Creationist Caviling Over the Grand Canyon's Age
I revisited the Idiot Files yesterday, above all to add Butch Otter to the ranks, if not all the camouflage-clad hunters cheering his decision to hunt the grey wolf to the edge of extinction.
Today, I am thankful that there is limitless room in the Files, since I just learned of a need to squeeze in untold new members. I am referring specifically to Tom Vail; everyone who has ever bought his book "Grand Canyon: A Different View"; and the morons at National Park Services.
Let's start with Mr. Vail, shall we? Apparently, this mush-brained mental midget has compiled a volume asserting that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood waters, and is therefore no older than literal interpretation of the bible would allow it to be. Be damned to any scientific, geological evidence to the contrary, says Vail.
A quick visit to the NPS site will tell the reader that "the erosion which has shaped the canyon has occurred only in the past five to six million years". It informs the curious that the "Grand Canyon is an erosional feature that owes its existence to the Colorado River", and mentions rock formations there that it dates as being from 250 million years to 2000 million years ago.
The dates here are the big problem. The intervening centuries have brought very little disagreement from the fundamentalist faithful with first century historian Flavius Josephus. This worthy calculated that the flood that damn near swamped Noah's ark washed itself across the firmament 1556 years after the creation of Adam and his fig leaf. Neither have many found fault with the calculations done by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin. This great thinker lived from 1581 to 1656 and did some amazing work during his lifetime, establishing biblical dates with incredible , um, accuracy. He was able somehow to determine, for instance, that Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden precisely on the 10th of November, 4004 B.C. It was a Monday, says Ussher. Personally, I was a little disappointed to see that his calculations did not pinpoint the exact hour of the day. I would be curious to know if the disgraced couple at least got some breakfast before their forced exit. That aside, when Ussher did a little figurin' and subtracted 1556 from 4004, (he dates creation as happening in 4004 B.C.) he got 2448 B.C as the date for the deluge. which would mean, therefore, that the Canyon could not possibly be a day older than 4,455 years of age.
Vail worked for a Fortune 500 company in Los Angeles, managing the computer center until he took a 1980 rafting trip through Grand Canyon. Apparently, he bumped into god one day and was inspired to do a one-eighty on the corporate world. He now operates "Canyon Ministries" with his wife, and offers "Christ-centred rafting trips" through the canyon. He compiled the book now sold at the bookstore in the Park, and the fact of its availability for sale there is what has a lot of rational thinkers up in arms. One of the contributors to Vail's volume, "creation scientist" Gary Parker says, "Where did the Grand Canyon itself come from? ... One thing is sure; the Colorado River did not do it."
In August 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block sales of the book at Grand Canyon Park bookstores. He was overruled by the NPS higher-ups. In the fall of 2003, Donald Murphy, deputy director of the NPS, ordered three bronze plaques featuring quotes from the book of Psalms placed on viewing platforms on the south rim of the Canyon. It would seem that the higher echelons of the NPS are totally losing sight of their mandate. Director's Order #6: Interpretation and Education, approved as effective January 19, 2005 and good until its "Sunset Date" January 19, 2011 states in section 8.4.2. (Staff) "are responsible for ensuring that park ... media are accurate and reflect current scholarship. (Material presented) must be based on the best scientific evidence available (and) must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes." Since one of the passages quoted from Psalms says "How manifold are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have wrought them all" it has to be regarded as a media presentation directly promoting christian belief. It could be viewed as offensive by those of scientific mind, and all those of every other religion on earth. If a plaque promoting the views of any one faith is displayed, then there should immediately be added whatever number of others it takes to express the views of every faith espoused by humankind. Either that, or, take them all down.
Get that book out of the store in Grand Canyon Park. Take out each and every volume that contains any "alternate" view of the canyon's creation and geological age. Include those with the creation myths of the American Native Peoples, since their presence is cited by some as justification for the Vail volume. Either that, or bring in a whole shipment of books that explain the creation-of-earth stories told by every religion that has ever committed them to paper.
PEER, (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) is charging that the employees at the Park are no longer allowed to give a straight, science-based answer to tourists who ask about the age of the canyon. NPS officials are denying the charge, and certainly their web site's statement of dates seems to give the lie to PEER's charges, but the fact remains that the book compiled by Vail is a blot on the landscape of the Grand Canyon. It is a sad little throw-back to the days of Flavius Josephus. Have we not made any intellectual advances through all the years that have flown past since his day? Have we not found more valuable pursuits for our minds than the pointless pondering over exactly which day of the week it was when god got bored and said "let there be humankind so I can have something entertaining to watch?"
I wonder just exactly how many angels could stand around on the head of a pin, giggling themselves silly until they fall off, laughing at the creationists who can't count past 6,000.
Today, I am thankful that there is limitless room in the Files, since I just learned of a need to squeeze in untold new members. I am referring specifically to Tom Vail; everyone who has ever bought his book "Grand Canyon: A Different View"; and the morons at National Park Services.
Let's start with Mr. Vail, shall we? Apparently, this mush-brained mental midget has compiled a volume asserting that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood waters, and is therefore no older than literal interpretation of the bible would allow it to be. Be damned to any scientific, geological evidence to the contrary, says Vail.
A quick visit to the NPS site will tell the reader that "the erosion which has shaped the canyon has occurred only in the past five to six million years". It informs the curious that the "Grand Canyon is an erosional feature that owes its existence to the Colorado River", and mentions rock formations there that it dates as being from 250 million years to 2000 million years ago.
The dates here are the big problem. The intervening centuries have brought very little disagreement from the fundamentalist faithful with first century historian Flavius Josephus. This worthy calculated that the flood that damn near swamped Noah's ark washed itself across the firmament 1556 years after the creation of Adam and his fig leaf. Neither have many found fault with the calculations done by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin. This great thinker lived from 1581 to 1656 and did some amazing work during his lifetime, establishing biblical dates with incredible , um, accuracy. He was able somehow to determine, for instance, that Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden precisely on the 10th of November, 4004 B.C. It was a Monday, says Ussher. Personally, I was a little disappointed to see that his calculations did not pinpoint the exact hour of the day. I would be curious to know if the disgraced couple at least got some breakfast before their forced exit. That aside, when Ussher did a little figurin' and subtracted 1556 from 4004, (he dates creation as happening in 4004 B.C.) he got 2448 B.C as the date for the deluge. which would mean, therefore, that the Canyon could not possibly be a day older than 4,455 years of age.
Vail worked for a Fortune 500 company in Los Angeles, managing the computer center until he took a 1980 rafting trip through Grand Canyon. Apparently, he bumped into god one day and was inspired to do a one-eighty on the corporate world. He now operates "Canyon Ministries" with his wife, and offers "Christ-centred rafting trips" through the canyon. He compiled the book now sold at the bookstore in the Park, and the fact of its availability for sale there is what has a lot of rational thinkers up in arms. One of the contributors to Vail's volume, "creation scientist" Gary Parker says, "Where did the Grand Canyon itself come from? ... One thing is sure; the Colorado River did not do it."
In August 2003, Park Superintendent Joe Alston attempted to block sales of the book at Grand Canyon Park bookstores. He was overruled by the NPS higher-ups. In the fall of 2003, Donald Murphy, deputy director of the NPS, ordered three bronze plaques featuring quotes from the book of Psalms placed on viewing platforms on the south rim of the Canyon. It would seem that the higher echelons of the NPS are totally losing sight of their mandate. Director's Order #6: Interpretation and Education, approved as effective January 19, 2005 and good until its "Sunset Date" January 19, 2011 states in section 8.4.2. (Staff) "are responsible for ensuring that park ... media are accurate and reflect current scholarship. (Material presented) must be based on the best scientific evidence available (and) must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes." Since one of the passages quoted from Psalms says "How manifold are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have wrought them all" it has to be regarded as a media presentation directly promoting christian belief. It could be viewed as offensive by those of scientific mind, and all those of every other religion on earth. If a plaque promoting the views of any one faith is displayed, then there should immediately be added whatever number of others it takes to express the views of every faith espoused by humankind. Either that, or, take them all down.
Get that book out of the store in Grand Canyon Park. Take out each and every volume that contains any "alternate" view of the canyon's creation and geological age. Include those with the creation myths of the American Native Peoples, since their presence is cited by some as justification for the Vail volume. Either that, or bring in a whole shipment of books that explain the creation-of-earth stories told by every religion that has ever committed them to paper.
PEER, (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) is charging that the employees at the Park are no longer allowed to give a straight, science-based answer to tourists who ask about the age of the canyon. NPS officials are denying the charge, and certainly their web site's statement of dates seems to give the lie to PEER's charges, but the fact remains that the book compiled by Vail is a blot on the landscape of the Grand Canyon. It is a sad little throw-back to the days of Flavius Josephus. Have we not made any intellectual advances through all the years that have flown past since his day? Have we not found more valuable pursuits for our minds than the pointless pondering over exactly which day of the week it was when god got bored and said "let there be humankind so I can have something entertaining to watch?"
I wonder just exactly how many angels could stand around on the head of a pin, giggling themselves silly until they fall off, laughing at the creationists who can't count past 6,000.
1 Comments:
I don't necessarily support the practice of book burning ... but ...
It seems that a whole lot of people are rapidly losing their mental faculties. Either that, or stupidity is a disease and we need some drugs. Take one smart pill and call the doctor in the morning is what is called for here. Stupidity shouldn't be allowed to fester so openly in society. It is every person's responsibility to combat it wherever it's found. I know we're the underdogs in this fight, but I have hope.
Post a Comment
<< Home