[S]ome four million people annually visit Grand Canyon National Park, marveling at the awesome view. In National Park Service (NPS) affiliated bookstores, they can find literature informing them that the great chasm runs for 277 miles along the bed of the Colorado River. It descends more than a mile into the earth, and along one stretch, is some 18 miles wide, its walls displaying impressive layers of limestone, sandstone, shale, schist and granite.
And, oh yes, it was formed about 4,500 years ago, a direct consequence of Noah’s Flood. How’s that? Yes, this is the ill-informed premise of “Grand Canyon, a Different View,” a handsomely-illustrated volume also on sale at the bookstores. It includes the writings of creationists and creation scientists and was compiled by Tom Vail, who with his wife operates Canyon Ministries, conducting creationist-view tours of the canyon. “For years,” Vail explains, “as a Colorado River guide, I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time span of millions of years. (Most geologists place the canyon’s age at some six million 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.”
The Grand Canyon is one of the best teaching tools available to geologists. It allows people to see millions of years of strata without having to actually get out and dig. The American Geological Institue, along with six of its member societies, has urged the removal of the book. The National Park Service (NPS) agreed to launch a high-level policy review and make a decision by Feb, 2004. However, the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) found out with the help of a FOIA request that no review has ever taken place. Further, no review is scheduled and the NPS seems to be swinging more towards the religious right by reinstalling plaques bearing Bible-verses at overlooks. Read more about "Faith-Based Parks" here.
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