[Grovenet] Who's Got the Fundamentalists Now?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

We've heard a lot about Ayatollahs who exhort their followers to believe all
sorts of things. 

But not in America?

Think again:

Washington, DC - Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an
official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to
pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt
review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by
Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no
review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park,
according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility (PEER).

"In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park
Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology," stated PEER
Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "It is disconcerting that the official
position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is
'no comment.'"

In a letter released today, PEER urged the new Director of the National Park
Service (NPS), Mary Bomar, to end the stalling tactics, remove the book from
sale at the park and allow park interpretive rangers to honestly answer
questions from the public about the geologic age of the Grand Canyon. PEER
is also asking Director Bomar to approve a pamphlet, suppressed since 2002
by Bush appointees, providing guidance for rangers and other interpretive
staff in making distinctions between science and religion when speaking to
park visitors about geologic issues.

In August 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block the sale
at park bookstores of Grand Canyon: A Different View by Tom Vail, a book
claiming the Canyon developed on a biblical rather than an evolutionary time
scale. NPS Headquarters, however, intervened and overruled Alston. To quiet
the resulting furor, NPS Chief of Communications David Barna told reporters
and members of Congress that there would be a high-level policy review of
the issue.

According to a recent NPS response to a Freedom of Information Act request
filed by PEER, no such review was ever requested, let alone conducted or
completed.


Full story at:

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801

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And I don't find anything about it on Snopes, although I'd dearly love to
find out this is a legend!

Ron D'Eau Claire