This is ... well just read it

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=801

Also read:
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=428

 

I'm not the least bit concerned about the fact that a certain book is being sold in the gift shop at a National park.
I'm very concerned that there are misguided idiots in our government that think it should be the function of the state to ban books and to regulate what views are considered acceptable for people to hold.
Scary stuff.

 

oke, Grand Canyon created by Noah's Flood. Lets bring it on, what kind of things can we credit the Bible for?

I say, the Eifeltower was made from the people of Babel who wanted to reach the skies. God prevented it and let the people arround the tower speak French, which nobody understood (Story of the Tower of Babel)

 

None of that is what this is about. The people who want to buy that sort of book can do so and those who don't want to will not. That is what freedom is about. We don't need the state to tell us which books or which opinions are approved of by the state and which are not approved of.

 

I mean this in the nicest possible way but you Americans are a wacky, wacky bunch. :lol:



Still it is one of lifes little oddities that Young American is so much more regious than Old Europe. Probably your lack of regious war.

 

I don't mind it much that books spreading these beliefs are being sold in the giftshop. Indeed, through the principle of freedom of thought, they should be allowed to be sold and bought there. However, the tourguides should tell their customers the truth and the truth only, and their ability to speak the truth should not be restricted in any way. Religious extremism of this kind hampers the spread of truth in favour of unnecessary doubt or outright untruth such as the idea that the Grand Canyon was created by the Flood.

Scientific fact is what should rule the public space, religious ideas are for the private sphere.

 

Well cach is here:

And here:

 

I'm not religious and don't see this as a religious issue. The state doesn't need to take sides in such issues. People are free to believe as they like.

 

In my view neither version can be "proven" in the sense that there is an absolute truth. The entire issue of what caused the Grand Canyon is beyond the scope of a tour guide and not a necessary part of a tour of the site. The whole tempest in a teapot could be avoided by side stepping around the geological origins of the canyon. The tour guides could merely refer those who wish to learn more about the canyon to the gift shop and they could choose whichever version appealed to them.

 

Those kinds of things are exactly what concerns me. The issue has become politicized and now the state is deciding what constitutes "approved interpretive themes". Approved by the state.

 

I agree, as long as they're in the "fiction" section. :roll:

Absolutely.

I shouldn't be surprised by now, but items like this from the USA still have my jaw dropping in amazement. How on earth can they reconcile their happy acceptance of the benefits which the scientific method brings (without which we would still be in the Stone Age), with such a determined rubbishing of the results of the scientific method when they conflict with some ancient fable first told thousands of years ago by people who knew nothing about science? Talk about hypocrisy: the mind boggles

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

I was reading in todays paper that Intelligent Design is making an appearance in the UK. Only in reglious classes to far but I'm sure they;ll soon try to turn it into a 'science' :angry:

 

Yes: there's a well-organised campaign by creationists to produce and distribute (for free) lots of professional-looking material for schools to use, all with a pseudo-science gloss.

I find it dismaying that any science teachers should fall for this, but some are. IMO teaching such views should disqualify science teachers from the profession, since they are fundamentally anti-science. Sadly, there has long been such a chronic shortage of science teachers in the UK that many science classes are taught by non-scientists (or not very good ones).

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

But honestly,i think religion and science should all be in the public sphere...If there is freedom of speech or whatever stuff there is in Western countries..then shouldn't Science readily accept religion into the public sphere since it is more modern and such?

 

No, because it has the freedom not to

 

There need be no conflict between science and religion, as long as each stays in its respective sphere. Religion should be concerned with the "why?" of life - the philosophical and spiritual side - leaving science to deal with the "how?" questions.

The problem comes when religion tries to answer the questions about how life, the universe and all that developed by reference to ancient fables, when science provides far more rational answers backed up by an overwhelming mass of factual evidence.

Incidentally, it is a favourite ploy of creationists to pretend that Christianity = creationism. This is nonsense; neither the Roman Catholic nor the Anglican churches accept creationism. It is a rather bizarre fundamentalist belief which is highly concentrated in the USA, but even there about half of Christians accept the fact of evolution.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

Well it goes both ways doesn't it?

 

We say about the same about you stuck up Europeans (also in the nicest way )

 

Amen Brother!

Edit: You will all probably have guessed that I think the 'Grand Canyon created by Noah's Flood' idea is, well, as plausible as the idea that Grieg hates the USA and all it stands for, and the USMC in particular.
While I would personally rather not have such rubbish displayed on bookshelves (aside from anything else it makes Christians look dumb ) the USA is a free country. But then they should very certainly be allowed to have other books telling a rather more scientifically-backed story, and at least one stating that the Grand Canyon is a UFO landing strip!

Edit #2: Um, actually, reading the article, this is fuss over nothing. 23 new books were reviewed for possible inclusion into the park giftshop, and this one was chosen. It is not the only book you can buy, it is simply the only recent addition to the collection of books you can buy. I smell a case of extremely slanted journalism. :angry:

 

Amen Brother!

Edit: You will all probably have guessed that I think the 'Grand Canyon created by Noah's Flood' idea is, well, as plausible as the idea that Grieg hates the USA and all it stands for, and the USMC in particular.