'Galileo Was Wrong,' claims geocentrist writer

The Sun Herald ^ | Tue, Mar. 28, 2006 | DRU SEFTON

[orionblamblam]

Bible proves Earth is center of universe, author argues The Earth is at the center of Robert Sungenis' universe. Literally.

Yours too, he says.

Sungenis is a geocentrist. He contends the sun orbits the Earth instead of vice versa. He says physics and the Bible show that the vastness of space revolves around us; that we're at the center of everything, on a planet that does not rotate.

He has just completed a 1,000-page tome, "Galileo Was Wrong," the first in a pair of books he hopes will persuade readers to "give Scripture its due place, and show that science is not all it's cracked up to be."

...

For several years the Web site of his Catholic Apologetics International (www.catholicintl.com) offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who could disprove geocentrism and prove heliocentrism (a sun-centered solar system).

There were numerous attempts, Sungenis said, "some serious, some caustic," but no one did it to his satisfaction. "Most admitted it can't be proven." There's also no proof that the Earth rotates, he said. But what about Foucault's famous pendulum? Its plane of oscillation revolves every 24 hours, showing the rotation of the planet. If the Earth didn't rotate, it wouldn't oscillate.

Nope, Sungenis said: There just may be some other force propelling it, such as the pull of stars.

[scottdeus12]

"More importantly: why the obsession?"

Oh please. You're really not that important.

[MeanWestTexan]

"So it can't be proven that the Earth isn't flat?"

I suppose it could be a mobius strip . . . .

[Antoninus]

And what would he have said to the idea that I could build a vehicle that could fly a man across a sea?

When I die, I'll ask him. (God willing)

[Fraxinus]

It's been way too long since I last took physics.

What is the difference between revolution and rotation again?

[orionblamblam]

> You have declared yourself an agnostic/objectivist on other threads.

Well, then that rather blows the "staunch atheist" nonsense right out of the water, yes? Along with torpedoing anyone who knew that *and* suggested that a Google search would prove that I was an atheist.

Typical Creationoid tactics.

[orionblamblam]

Then why are you discussing my religious beliefs - or lack thereof - as if they actually matter to you?


Some FReepers just can't STAND it that other FReepers dare not believe in their God.

[SlowBoat407]

What is the difference between revolution and rotation again?

I see rotation as turning of a mass around its own central axis, while a revolution describes the count of complete turns the body makes.

My own definitions, but adequate for my needs.

[orionblamblam]

Just be careful that you're not too busy being roasted for all eternity. You never know... the Greek Orthodox might be the right ones. Or the Mormons. Or the Shakers. Or even - GASP! - the Lutherans.

[ArrogantBustard]

STK is great ... it's just not a general purpose, array-based programming language.

[Dimensio]

So it can't be proven that the Earth isn't flat?

I should have been more specific. Concepts in science cannot be proven true. However, scientific concepts can be proven false, or disproven. In fact, there must be an established criteria for proving a claim false for that claim to be scientific. As such, it can be said that "the earth is flat" is a falsifiable claim, and it can in fact be disproven.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Did the stars make you type that post?

I've always been somewhat misaligned.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

This is whatever there is that is below sophistry. Foolishness.

Koestler (The Sleepwalkers) makes a forcful case for believing that Galileo did not understand Copernican astronomy, much less Ptolemaic. "Dialogues" probably did more to delay the acceptance of a heliocentric solar system than the Inquistion. Galileo's beef with the pope had more to do with personality than science, truth or philosophy.

[FormerLib]

Perhaps you are manipulated by unseen forces!

[scottdeus12]

"Some FReepers just can't STAND it that other FReepers dare not believe in their God"

The choice is yours and yours alone. I just wonder why Christianity makes you so hostile...???

[Focault's Pendulum]

Perhaps you are manipulated by unseen forces!

Mebbe I was a Thetan in a former life.

[Hacksaw]

Then why are you discussing my religious beliefs - or lack thereof - as if they actually matter to you?

Most likely because you have a habit of trolling religion threads and mocking people's deeply held beliefs. You see, you have a reputation as a jerk. It was earned complety by yourself.

Some FReepers just can't STAND it that other FReepers dare not believe in their God.

A shining example of projection. Most of us could not care less what you believe (it just isn't that important). On the other hand, you are positively obsessed with Christians.

[Alberta's Child]

The irony was that Galileo was wrong on scientific grounds back then, because he couldn't measure the "stellar parallax" of any stars (this phenomenon involves stars changing position relative to each other very slightly as the earth moves from one point in its path around the sun to another point 180 degrees away). I believe it was Friedrich Bessel who first measured such a thing in 1813 -- nearly 200 years after Galileo first postulated his theories about a heliocentric universe.

It's also worth noting that Galileo was absolutely wrong in his stubborn refusal to accept Johannes Kepler's theory of elliptical planetary orbits. He insisted that planets could only revolve around the sun in circular orbits.

[FormerLib]

I, for one, would like to write this guy off as a Scientologist but that clearly is not so.

Unless he's a covert Scientologist infiltrating the Roman Church via their TV channel.

[MeanWestTexan]

One revolves around something, while one rotates around oneself, I believe.