Greg Morgan presents some pictures of Paria Canyon in Arizona, and has the audacity to express his belief that the sandstone was sculptured by a global flood (Herald, Jan. 2).

This precipitated a flood of antagonism in the Jan. 17 letters column. John Lawhead attacked the Herald for publishing such an interesting idea. Next he may advocate that the editors be burned at the stake for publishing heresy.

Steve McDuffie mentioned the formations are 200 million years old and are simply ancient sand dunes. As a scientist committed to observation and experiment, his view must be respected, because he apparently is the only surviving scientific observer of that Mesozoic process.

Bruce Bjornstad (Letters, Jan. 17) apparently doesn't like creationists but loves geologists who say the formations are simply wind deposited sandstone. I doubt he's never seen the formations first hand, but to give him credit, maybe it wasn't water but high velocity wind that welded chunks of sandstone into position.

Chris Lewallen called Morgan's idea totally ridiculous and appears to believe consensual opinions of geoscientists define metaphysical certainty.

Obviously, these disapprovers' faith presumptions required them to object vociferously so to remain true believers in the Church of the Public School, which we all know teaches only absolute truth, especially for unobserved phenomenon happening 200 million years ago.

CHUCK FOLEY, Richland