remain in the Canyon bookstores; and 2) because of its scientific content, the book should be returned to the 'natural sciences' section and not be placed solely in the 'inspirational' section."
Answers in Genesis Vice President Mark Looy, whose organization contributed to Vail's book, told World News Daily (WND) that AiG seems to be spearheading the creationist effort to let the Park Service know what they think about the call by evolutionists to remove the book. He also told WND that AiG encouraged the 17,000 people on its e-mail list to contact the Park Service.
What hath W. wrought?
Editorial
Battleboro Reformer (Vermont)
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~1917353,00.html
Visitors to the Grand Canyon who are under the impression that eons of erosion are responsible for the nation's most spectacular hole in the ground might wonder why the National Park Service sells a book explaining that the Grand Canyon is just several thousand years old and was created in a mere six days.
"Grand Canyon: A Different View" (2003, Master Books), by Tom Vail, posits an Evangelical Christian creationist view that is at odds with all scientific evidence. And yet, the volume is sold at the six Park Service Grand Canyon bookstores.
Some park employees have complained that the Park Service should not be promoting crackpot science, and the question of whether or not to keep the book on the shelves is kicking around official Washington for a decision in the coming weeks.
The United States government should protect at all costs Mr. Vail's right to write, publish and sell his book. But it should not act as a taxpayer-funded agent of bad science, and it should not lend legitimacy to a creationist tract on a glorious natural phenomenon that is a public trust.
The Park Service, if it is going to say anything about the national treasures it oversees, should offer factual knowledge based on the best available evidence. Mr. Vail can retail his non-scientific, even anti-scientific, ideas in a wide variety of private and church settings.
To object to the Park Service's selling Mr. Vail's book is not, as some of his defenders have charged, antireligious. It is pro-science and pro-search for truth, neither of which should be considered controversial. In any case, many deeply religious people believe an intelligent creator is responsible for the Grand Canyon, and everything else, but that the hectic pace described in the Bible is metaphorical. Science and religion are not antithetical. Nor should the U.S. government be shoving a particular religious viewpoint in people's faces, whether they are religious or not.
Religion in Park Service bookshops is a small part of a disturbing trend within national parks under the Bush administration. After plaques with biblical verses installed in the 1960s were removed from three sites in Grand Canyon National Park, officials in Washington ordered them reinstalled. A cross that stood in the Mojave National Preserve since 1922 was to be taken down after a park employee objected to it, but the administration is fighting that one too, and a suit is making its way through the courts.
Perhaps the Mojave cross, a memorial to World War I veterans, should stay and be given status as a historical relic. Nor is there any point in taking a sledge hammer to religious phrases or symbols on the pediments of neoclassical government buildings.
There's no need to destroy all traces of past religious influence on U.S. public life. But in an increasingly pluralistic society composed of people of many faiths, or no faith at all, government must be more, not less, vigilant in keeping religion out of publicly sponsored places and events.
That's not where the country is headed, however, under George W. Bush, an Evangelical creationist himself, and a man woefully out of step with both science and a vital American tradition of leaving theocracy to divine-right kings and ayatollahs.
-- The Berkshire Eagle
Grand Canyon Book Stirs Formation Feud
By Sue Vorenberg (svorenberg@abqtrib.com, 823-3678)
Albuquerque Tribune
Jan. 27, 2004, page A3
http://www.abqtrib.com/ (article not on the Web)
New Mexico scientists and creationists have found a new battleground: where to sell a book about the Grand Canyon at the Grand Canyon.
For several weeks, bookstores in the national park have offered a tome called "Grand Canyon: A Different View," which promotes a creationist theory that the Earth was formed a mere 6,000 years ago.
The book resides in the "inspirational" section at the main Grand Canyon bookstore but has edged dangerously close to natural history books in the park's other stores.
It's also listed as a natural history book on the park's Web site - and that has New Mexico geologists madder than hot lava.
They say the creationist theory conflicts with scientific evidence showing a gradual cutting of the canyon over several million years.
"At the end of the day, if these creationist, biblically-inspired, young-Earth explanations are correct, then everything we do is false," said Les McFadden, chairman of the University of New Mexico earth and planetary sciences department. "That means everything is wrong - the study of igneous petrology, tectonics, geomorphology."
Creationists say their theory is just as valid as the geological theories.
"I think people forget that the theory of evolution is just that, a theory," said Jeremy Reynalds, a New Mexico creationist who runs the Joy Junction homeless shelter. "I'm not opposed to the theory of evolution, but people tend to talk about it as if it were a fact. From a scientific viewpoint, creation theory is just another theory of how the canyon or the world is formed."
Reynalds recently expounded on the issue in an article he wrote for the Christian-backed ASSIST News Service.
The Grand Canyon Association, which operates the stores, decided to add the book because it presented an alternative view of the canyon - as do American Indian myths. The stores never intended for the book to be sold in the natural history section, association director Brad Wallis said.
"I sit on the committee that reviewed it, and we discussed the title and thought it would be appropriate to bring that alternative view into our stores," he said. "It was placed in our inspirational section from the beginning, but there are lots of news articles floating around saying it's in our natural history section. It's not. That's caused a great deal of confusion."
That said, some of the park's smaller stores - there are six besides the main branch - don't have sections. In those stores, the book might have been placed smack-dab next to the natural history books, albeit unintentionally, he said.
The book has only been on the association's Web site for a few weeks and isn't supposed to be listed in that natural history section, Wallis said. He plans to fix that.
Still, Wallis says, he can understand the creationists' point of view, even though he's opposed to placing it in the natural history section.
"I have read the title, and I must admit it's not simply inspirational," Wallis said. "It says that the current scientific model is flawed. It cites the same scientific data but extrapolates a different answer from it. As an educator, I look at that as a divergent viewpoint, and I don't think it's my position to edit or censor that."
Some creationists believe the Grand Canyon was carved during the biblical flood of Noah - putting its age at roughly 6,000 years.
"Creationists, of course, like to debunk geochronology, but they fail to understand that there are many, many independent dating methods that can and are used to check and cross-check (geologic) dates," said Karl Karlstrom, a UNM geologist and Grand Canyon expert.
"Creationists often resort to people's sense of fair play - 'Why shouldn't different sides be examined?' - which is fine, as long as the new ideas are sold under the religion and myths section, and not as science."
So, where to put the book?
McFadden and Karlstrom say they don't object to putting it in the inspirational section but oppose granting it space anywhere near the science books.
Reynalds suggest a special section, "Creation Science," but turns thumbs-down on the inspirational option.
"Inspirational conjures up, for me, warm and fuzzy views, churchy views," Reynalds said. "It's not the same thing as a scientific origin."
And that, say McFadden and Karlstrom, is exactly the point.
"The crux of the issue is, of course, that the 'alternative view' is religion and involves untestable assertions of truth," McFadden said.
Grand Canyon bookstore reorders 300-plus copies of book
By Keith Hinson
Baptist Press News
Jan 27, 2004
http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=17512
PHOENIX (BP)--Officials at the Grand Canyon National Park have ordered additional copies of "Grand Canyon: A Different View" -- a hardcover book of photos and essays advocating creation science and being sold in the park's bookstores.
Elaine Sevy, a spokesperson with the National Park Service (NPS), confirmed additional copies have been ordered, indicating a quantity of perhaps hundreds before stating she did not know the precise number.
However, the book's compiler -- Tom Vail of Phoenix -- told Baptist Press the park had ordered more than 300 additional copies.
In recent weeks, the debate over whether the park should offer the book for sale has been detailed in reports in various news media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times. Dozens of papers across the United States also have carried stories from the Associated Press and Religion News Service.
"It's amazing to me that this little book has created so much commotion," Vail said. "It's unfortunate that this book, which was aimed at presenting a creationist point of view in laymen's terms and how the Grand Canyon [supports] that, has become essentially a legal issue."
Vail's book has been targeted by numerous secular scientists who have asked the NPS to remove the volume from the bookstores' inventories.
"We urge you to remove the book from shelves where buyers are given the impression that the book is about Earth science and its content endorsed by the National Park Service," a letter from leaders of several science organizations implored the park superintendent.
Signers included presidents of the Paleontological Society, American Geophysical Union, National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Association of American State Geologists, Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, American Geological Institute and the Geological Society of America.
"The book aggressively attacks modern science and broadly accepted interpretations of the geologic history of the Grand Canyon," the letter stated.
Of the book's 23 contributors, Vail said, 17 are scientists -- 14 of whom have Ph.D. degrees in scientific areas from universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Penn State.
"Because the view [of these contributors] disagrees with evolutionary geologists, there's a small number of people who have turned this into a legal issue," Vail observed.
Sevy said the NPS policy office will review whether the bookstores should continue to carry Vail's volume and "ultimately come up with a policy to guide personnel throughout the park system" on similar issues.
"Now that the book has become quite popular, we don't want to remove it," Sevy explained, confirming that e-mails received on the issue have been about "50-50," with approximately half supportive of the book and half opposed to it.
In addition, Sevy said, no one assumes local governments and school systems endorse the views of each and every book in the libraries they operate. She said the park's bookstores have carried books "based on Native American [spiritual] beliefs for many years."
A check of the Grand Canyon bookstores' website, www.grandcanyon.org/bookstore found at least two other items for sale with apparent spiritual dimensions:
- "Echoes Through Time," a video, includes footage of the
"culture and spiritual heritage of the canyon's native
peoples."
- "Plateau Journal: Law & Order Vol. 4/No. 1," published by the Museum of Northern Arizona, includes a section titled, "Human Law/Natural Law: Whose World Is This Anyway?"
Another organization protesting the sale of Vail's book at the canyon is the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which describes itself as a "private, non-profit organization that protects the government employees who protect our environment. PEER works with and on behalf of these resource professionals to effect change in the way government agencies conduct business."
"The Park Service leadership now caters exclusively to conservative Christian fundamentalist groups," charged Jeff Ruch, PEER's executive director, in an online press release. "The Bush Administration appears to be sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks."
Sevy, however, stated her belief that "this country is based on freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Those are some of our guiding principles. ... We feel like a full spectrum is part of our culture. ... We want to offer all different kinds of beliefs, all different kinds of theories."
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is representing Vail in an effort to see the book's continued sale at the Grand Canyon.
"If the request of 'A Different View's' recent critics is followed, ... the [U.S.] Department [of the Interior] will expose itself to almost certain liability," wrote Dale M. Schowengerdt, the ADF's litigation staff attorney, in a letter to Gale A. Norton, secretary of the interior.
"Federal courts are very solicitous when it comes to protecting private speech from government censorship," Schowengerdt warned. "The NPS has upheld the constitutional rights of Mr. Vail by keeping the book in place among competing viewpoints. We encourage NPS to maintain this policy and resist pressure from groups urging censorship."
The ADF, according to Schowengerdt's letter, is "a not-for-profit public interest law and educational organization. We seek to resolve disputes through education of public officials about the constitutional rights of people like Tom Vail. When necessary, we proceed to litigation to secure these rights."
According to the organization's website, the ADF was launched in 1993 by more than 30 Christian leaders, including James Dobson, D. James Kennedy and the late Bill Bright and Larry Burkett.
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