This is what the US Park's department would have visitors believe. For the past three years visitors have been able to purchase "A Different View" by Tom Vail, a book claiming the Grand Canyon developed on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time scale. Park superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale at park bookstores in August of 2003.
Creationism under this administration,it seems, continues to creep into places that should be reserved for hard science. This is especially disturbing after the Creationism genre was declared non science by a Federal Judge in December of 2005. A six-week trial over the issue yielded “overwhelming evidence” establishing that intelligent design “is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory,” said U.S. District Judge John E. Jones, a Republican and a churchgoer appointed to the federal bench three years ago.
In addition to the sale of questionable materials, Park rangers have been under a strict gag order regarding accepted geological science. It seems the best they can muster under the current regulations is a no comment when asked the geological age of the Grand Canyon.
This despite the fact that in 2005, two years after the Grand Canyon creationist controversy erupted, The National Park Service approved a new directive on Interpretation and Education (Director's Order #6) which reinforces the posture that materials on the history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism [and] Interpretive and educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes.
Our National Parks are one of greatest resources, Teddy Roosevelt worked very hard to create "Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities", also know as the Antiquities Act or the National Monuments Act, on June 8, 1906. The law authorized the President, at his discretion, to "declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic and scientific interest that are situated upon lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be National Monuments."
"We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."
Theodore Roosevelt
We owe it to this generation and every generation going forward to provide detailed accurate scientific information not a gag ordered no comment to honest inquiry.
