John A. Broussard

A recent poll revealed that 25 percent of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth.

So when I present a devastating argument against biblical innerancy showing that Joshua couldn't make the sun stand still since it isn't moving, I get nowhere.

Now, I know why that argument goes nowhere.

And that has implications for the rest of this section. Many of us assume that simply pointing out what science has long ago demonstrated, that the sun doesn't revolve around the earth, that the earth isn't flat, that rabbits don't chew their cud, etc. points out the silliness of believing in biblical inerrancy.

It doesn't.

Voice of reason

Do you happen to have that poll? I would like to see that because sometimes I have trouble breaking through when I show them that passage.

pharoah

Actually it's incorrect to say that the sun isn't moving, because it orbits the Milky Way. The real question is what are the ramifications of the sun standing still while other objects in the Milky Way continue to move? I honestly don't know, but it's not something I want to experience.

John A. Broussard

"All in all, most scientists believe that teaching ''intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution is like teaching the flat-Earth theory as an alternative to the round. But as science pollster Jon Miller of Northwestern will tell you, one in every five Americans believes the sun revolves around the Earth." Ellen Goodman article, Oct. 14.

It's been listed in other news items with a slightly different figure, but I haven't bothered to go back to the original to check the actual numbers.

John A. Broussard

Wooowie!

It's tough enough getting theists to admit the earth isn't the center of the universe without getting into a discussion of galaxy dynamics.

Give me a break.

Splarnst

1 in 5 = 20%, not 25%.

John A. Broussard

Right. Check my second post.

I believe Dowd used the 25%. I'll see if I can run down the original.

Evacuate

When I present an scientific argument to a Bible believer it always ends with "With God, anything is possible" or "We can't know the mind of God". I cant get anywhere, usually there is just a lot of yelling, and hurt fellings, and they are not mine.

John A. Broussard

That, of course, settles the argument. There's no point in presenting contradictory proof to someone who says, substantially, "Don't bother me with facts."

yummyfur

Here's a link to the download of the full data

http://roperweb.ropercenter.uconn.ed...ogRegistration

I did a quick looksee, though I'm not sure I did everything correct in importing and quering the data(I had a date conversion error on the 2000 survey, so only looked at 1997 and later). These surveys were done from 1979-2001. When I looked at the 1997 survey(2000 responses) I get 4%(89 responses) say the sun revovles around the earth, 12%(264 responses) don't know whether the sun revolves around the earth or the earth revolves around the sun, and 84%(1671 responses) say the earth revolves around the sun.

The 1995 survey data

total responses 2006
Sun revolves around Earth 136 responses (7%)
Don't Know 286 responses (14%)
Earth revolves around Sun 1584 responses (79%)

The 1992 survey

total responses 1995
Sun revolves around Earth 121 responses (6%)
Don't Know 236 responses (12%)
Earth revolves around Sun 1638 responses (82%)

The 1988 survey (first year for this question)

total responses 2041
Sun revolves around Earth 101 responses (5%)
Don't Know 268 responses (13%)
Earth revolves around Sun 1672 responses (82%)