Be not deceived: Heliocentrism is an Atheist Doctrine

[Fumesucker]

http://blogs4brownback.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/heliocentrism-is-an-atheist-doctrine/

What’s even worse than the debate raging in American schools about the teaching of the soulless doctrine of evolution, is the non-debate over an issue that rational Americans have foolishly conceded to the secular among us: the issue of Heliocentrism, or the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Now, it has to be granted that there may be some mathematical evidence going either way; mathematically speaking, Copernicus may be on ground nearly as firm as that of Tycho Brahe. Right-thinking people know the correct doctrine, however:

Heliocentrism is the view that the sun is at the center of the universe. It was proposed by some ancient Greeks,<1> and became the dominant view in the 1700s and 1800s. It was abandoned in the 20th century.

Since the advent of relativity theory in the early 1900s, the laws of physics have been written in covariant equations, meaning that they are equally valid in any frame. Heliocentric and geocentric theories are both used today, depending on which allows more convenient calculations

It seems clear that it may occasionally be convenient to assume that the calculations of Copernicus and Kepler were mathematically sound. However, for both moral and theological reasons, we should always bear in mind that the Earth does not move. If it moved, we would feel it moving. That’s called empiricism, the experience of the senses. Don’t take my word for it, or the evidence of your own senses, Copernicans. There’s also the Word of the Lord:

“He has fixed the earth firm, immovable.” (1 Chronicles 16:30)

“Thou hast fixed the earth immovable and firm …” (Psalm 93:1)

“Thou didst fix the earth on its foundation so that it never can be shaken.” (Psalm 104:5)

“…who made the earth and fashioned it, and himself fixed it fast…” (Isaiah 45:18)

“The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.” (Ecclesiastes 1:5)

“Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” (Joshua 10, 12-13)

<snip>

Much more convincing evidence at the link..

Edited to fix tags..

[panzerfaust]

1. Score one for Atheists

But, remember, as Pope Pius IX wrote, in his 1864 "Syllabus of Errors"

Divine revelation is perfect and, therefore, it is not subject to continual and indefinite progress in order to correspond with the progress of human reason.... No man is free to embrace and profess that religion which he believes to be true, guided by the light of reason... The church has the power to define dogmatically the religion of the Catholic Church to be the only true religion...It is necessary even in the present day that the Catholic religion shall be held as the only religion of the state, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship... The civil liberty of every mode of worship, and full power given to all of openly and publicly manifesting their opinions and their ideas conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people... The Roman Pontiff cannot and ought not to reconcile himself or agree with progress, liberalism and modern civilization.

And I think, I believe(?), that the Poper was infallible at the time (do not recall the precise date he became infallible - but it was right around the time of the War Between the States).

Do you sort of get the feeling that HRC might be opposed to free-thought, and even ecumenicalism?

[Pab Sungenis]

2. Sadly, there's more than just one crank churning this out.

If you search for my stuff on Amazon and leave off the first name, you're more likely to get this from my crazy uncle Bob:

http://www.amazon.com/Galileo-Was-Wrong-Scientific-Geocentrism/dp/0977964051/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243342580&sr=8-8

[struggle4progress]

4. Can't pick your family

:scared:

[struggle4progress]

3. I know this snark makes you feel daringly modern, but this particular fight really was over

hundreds of years ago. In ancient Greece, the traditional view that the sun and moon were divine was in full retreat within a few generations of the trial of Socrates, who dared take the then impious view to the contrary. The subsequent Roman conquest of Greece had the effect of spreading Greek rationality across the classical world, and with that came effective astronomical calculations. Since no stellar parallax was actually observed until the early nineteenth century, there was a long period in which the motion of the earth could be doubted factually, but any remaining heliocentric debate really ended abruptly, on purely aesthetic grounds, with Newton's elegant celestial mechanics. Thus, though one could always devise reorganize the whole theory to put the earth immovably at the center, any competent scientist should plead there is simply no other practical competition against a heliocentric view of the solar system, since the heliocentric view provides such an enormous calculational benefit

There are no doubt some whackadoodles out there with all manner of strange views: I once met a fellow who believed it was a sin to look at stars through his telescope, though he was perfectly happy to look at planets; and I once met a woman who was convinced the Apollo astronauts had met aliens on the moon and had censored the news of that historic encounter. Whatever the intentions of the author of the little blog you posted, I have never ever in my life actually met anyone who thought the question Does the earth stand still or move? was an issue of enough theological concern, that they felt it necessary to speak of it within my hearing -- which suggests that the number of people holding that view is probably rather small

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It's not over for an adviser to a Republican politician

Georgia State Rep. Ben Bridges of Cleveland, home of Cabbage Patch dolls and Babyland General Hospital, is a vocal critic of evolution. This former barber and captain in the state patrol has twice (1999 and 2005) introduced legislation to include non-existent evidence against evolution in public schools -- one of the teach-the-controversy laws that the Discovery Institute is so fond of these days. In 2005, Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science Education testified against his bill, causing Bridges to remark that he could have gotten "experts" as well, if he'd known that GCISE was going to be there. Earlier this week, we learned the type of "experts" that Bridges relies on.

On Feb. 9, Texas State Rep. Warren Chisum, the second most powerful member, sent a memo from Bridges to every member of the Texas House of Representatives. This memo advertised a model bill and called for the end of "tax-supported evolution science" because it "is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings on the mystic ‘holy book' kabbala dating back at least two millennia". Talk about bringing the crazy -- but wait there's more. Bridges's memo invites lawmakers to visit FixedEarth.com, the "non-moving Earth & anti-evolution web page of the Fair Education Foundation, Inc." Yeap, you read that right, Fixed -- WTF -- Earth.com.

So what is the connection between FixedEarth.com and Ben Bridges? FixedEarth.com is run by one of Bridges's friends, Marshall Hall of Cornelia, and it would appear that Hall is the "expert" behind Bridges's anti-evolution legislation in Georgia. Two years ago, while GCISE was testifying against HB 179, Bridges remarked that had he know that the university folks were going to be there, he'd have brought his own experts. Can you imagine the sound of everyone's jaw hitting to floor if Hall got up and began to talk about he used to be "indoctrinated by the contra-scientific nonsense of Darwinism and Copernicanism (not mention Marxism, Freudianism, Saganism, and the like)"? Creationists are crazy, but we're not usually prepared for them to be that crazy. If you are too crazy for Answers In Genesis, then there is a room for you at the "State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum" in Milledgeville.

Needless to say, blaming evolution on a Jewish conspiracy might go well with the cross-burning, tinfoil-hat wearing crowd, but is not going to play well with most of middle America. Chisum and Bridges have been back peddling ever since Texas journalists discovered the Bridges-Chisum-Hall memo.

http://www.talkreason.org/articles/gimme.cfm

So you see, the blog brought up that web site because it came from someone with influence with real politicians.

[struggle4progress]

7. LOL! Ben got smushed like a bug on that one!

For some reason, Bridges decides to give evolution bill a rest this session
Monday, February 26, 2007, 09:20 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the first time in 11 years, state Rep. Ben Bridges (R-Cleveland) won’t introduce a bill to hinder the teaching of evolution in Georgia ... http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2007/02/26/for_some_reason_bridges_decide.html

:rofl:

I was pleased to note that Ben's not in the GA legislature any more: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/house/alpha.html

Anyone who wants a copy of "The truth: God or evolution?" by the anti-semitic geocentric wahackadoodle Marshall Hall can pick one up at Amazon for as little as $0.55, though you can also throw away $40.41 for a copy if you want. Personally, I wouldn't dirty my hands with it
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0801041392/ref=sr_1_olp_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243447249&sr=1-10

[Strong Atheist]

5. Oh for petes sake!

:eyes:

what a load of :hurts: