Andrew Snelling, an Australian geologist, has spent nearly four years attempting to get a permit to gather about 60 half-pound rock samples from four locations in the Grand Canyon for geological research.

The National Park Service has responded with unneccessary delays and stall tactics, according to his attorney Gary McCaleb. Now Snelling is suing the park service for discriminating against him because of his creationist worldview.

Snelling has a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Sydney and over 45 years’ laboratory and field experience in geological research, according to the official complaint, filed May 9. Snelling has published numerous professional articles in peer-reviewed geology journals and has served as the geologic interpreter on more than 30 river trips through the Grand Canyon since 1992.

Despite Snelling’s credentials, the park service refused to grant him a permit because “he doesn’t have a credible scientific track record.” Officials also told Snelling he should get his rock samples from some other location even though Snelling’s proposal was to expand on previous research he did on sedimentary rock folds that are unique to the Grand Canyon.

Snelling argues the real reason for the park service’s refusal is his belief in young earth creationism. He has been the geology spokesman for the Creation Science Foundation and is the editor-in-chief of the Answers Research Journal, a professional peer-reviewed journal. Both entities are affiliated with Answers in Genesis, a Christian apologetics organization that supports a young earth view of creation.

When the park service ordered Snelling to submit two peer reviews of his project, he submitted three, all of which gave highly favorable ratings. But when the service requested a review of Snelling’s proposal from an expert of its own choice, Karl Karlstrom, a geologist at the University of New Mexico, discredited it. “Snelling is a creationist who appears to wish to advance his faith that Noah’s flood deposited the Cambrian strata,” he wrote in an email.

Karlstrom also scoffed at one of Snelling’s peer reviewers, stating the reviewer “appears to be another creationist” who “has some science papers but also a creationist agenda.”

The park service also sought the opinion of Peter Huntoon, a geologist who has conducted his own research at the Grand Canyon. Huntoon berated Snelling’s proposal calling it “dead end creationist material” and urged the park service to set up an internal screening process “so that those who represent inappropriate interests should be screened out.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Snelling, said the park service’s actions were inconsistent with President Donald Trump’s May 4 religious freedom executive order.

“This case perfectly illustrates why President Trump had to order executive agencies to affirm religious freedom, because park officials specifically targeted Dr. Snelling’s religious faith as the reason to stop his research,” senior counsel Gary McCaleb said.

“Something’s fundamentally wrong when a government stops a good scientist from doing good research,” McCaleb told Phoenix New Times.

©iStockPhoto.com/Rich-Fan

Survey: Belief in atheistic evolution on the rise

Since 1981, the percent of people who believe God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years has hovered between 44 and 47 percent, according to Gallup poll data collected every three years. The percent of those who believe God guided the evolution of humans has vacillated between 32 and 40 percent of the population. The newest data, released last week, indicates both groups now comprise 38 percent of the population. In the meantime, the number of people who believe God had no part in human development has increased from 9 percent in 1981 to 19 percent currently.

But the numbers have little meaning because they do not reflect the nuances of creationist belief. The poll simply divided those who believe God had a part in creation into two camps: young earth creationists and theistic evolutionists. And the survey lumped those who believe in intelligent design together with young earth creationists.

The secular bent of higher education might be swaying beliefs regarding human origins. Nearly half of those with a high school education said they believed in creationism, compared to only 21 percent of those with a postgraduate degree.

Among those who attend church regularly, 65 percent claimed to hold a young earth creationist view. —J.B.

©iStockPhoto.com/Rich-Fan

An old treatment brings new hope for infertility

A medical treatment that has been around for 100 years but is rarely used may effectively treat infertility in women, according to a study published in the May 2017 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Hysterosalpingography is a technique in which doctors flush a woman's fallopian tubes with either a water-based solution or one made from poppy seed oil. If successful, the treatment could eliminate the need for costly in vitro fertilization cycles and the destruction of human embryos that often accompanies them.

When the researchers tested the method on 1,119 infertile women, almost 40 percent in the oil-based group and 29 percent in the water group became pregnant within six months.

“Considering that 40 percent of women in the oil-based group achieved a successful pregnancy, that’s 40 percent of couples who could avoid having to go through the huge costs and emotions associated with IVF treatment,” Ben Mol, the project leader, said in a statement. —J.B.

The Roman siege of Jerusalem: How it happened

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed arrowheads and stone ballista balls, remnants of the bloody battle 2,000 years ago that ended in the conquest of Jerusalem and total destruction of the Second Temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Nature and Parks Authority said in a statement. Archaeologists discovered the weapons when they uncovered the ancient main street that ascended from the city’s gates and the Pool of Siloam to the Temple. It appears Jewish rebels barricaded inside the city fired arrows at the Roman soldiers who catapulted the ballista stones at those who guarded Jerusalem’s walls, just like the ancient historian Josephus recorded, the excavation directors said.

The researchers hope excavations of the street and shops and areas adjacent to it will enable them to learn more about the urban life of the city and shed light on questions such as what the people ate to stay alive during the terrible time of the Roman siege. —J.B.