oi

[rm]

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

I really should stop being surprised.

Basically, if you visit the Grand Canyon and ask how old it is, they won't tell you, because they don't want to offend Creationists.

Comments

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Just one more item to add to my ever-building rant: "You Know Why Everybody Makes Fun Of The U.S.? Because Unfortunately By Majority We Are A Christian Nation And I Have Yet To Find A Religion More Impervious To Logic Or Critical Thinking Than Christianity!"

[storyjen.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't tar all Christians with the same brush - there are plenty of us who think the Creationists are total nutbars too, BELIEVE me....

[melebeth]

On a happier note, Gerald Ford left a posthumous statement calling the Iraq war stupid.

[billijean.livejournal.com]

huh?

Well.. now *I'm* offended. What are they going to do about that?

Nothing, I'll wager :/

[alterjess.livejournal.com]

(Deleted the bad HTML version)

At the very least, PEER is exaggerating this -- the official Parks Service Grand Canyon FAQ says (http://www.nps.gov/grca/faqs.htm#old):

How old is the Canyon?

That's a tricky question. Although rocks exposed in the walls of the canyon are geologically quite old, the Canyon itself is a fairly young feature. The oldest rocks at the canyon bottom are close to 2000 million years old. The Canyon itself - an erosional feature - has formed only in the past five or six million years. Geologically speaking, Grand Canyon is very young.

I can't find any evidence beyond the PEER article that the Parks Service is doing anything more sinister than selling a crappy book in their gift shop.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Truly, I normally don't do such slapdash tarring. But I'm talking about majorities here - the majority of Christians in the U.S. (and possibly the world) and the majority of people in the U.S. Not just creationism, but a whole bunch of other nutbar concepts in modern Christianity that have no scriptural basis whatsoever, from the Rapture and the Antichrist to the celibate priesthood. And these people run our government.

Plus, I've had the flu for like ten days now. I need a good rant.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, I was right. I bitched about some of these things a hair over two years ago. [link (http://hangedwoman.livejournal.com/40607.html)]

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

I tend to believe that the nutball few manage to have nothing better to do, get their nutball issues in front of the right people because they don't have to worry about silly daliances like jobs or anything, and manage to get themselves listened to and acted upon even though given a headcount they wouldn't come close to any kind of majority. It then becomes misconstrued that those of us who feel we're "normal" in our acceptance of applied scientific measurements to something like the Grand Canyon are in no way blasphemous or heresy. And because so many of these nutballs manage to get some kind of religious background, you have more than willing organizations AND individuals willing to pitch in to them/for them in the misapprehension they are "doing the right thing"...or at least letting someone else do it for them while they're out having jobs or something...

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

heh! Ok fine...so YOUR friends will comment on that bit of stupidity! I imagine mine won't cuz they're too busy shaking their heads in disbelief...!!

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

This is not a new thing, and not the only thing that is foul in the Parks Service. See piece here (http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair12222003.html).

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Do I need to point out all the supporting arguments that our current Federal administration is more than a little bit Rapture Christian Nutball in its policy making in areas from the environment to foreign policy?

However, your icon for the win. :)

[lllvis.livejournal.com]

In a way this only supports my argument! Same nutballs with nothing better to do often also wind up running for office...and unfortunately winning...

;-)

[lolliejean.livejournal.com]

Good fucking grief. :::eyeroll:::

[wurmwyd.livejournal.com]

Hi there!

As I commented in synnoveaevael's journal:

"Fundamentalist Christianity. Fascinating. These people actually believe the world is 12 thousand years old. Swear to God! Based on what? I asked them.
"Well, we looked at all the people in the Bible, and we added them up all the way back to Adam and Eve, their ages – 12 thousand years."
"Well, how fucking scientific! Okay. I didn't know that you'd gone to so much trouble there. That's good"

"You believe the world's 12 thousand years old?"
"That's right."
"Okay, I got one question to ask you. A one word question. Ready?"
"Uh-uh."
"Dinosaurs"

You know, the world's 12 thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, and they existed in that time … you'd think it would have been mentioned in the fucking Bible at some point. "And lo, Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus … with a splinter in his paw. And O, the disciples did run a-shrieking: 'What a big fucking lizard, Lord!' But Jesus was unafraid, and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw, and the big lizard became his friend. And Jesus sent him to Scotland where he lived in a loch for O, so many years, inviting thousands of American tourists to bring their fat fucking families and their fat dollar bills. And O, Scotland did praise the Lord: 'Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.'"

"Dinosaur fossils?"
"God put those there to test our faith."
"Thank God I'm strapped in right now here man. I think God put you here to test my faith, Dude. You believe that?"
"Uh huh."
"Does that trouble anyone here? The idea that God.. might be... fuckin' with our heads? I have trouble sleeping with that knowledge. Some prankster God running around: "Hu hu ho. We will see who believes in me now, ha HA."

--The Late Great Bill Hicks