From today's WingNutDaily.com: --------------------------------- By Ron Strom 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

Thousands of Americans on both sides of a heated debate over a book offered in a Grand Canyon gift shop have e-mailed their opinions to the National Park Service in the last several days.

"I'm swamped," David Barna, chief of public affairs for the agency, told WorldNetDaily. Barna estimated the number of e-mails and phone calls to be "probably 2,000 easily."

Causing the flow of e-mail is the controversy over a book for sale at the Grand Canyon that claims the famous area was formed by the Old Testament flood Noah survived and can be no older than a few thousand years. That contention has some scientists calling for the book to be pulled from store shelves. Traditional secular science contends the canyon is millions of years old.

Organizations such as the American Geological Institute and the American Institute of Biological Sciences have expressed concern about the book, saying its presence could leave visitors with the impression that it is endorsed by the Park Service.

"The Grand Canyon was formed millions of years ago," said William Ausich, president of the Paleontological Society, according to Religion News Service. "It is the job of the National Park Service to present the best scientific information possible to the public, and the book is complete pseudoscience."

Mark Looy disagrees, saying the canyon is much younger. Looy is vice president of Answers in Genesis, a creationist organization that contributed essays to the book.

"The canyon was formed as a result of the aftereffects of Noah's flood, a worldwide global flood," he said. "Most of the canyon was formed by a lot of water over a relatively short period of time."

Looy told WND Answers in Genesis appears to be leading the effort of creationists to let the Park Service know what they think of the call to remove the book. He says the organization encouraged the 17,000 people on its e-mail list to contact the Park Service. ----------------------------------

Read the rest at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36580

J. Spaceman