The Lead

Geocentrism, or the idea that the Earth does not move, and is the center of the created Universe featured as the center point of the disagreement between Galileo and the Pope at the dawn of the Enlightenment. Galileo argued that Copernicus' ideas that the Earth was the third planet from the Sun was a better explanation of what we see in the sky than the Church's then traditional teaching that the Earth was motionless and the Universe revolved around it.

Most of us thought this was settled, with Galileo now being recognized as having been right to stand his ground and the Roman Catholic Church even going so far as to issue a formal apology in the latter part of the last century.

So it's more than a little surprising to stumble across this announcement of a November conference in South Bend near Notre Dame University that will argue that the Church was right all along. Call it neo-Geocentrism:

Galileo Was Wrong is a detailed and comprehensive treatment of the scientific evidence supporting Geocentrism, the academic belief that the Earth is immobile in the center of the universe. Garnering scientific information from physics, astrophysics, astronomy and other sciences, Galileo Was Wrong shows that the debate between Galileo and the Catholic Church was much more than a difference of opinion about the interpretation of Scripture. Scientific evidence available to us within the last 100 years that was not available during Galileo's confrontation shows that the Church's position on the immobility of the Earth is not only scientifically supportable, but it is the most stable model of the universe and the one which best answers all the evidence we see in the cosmos.

You can read a list of the topics to be presented and the list of presenters (most of whom have the letters Ph.D. after their names) on the site "Galileo was wrong"

Comments (10)

This is a religious event for true believers. I wonder if these guys have heard the saying, 'The fault .. is not in our stars but in ourselves" ?

Posted by Rod Gillis | September 11, 2010 9:37 PM

People burning books, "the Earth is Center of the Universe": is there something in the water? O_o

JC Fisher

[I'm tempted to say "it's the End Times" . . . but that's what the nut-jobs WANT us to believe!]

Posted by tgflux | September 11, 2010 9:56 PM

Interesting crackpot case. However, the phrase "near Notre Dame University" bothers me. It suggests that this movement has mainstream Catholic support, and is taken seriously in the Vatican. There is no evidence for this.

Posted by Gmcdavid | September 11, 2010 11:04 PM

It is apparently not new in this modern incarnation but dates back a few decades.

I wonder how longer before some creationists go for a flat earth.

(At least one of the names got his PhD from a diploma mill)

Posted by Emma Pease | September 11, 2010 11:59 PM

I jumped over to the site and lo and behold, the pictures of all the presenters indicates all presenters are white males? Is it in the jeans?

Posted by Fred Schwartz | September 12, 2010 12:28 AM

This conference is sponsored by radical atheists trying to make religion look ridiculous, right?

Posted by Lionel Deimel | September 12, 2010 7:41 AM

Get used to it, the Enlightenment is the new scapegoat for all the world's ills. The resigned Bishop of Durham, N.T. Wright currently bangs a drum called "The long failure of the Enlightenment project" while admitting he does not want a pre-enlightenment dentist owrking on him.
A sub theme is the growing rejection of human rights in the face of religious doctrine. This is not just about shar'ia but also about the equivalent Christian, Jewish, Hindu, fundamentalisms. The most immediate target of this push is to limit the rights of women to abortion, but then to carve back their rights more generally to look more like the global south than the west.
Most ironic of all is the collaboration with this retrenchment of post-modernists like Hauerwas, Milbank and even Bp. Wright. They are prepared to sacrifice a rights secure civil society in favor of the "story". It all sounds great, but it opens the door for the predators of the world to prey upon the weak.

Posted by Michael Russell | September 12, 2010 9:52 AM

My first take is that this is yet another desperate attempt to shore up the failing foundations of the historical Roman Catholic Church and prevent the inevitable slide into irrelevance and obscurity that is so evident in so many ways.

It makes me sad, however, because I still love the RCC of my youth. There is so much good and right within Roman Catholicism but that part has little chance against the legalists, fundamentalists, traditionalists, and all the other -ists who care far more about authority and standing against change of any kind.

Weep for the church!

Posted by Priscilla Cardinale | September 12, 2010 10:32 AM

There's a rumor going around that because of the economic recession and air travel security, the Flat Earth Society is having their next international convention by satellite uplink.

You heard it here first.

Posted by Bill Moorhead | September 12, 2010 7:09 PM

Bill, if the earth were flat, I wonder how that lot explains getting the satellite to stay up there? Perhaps it is hanging from one of the windows of Heaven!

Posted by Däˈvēd Äyān | David Allen | September 12, 2010 11:48 PM

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