For those of you who like to check out the evening sky... December 1st you can see Venus and Jupiter in close proximity to the moon. The two planets will look like large silvery stars. I understand that some people think they are UFO's hovering close to the moon.
Lark, thanks for that info, I'll try to remember to look tomorrow evening. I've been reading a book of Galileos original writings, including his first descriptions of the moons around Jupiter and the strange "ears" of Saturn.
Galileo was a strong proponent of the "Copernican System", which says the earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa. The religious people of his day could not accept a model of the solar system that did not include a stationary earth, and claimed his ideas were "against scripture". They considered killing him, but in the end settled for a sentence of a lifetime house arrest.
A similar conflict is going on today in regards to evolution and religion.
Mutter, back in Galileos day, the religious people thought there was no way God would have made the earth just another planet in the vast machinery of space. The earth was obviously the most important of all the creation, and all the planets and stars were made for the glory of the earth. So why would He make to earth to obey the same motions and laws as other planets? The scriptures said the sun rose and set, not the earth revolved so it appeared so. This was all believed in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Today, the religious people think the universe was made for the glory of man. Man is the central purpose of creation, so why would God allow man to slowly evolve from lower life forms? The scriptures say God made man in the Garden in more or less the present form, in His own likeness.
This is all believed in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
"A similar conflict is going on today in regards to evolution and religion."
Stan,
Don't you think that's getting a little carried away? Galileo was a genius. I'd say about half the people believe in evolution and about half believe in the creation story. I don't think that many people are genius even if only one side turns out to be right. It could be everyone is wrong the way both sides are presenting their theories.
I don't like either side's presentation. But I don't claim to be a genius for either side or even right.
But I do believe the whole thing is a spiritual matter and not a scientific or religious matter either one.
For the time being I'll stick with Walt Whitman's poem: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
When I heard the learn'd1 astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.
I'm in southern California and I am seeing the same as Serius posted... except the planets are lower under the moon, about at the 4 and 5 o'clock position at 6:40 PM, PST. I noticed the same already about 2 days ago.
Thanks Lark, for drawing this to our attention. Brent, great poetry and very fitting.
Brent, Galileo was a genius, but many individuals who became aware of the evidence in his day accepted it, and they didnt have to be a genius to realize the truth. They only had to become aware of the evidence and be willing to give up previous assumptions. It is also true that most of the people today who become aware of the evidence of evolution become believers. I think the main difference is that the evidence for evolution is not so easily demonstrated as the evidence of planets rotating Jupiter once a telescope is in hand. For evolution, the "telescope in hand" is a lot of varied evidence, none that by itself positively proves anything, but when taken as a whole makes it very hard to not believe. In other words, it takes a little more effort to put the "telescope in hand".
I liked the Whitman poem. He brings two equally valid ways of looking at nature. He does kind of dismiss the validity of scientific observation, in order to emphasis the mystical connection with nature. But I happen to think the learned astronomer also feels a mystical connection with nature. The mathematical exactness of it fills him with awe and causes him to dream about the things yet undiscovered.
Isaac Newton summed it up at the end of his life when he stated, "I have been only like a boy playing on the seashore finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell while the great ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me."
Edited to add quotes
This message has been edited by DrSkeptic on Dec 1, 2008 9:02 PM This message has been edited by DrSkeptic on Dec 1, 2008 8:59 PM
Brent, Galileo was a genius, but many individuals who became aware of the evidence in his day accepted it, and they didn't have to be a genius to realize the truth. They only had to become aware of the evidence and be willing to give up previous assumptions.
Stan,
I thought about putting that idea in my post, but I thought I would let people dig it out themselves. So I can accept what you wrote. Because I think Galileo had a lot of support by people that didn't understand it all.
Stan, I'll tell you what I don't like about the evolution argument of today.....it looks to religious to me. So that's why I like the Walt Whitmen poem so much.
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