--- In [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > In a message dated 1/9/07 12:27:24 P.M. Central Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > The > objection is to selling it in a bookstore devoted > to science. > > Who owns and runs the bookstore?
>From the NPS Grand Canyon Web site: "The bookstores throughout Grand Canyon National Park, are operated by the Grand Canyon Association. GCA is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1932 to support the educational goals of the National Park Service at Grand Canyon. "The association provides financial support to Grand Canyon National Park, publishes canyon related books and free park publications, funds research and naturalist programs, and helps support the park's research library and exhibits." http://www.nps.gov/grca/supportyourpark/bookstore.htm I was wrong; the canyon bookstores (there are several) are not "devoted to science" per se. They have various types of books on the canyon, guidebooks, calendars, artwork, and so on, typical museum-type bookstore products. But they're definitely not "souvenir shops," and they do have a significant number of scientifically oriented books on geology, ecology, wildlife, and so on. Check out the bookstore catalog: http://tinyurl.com/y59h7d This is from the 2005 "Director's Order: Interpretation and Education" for the Park Service overall. It was released two years *after* the controversy began over the creationist book: 8.4.2 Historical and Scientific Research. Superintendents, historians, scientists, and interpretive staff are responsible for ensuring that park interpretive and educational programs and media are accurate and reflect current scholarship. To accomplish this, an on-going dialogue must be established. Questions often arise round the presentation of geological, biological, and evolutionary processes. The interpretive and educational treatment used to explain the natural processes and history of the Earth must be based on the best scientific evidence available, as found in scholarly sources that have stood the test of scientific peer review and criticism. The facts, theories, and interpretations to be used will reflect the thinking of the scientific community in such fields as biology, geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and paleontology. Interpretive and educational programs must refrain from appearing to endorse religious beliefs explaining natural processes. Programs, however, may acknowledge or explain other explanations of natural processes and events. http://www.nps.gov/policy/DOrders/DOrder6.html This sounds very fair to me. As to the book, I wouldn't have a problem with it being sold in the bookstores if it were in a section clearly labeled "Religion" or "Culture" or something similar. But it *must* not be grouped with scientific books. And the Rangers *must* be allowed to answer questions honestly about the canyon's age.
