Grand Canyon: A Different View

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Grand Canyon: A Different View
Author Tom Vail
Publisher Master Books
Publication date June 2003
Pages 96
ISBN ISBN 978-0-89-051373-6

Grand Canyon: A Different View is a 2003 book by Tom Vail. The book features a series of photographs of the Grand Canyon coupled with essays arguing, from a Young Earth creationist perspective, that the canyon is no more than a few thousand years old and was formed by the Global Flood or Noachian flood of the Bible.

Contents

[edit] Controversy

See also: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility#Criticism

The book was approved for sale in Grand Canyon National Park bookstores in 2003, and on the web[1]. Vail, who had spent years as a river guide in the park, had recently converted to Christianity and adopted "'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."
He has since continued to conduct tours of the canyon for like-minded groups through an organization called Canyon Ministries (see external link below).[2] However, consensus among geologists is that the canyon began to form 5.3 million years ago and contains rock formations that are 2 billion years old.

On January 25, 2004, David Shaver, Chief of the Geologic Resources Division of the NPS, sent a memorandum to Chuck Fagan at the Office of Policy stating, in part, that the book "makes claims that are counter to widely accepted geologic evidence and scientific understanding about the formation and age of the Grand Canyon. In fact, it assaults modern science and well-documented geologic evidence of the canyon's history."[3] Later in 2004, the Grand Canyon National Park bookstore moved the book from the natural science section to the inspirational section as requested by the scientific organizations.[4]

In response to the 2003 controversy, the NPS told reporters and members of Congress in February 2004 that it was doing a review of the book and would soon make a decision on it.[5] In December 2006 the NPS responded to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) which showed that no formal review had ever taken place.[6][7] PEER claims that in 2003, this was the only book approved for addition to the Park bookstore; 22 books and other products were rejected. Also in its December 28, 2006 news release, PEER claimed that park rangers were not allowed to answer questions about the geologic age of the Grand Canyon.[8] This was highlighted in an article[9] from the Skeptics Society, but a week later a retraction was issued, and PEER was severely criticized for its duplicity.[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Grand Canyon National Park bookstore
  2. ^ Seeing Creation and Evolution in Grand Canyon Jodi Wilgoren. The New York Times. October 6, 2005
  3. ^ United States Department of the Interior Memo From David B. Shaver to Office of Policy (reproduced @PEER)
  4. ^ Evolution Debate in Arizona / Grand Canyon National Park, citing October 15th Washington Post article
  5. ^ Email from David Barna dated 02/02/2004
  6. ^ FOIA request response (no information found)
  7. ^ New York Times Article (requires subscription or registration)
  8. ^ How Old Is The Grand Canyon? Park Service Won't Say
  9. ^ Prothero, Donald. "Creationism in Our National Parks", Skeptic, January 10th, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-10. 
  10. ^ Shermer, Michael. "Fact Checking 101", Skeptic, January 17th, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-10. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links