Video from Rebecca Watson (note for ableism… and again, we’re not discussing that here; I’m working on the ableism post, and we can discuss all that, within some bounds, there when I’m finally ready to post it). That link also has the sorta transcript, if you want or need to read it, instead…

So, her source is from The Atlantic. And like Rebecca, I also initially thought Andrew Snelling was suing the Grand Canyon just for existing, because it is one of the best repositories for evidence of just how ancient the earth really is.

Turns out that’s not the case…

Last week, Snelling sued park administrators and the Department of Interior, which administers the national parks program, because they would not grant him a permit to collect 50 to 60 fist-sized rocks. All research in the national park is restricted, especially if it requires removing material. But the Grand Canyon does host 80 research projects a year, ranging from archaeology digs to trout tracking.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group that filed the lawsuit on behalf of Snelling, alleged discrimination by the park. “National Park Service: Research in Grand Canyon okay for geologists … but not Christian ones,” read the headline on their press release. (Interior department and NPS spokespeople declined to comment because of the pending litigation.)

What was he hoping to research?

Well… if you search for terms like “How did the Grand Canyon form?” on Youtube, and scroll a ways (you may also have to go past the first page; I’m not really sure because I didn’t do the search) you’ll find a 35-minute lecture (no, I’m not linking to it) by Andrew Snelling (who, of course, works for Answers in Genesis) saying that the Grand Canyon was formed by the “Great Flood”.

This is an old YEC canard that, to this day, they insist on being true despite that being actually impossible.

Andrew wanted to do “tests” on a bunch of rocks in order to “research” how the Great Flood caused the Grand Canyon.

At least, we know that’s what he wanted to do. He didn’t actually say that when he applied for permission to do the research…

Exactly why the park did not grant Snelling’s application is, of course, now the subject of a lawsuit. His project did involve collecting a sizable number of rocks, which can invite more scrutiny. In an email to Snelling filed as part of the lawsuit, a park officer said the project was not granted because the type of rock he wanted to study can also be found outside of the Grand Canyon. The park solicited peer reviews from three mainstream geologists. One mentioned the rocks could be found elsewhere; all three overwhelmingly denounced the work as not scientifically valid, a criterion the park also uses to evaluate proposals. Snelling, who holds a Ph.D. in geology, did not disclose his Answers in Genesis affiliation, nor did he explicitly say he wanted to prove the Grand Canyon is young in his initial permit application, but the reviewers became aware of his reputation.

I will say… I really like how the Atlantic article ends…

It’s hard to imagine how much can happen in geological time. About 1.7 billion years ago, a series of volcanoes crashed into what would become the continent of North America and created mountains taller than the Himalayas today. Those mountains eroded back down to hills to form the rock that now rests at the base of the canyon. Over countless millions of years, a shallow sea expanded and contracted over the area, laying down the sediment that would become the sandstone, shale, and limestone layers. Plate tectonics then pushed those rock layers up and up to became the Colorado Plateau. And finally, flowing water carved its way down 1.7 billion years of rock.

It’s hard to imagine, but there is wonder and grandeur in this imagination, too.

That’s really poetic, actually. It’s a simplistic explanation, obviously, that leaves out a lot of details, but it’s a good condensed, one-paragraph summary, written with a poetic angle that leaves me, frankly, in awe of nature not gods required).

As for the lawsuit… I just quote Rebecca’s final statement from the sorta transcript…

So here’s hoping that a federal judge knocks some sense into Snelling. Well, let’s be honest, that’s probably impossible at this point. So let’s just hope a judge is able to explain in simple, monosyllabic terms why Young-Earth Creationism isn’t science — it’s religion. And the National Park Service has every right to discriminate against religious crusades.

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Wow. I’m actually kind of surprised at how good it felt to write a post about YECs. In a twisted way, I wouldn’t mind getting back to ranting about religion and creationism, answering ridiculous questions posed by theists to atheists, and so on.

It’s funny, but recently I logged back in to some old forums where I participated in old YEC/Evolution and Theist/Atheist debates. I do remember how infuriating they could get, and I cringed at many of my old posts. But I also felt nostalgic…