The book that we’re talking about at the Grand Canyon park is being sold as if it were telling the (scientific) truth.

Again, presenting the Grand Canyon book as if it is a myth that one group of people believe (along with Native American beliefs), that’s very different from presenting those books as accurate reflections of modern knowledge.

to me, the most telling part of this argument/bickering is that the “non-believers” seem to be held to a higher standard of proof than the believers…

do the religious zealots ever take a half-truth and spin it in their own favor for the sake of argument? quite frequently. but those who prefer the separation of church and state are apparently not allowed to take a three-quarter-truth to demonstrate that our government should not be selling religious texts in national parks.

(as they were actual residents, presenting the Native American beliefs in national parks is very appropriate. if there was actual evidence that Noah was present at the creation of the Grand Canyon, it would be appropriate to present that viewpoint.)

Zeolite said:
I do strongly agree that religious or spiritual books and ideas should not be sold or interpreted to the public as scientific fact but in many case those beliefs are part of the history or culture of a site and part of what makes that location nationally significant.

I think you’re right about that. I can’t imagine being able to talk about the settling of Utah & Salt Lake City without prominent coverage of the LDS pioneers & settlers.

As far as “misinformation” being reported from apparently authoritative government sources: When I worked for federal offices, odd reports would appear from time to time and it wasn’t always easy to figure out how the story got so twisted. But there were more frequent instances where people really didn’t comprehend the “question” being asked by a member of the public / media or who genuinely believed they had conveyed accurate information but were completely off base.

Once the misinformation gets circulated, for some issues, no amount of “clarification” will be accepted by the public.

Thanks for posting that link. This kind of stuff makes you wonder what the employee organization was thinking, or whether it was a ploy for some other grievance. It doesn’t take much effort for a mistaken or unhappy person to turn out a pretty good news story!

I can see the far-right fundamentalists using this sort of small scale dust-up as evidence of government wide persecution of religion. Of course, compared to the non-existent “War on Christmas” this is nothing. Though I doubt you’ll see any of the Christmas Warriors standing down or even bothering to track down the sources of their “war.”

Color me mildly irritated. I still have uneasy feelings about religious or “spiritual” texts sold on government property.