{"id":8224,"date":"2004-01-07T22:27:16","date_gmt":"2004-01-07T22:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html"},"modified":"2004-01-07T22:27:16","modified_gmt":"2004-01-07T22:27:16","slug":"religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html","title":{"rendered":"Religion and Geology at the Grand Canyon"},"content":{"rendered":"

An LATimes story (registration) about a book that’s sold in the Grand Canyon bookstore<\/a><\/p>\n

How old is the Grand Canyon? Most scientists agree with the version that rangers at Grand Canyon National Park tell visitors \u2014 that the 10-mile wide chasm in northern Arizona was carved by the Colorado River 5 million to 6 million years ago.<\/p>\n

Now, however, a book in the park’s bookstores tells another story. On sale since last summer, “Grand Canyon: A Different View,” by veteran Colorado River guide Tom Vail, asserts that the Grand Canyon was formed by the Old Testament flood, the one Noah’s Ark survived, and can be no older than a few thousand years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

The book includes essays from creationists and theologians. In the introduction, Vail wrote, “For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of 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.”<\/p>\n

Reaction to the book has been sharply divided. The American Geological Institute and seven geo-science organizations sent letters to the park and to agency officials calling for the book to be removed.<\/p>\n

In part to appease some outraged Grand Canyon employees, the book was moved from the natural sciences section to the inspirational reading section of park bookstores.<\/p>\n

“I’ve had reactions from the staff all over the board on it,” said park Deputy Supt. Kate Cannon. “There were certainly people on the interpretive staff that were upset by it. Respect of visitors’ views is imperative, but we do urge our interpreters to give scientifically correct information.”<\/p>\n

Park Service spokesman David Barna, who is based in Washington, said each park determined which products were sold in its bookstores and gift shops. The creationist book at the Grand Canyon was unanimously approved by a new-product review panel of park and gift shop personnel.<\/p>\n

But the book’s status at the park is still in question. Grand Canyon’s superintendent, Joe Alston, has sought guidance from Park Service headquarters in Washington. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the book has sold out and is being reordered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An LATimes story (registration) about a book that’s sold in the Grand Canyon bookstore How old is the Grand Canyon? Most scientists agree with the version that rangers at Grand Canyon National Park tell visitors \u2014 that the 10-mile wide chasm in northern Arizona was carved by the Colorado River 5 million to 6 million…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nReligion and Geology at the Grand Canyon - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Religion and Geology at the Grand Canyon - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An LATimes story (registration) about a book that’s sold in the Grand Canyon bookstore How old is the Grand Canyon? Most scientists agree with the version that rangers at Grand Canyon National Park tell visitors \u2014 that the 10-mile wide chasm in northern Arizona was carved by the Colorado River 5 million to 6 million…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-01-07T22:27:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"awelborn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Religion and Geology at the Grand Canyon - Via Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Religion and Geology at the Grand Canyon - Via Media","og_description":"An LATimes story (registration) about a book that’s sold in the Grand Canyon bookstore How old is the Grand Canyon? Most scientists agree with the version that rangers at Grand Canyon National Park tell visitors \u2014 that the 10-mile wide chasm in northern Arizona was carved by the Colorado River 5 million to 6 million…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html","og_site_name":"Via Media","article_published_time":"2004-01-07T22:27:16+00:00","author":"awelborn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html","name":"Religion and Geology at the Grand Canyon - Via Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website"},"datePublished":"2004-01-07T22:27:16+00:00","dateModified":"2004-01-07T22:27:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2004\/01\/religion_and_geology_at_the_grand_canyon.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Religion and Geology at the Grand Canyon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/","name":"Via Media","description":"Amy Welborn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a","name":"awelborn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","caption":"awelborn"},"description":"Amy Welborn was born in 1960, the only child of a now-retired professor of political science, a teacher-librarian-artist mother,deceased since 2001, was a teacher, librarian and artist. The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}