John A. Broussard

Thanks for checking that out. The polls you cite are different from Miller report. Even more fascinating, in a way.

HelmetWB

"On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day."
Joshua 10:12-13

I think that you get nowhere because of the nature of miracles. They are, after all, miraculous. Anyway a believer with a passing respect for science might argue that this was a perception problem, perhaps in a sci-fi multi-dimensional sense. God's miracle, thus did not occur in a 'normal' space-time continuum.

My point being that once one starts throwing around terms like 'space-time continuum’ or ‘multi-dimensional’ space, and combine them with the will of God then who is to say what’s possible? Ok, ok, you might say what’s possible, but you’ve probably already lost the attention of the true believers.

Fantastic Voyage

Good God, someone, bring me drink....

but your major point is far more interesting..why is it believed....of course if the sun had "stood still"....that the Earth had suddenly stopped moving would cause continents to cartwheel over each other, Oceans displaced would crash down on land masses, killing millions...

what really happend, it was long day ending in victory for the Israelites..and it seemed as if the sun stood still.

countjulian

Now-a-days, it's an idol, like the pagan statues of gold. It is believed to have magical powers, as well as the answers to all of life's problems. People love their idols, and usually only something very drastic is enough to rob them of it...

John A. Broussard

Theists don't buy this. "Joshua made the sun stand still." That's what the bible says, and not, "Joshua made the sun appear to stand still."

I like the most usual theist explanation that the earth stopped rotating, and that the bible writers knew that but didn't want to confuse their ignorant contemporaries with the notion of a rotating earth.

Bob K

Here on the SecWeb someone once summarized religionist fundie tactics thus:

1. Deny.
2. Evade.
3. Obfuscate.
4. Attack.

Most fundie responses to descriptions of truth/facts will thus result in denial/evasion/obfuscation/attack.

diana

:notworthy Beautiful. I wonder who said it first.

d

Vorkosigan

Does the poll show that 1 in 5 Americans think the sun revolves around the earth, or does it show that 1 in 5 do not know wha "revolves" means in that context?

Vorkosigan

John A. Broussard

I have no idea, since I haven't been able to run down the original poll. However, from the similar polls mentioned in earlier posts in this thread I suspect that most of the respondents don't know what revolves mean, others don't know what earth means, many don't know what the sun means, and probably most don't give a damn.

The sample of posters we get here are hardly a representative sample of the total population. As a result, we're misled into believing that most people, while perhaps not sharing our views, at the very least have the basic facts about the universe straight in their minds.

That just ain't so!!!!