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You are correct thanks for the correction Chris.

Martin

>
>
>I think the National Center for Science Education site is:
>http://www.ncseweb.org
>
>
>
>Chris Puchalla
>G.WIZ, The Hands-On Science Museum
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Informal Science Education Network
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of martin weiss
>Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 8:51 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: RENEWED CONCERN ABOUT CREATIONISM AT GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
>
>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
>Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>institutions.
>************************************************************************
>*****
>
>For those interested in the creationists book for sale at the Grand
>Canyon National Park the following is from the National Center for
>Science Education (http://www.ncse.org).
>
>It is long and has links following it but it is accurate.
>
>Martin
>
>
>There is renewed controversy about the sale of a young-earth creationist
>book in bookstores at Grand Canyon National Park.  Meanwhile, Ronald L.
>Numbers is interviewed in Salon, and Brian Alters's export witness
>statement from Selman v. Cobb County is now available on-line.
>
>
>
>Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility -- "a national
>non-profit alliance of local, state and federal scientists, law
>enforcement officers, land managers and other professionals dedicated to
>upholding environmental laws and values" -- is charging the National
>Park Service with stalling on a promised review of a creationist book
>sold at the bookstores at Grand Canyon National Park.  Although the
>park's bookstores are operated by a separate non-profit organization,
>the Grand Canyon Association, the National Park Service is responsible
>for approving the items that are sold there.  In August 2003, the NPS
>approved the sale of Grand Canyon:  A Different View, edited by Tom Vail
>and published by Master Books, the publishing arm of the Institute for
>Creation Research.  A Different View expounds a young-earth creationist
>view of the geology of the canyon, and proclaims that "all contributions
>have been peer-reviewed to ensure a consistent and biblical
>perspective."  In his review of the book, the geologist Wilfred Elders
>described it as "'Exhibit A' of a new, slick strategy by biblical
>literalists to proselytize using a beautifully illustrated,
>multi-authored book about a spectacular and world-famous geological
>feature," adding, "Allowing the sale of this book within the National
>Park was unfortunate.  In the minds of some buyers, this could imply NPS
>approval of young-earth creationists and their religious proselytizing."
>
>After the sale of A Different View was approved, the superintendent of
>the park appealed to the NPS headquarters for "a review of the book in
>terms of its appropriateness," and the Chief of the Park Service's
>Geologic Resources Division recommended its removal, saying that it
>"does not use accurate, professional and scholarly knowledge; is not
>based on science but a specific religious doctrine; does not further the
>public's understanding of the Grand Canyon's existence; [and] does not
>further the mission of the National Park Service."  Meanwhile, the sale
>of the book became a matter of public controversy:  Elders's review
>appeared in Eos (the weekly newsletter of the American Geophysical
>Union); the presidents of the American Paleontological Society, the
>American Geophysical Union, the National Association of Geoscience
>Teachers, the Association of American State Geologists, the Society for
>Vertebrate Paleontology, the American Geological Institute, and the
>Geological Society of America signed a joint letter to the NPS, urging
>that A Different View be removed "from shelves where buyers are given
>the impression that the book is about earth science and its content
>endorsed by the National Park Service"; and stories about the
>controversy appeared in the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.  A
>spokesperson for the NPS repeatedly assured the press and Congress that
>the promised review would be forthcoming.
>
>In a December 28, 2006, press release, however, PEER charged, "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."  Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER, commented,
>"As one park geologist said, this is equivalent of Yellowstone National
>Park selling a book entitled Geysers of Old Faithful: Nostrils of
>Satan."  In a December 28, 2006, letter, PEER urged the new director of
>NPS, Mary Bomar, to remove the book from sale at the park's bookstores
>and museums as well as to "[p]rovide training to the interpretive staff
>at Grand Canyon NP regarding how to answer questions from the public
>concerning the geologic age of the Canyon and related matters; and ...
>[a]pprove an updated version of the long-stalled pamphlet 'National Park
>Service Geologic Interpretive
>Programs: Distinguishing Science from Religion' for distribution to
>agency interpretive staff."  It ought to be noted that PEER is not
>charging the NPS with forbidding its interpretive staff to present the
>scientific facts about the canyon's age and geology, but only with not
>providing its staff with the resources it needs to do so effectively,
>especially when faced with park visitors who have questions about, or
>even embrace, views that reject those facts on religious grounds.
>
>Prompted by PEER's press release, the controversy over the sale of A
>Different View is beginning to attract attention again in the media,
>with the Arizona Daily Sun (January 4, 2007) offering a report in which
>a spokesperson for the NPS was quoted as saying, "We do not use the
>creationist text in our teaching, nor do we endorse its content.
>However, it is not our place to censor alternate beliefs."  But the
>Sacramento Bee (January 4, 2007) suggested, in a forceful and cogent
>editorial entitled "Don't use parks to promote creationism," "A new year
>and a new National Park Service director mark an opportunity for change.
>Here's an easy one.  Settle the 3-year-old controversy about a
>creationist account of the Grand Canyon."  The editorial argued that
>"Mary Bomar, the new National Park Service director, should send a
>message that programs and materials in national parks present the best
>scientific evidence and don't endorse any particular religious beliefs,"
>and concluded by urging Bomar to "fix this easily and quickly:  Remove
>the book from sale from within the park; its proper place is for sale in
>private bookstores outside the public park.  Equally important, finish
>the long-delayed pamphlet 'National Park Service Geologic Interpretive
>Program: Distinguishing Science from Religion' and distribute it to park
>rangers.  The nation's public parks are not the place to promote
>religious theories about the formation and development of Earth."
>
>A spokesperson for the NPS, David Barna, told The New York Times
>(January 5, 2007) that there was no formal review of whether the
>bookstores ought to discontinue selling A Different View in part because
>of differences among the NPS's specialists.  According to the Times,
>"When officials got together to discuss the book, the geologists and
>natural resource specialists would say, 'Get this book out of here,' Mr.
>Barna said.  'But the education and interpretation people would say:
>'Wait a minute.  If your science is so sound, the fact that there are
>differences of opinion should not scare you away.'"  In a written
>statement, the Times reported, Barna "notes that Park Service management
>policies require reliance on 'the best scientific evidence available'
>and, as a result, rangers tell visitors that "the Colorado River basin
>has developed in the past 40 million years."  But the Times also
>reported that "the guidelines also say that material available from
>concessionaires in national parks should adhere to
>the standards used to evaluate Park Service materials."    PEER's
>executive
>director Jeff Ruch was quoted as contending that selling the book
>promoted fundamentalist Christian views:  "This is government
>establishment of religion in a fairly fundamental way, if you pardon the
>pun."
>
>For Wilfred Elders's review of the book at issue, visit:
>http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol24/4521_bibliolatry_re
>visited_review__12_30_1899.asp
>
>For a discussion of the controversy over its sale, visit:
>http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol24/5100_flood_geology_
>in_the_grand_can_12_30_1899.asp
>
>For PEER's press release, visit:
>http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801
>
>For PEER's letter to the new director of the NPS (PDF), visit:
>http://www.peer.org/docs/nps/06_28_12_peer_ltr_Bomar.pdf
>
>For the story in the Arizona Daily Sun, visit:
>http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/163166
>
>For the editorial in the Sacramento Bee, visit:
>http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/102565.html
>
>And for the story in The New York Times, visit:
>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/washington/05canyon.html
>--
>Martin Weiss, PhD
>VP, Science
>New York Hall of Science
>47-01 111 th Street
>Corona, NY 11368
>ph 718 699 0005 x 356
>fax 718 699 5227
>
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-- 
Martin Weiss, Ph.D
Vice President, Science
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111 th Street
Corona, New York 11368
718 699 0005 x 356

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