arens@UCBKIM@ucbvax.UUCP (07/02/83)
Date: 2 Jul 83 13:35:21 PDT (Sat) From: arens@UCBKIM (Yigal Arens) Subject: Re: Faith in Evolution Message-Id: <8307022035.4833@UCBKIM.ARPA> Received: by UCBKIM.ARPA (3.340/3.5) id AA04833; 2 Jul 83 13:35:21 PDT (Sat) To: net-misc@BERKELEY Tim Sevener (decvax!pur-ee!iuvax!isrnix!tim) comments on the similarities between the argument between Copernicans and the church, and the argument between intelligent people and creationists today. He comments that the anti-Copernicans finally gave up, even though it took some 200 years. Well I got news for you. Not all of them have. You see, the problem is that Copernicus wasn't Jewish... Orthodox Judaism believes and teaches, to this day, that the sun revolves around the earth. And as an illustration of the horrors of state involvement in religious matters (and/or religious involvement in state matters) I'll mention that in Israel, the state run religious schools use state published textbooks that tell the students that the sun revolves around the earth, using Maimonides as a reference (he had a rather elaborate theory about it). The books mention that "certain gentile scholars have disputed this fact, but have no conclusive proof of their theories." Indeed. A liberal member of the Israeli parliament, Shulamit Aloni, approached the minister of education, Zevulun Hammer, a member of the National Religious Party, several years ago and asked him if he was aware of what the books and schools his ministry was responsible for were teaching. He refused to respond. There is this Jewish holiday celebrating the beginning of a new "cycle" of the sun around the earth which occurs once every few years. Last time, a couple of years ago, the celebrations were attended by all sorts of high ranking public officials in Israel. Nobody mentioned Copernicus, the gentile scholar. Yigal Arens UC Berkeley (soon USC) P.S. For those who know, the religious schools I refer to above are the more orthodox of the two types of state supported religious schools in Israel. (Or three types, if you wish to include the "secular" schools, which aren't too secular).