Saudi cleric says Earth doesn’t revolve around sun

rt.com...

A Saudi cleric has appeared in a video rejecting that Earth revolves around the sun, claiming instead that it is “stationary.” His statements have incited a fiery response on social media.

When questioned by a student about whether the Earth was stationary or moving, Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari responded with “stationary and does not move,” Saudi-owned broadcaster Al-Arabia reported.


He then attempted to support his theory with a strange blend of logic and clerical statements.

“First of all, where are we now? We’re going to Sharjah Airport to travel to China by plane, [is that] clear? Focus with me, this is the Earth,” he said while holding up a sealed water cup.

He proceeded to say that if the plane stopped dead in its tracks in mid-air, “China would be coming towards it in case the Earth rotates in one direction. If the Earth rotates in the opposite direction, the plane would never reach China, because China is also rotating,” he said.

The shaky reasoning incited a torrent of responses on Twitter under a hashtag which roughly translates as #cleric_rejects_rotation_of_Earth.

checkmate science-ists.

I weep inside that people think these idiots represent our Faith...

I also weep that some of my naive brothers and sisters would believe this man's statements because he has the title of "cleric"...



These outbursts, often from Saudi representatives, remind me of the ramblings of a senile geriatric...

Until you see a picture of some of them and realise they are still quite young...




Unbelievable!

a reply to: rokkuman

Ignorance is where you find it.

He proceeded to say that if the plane stopped dead in its tracks in mid-air, “China would be coming towards it…

If the plane 'stopped dead' relative to Earth, depending if the plane was on the leading or trailing edge, earth would be traveling @18,00o miles an hour towards or away from the plane.

Big surprise, either way.

Somebody show him this video…The only place one can be still is in your soul.

His stupidity has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with him being an idiot. It is frustrating when people think that one moron represents an entire group of people.

a reply to: Metallicus

Even more frustrating are the people who would blindly follow such an idiot...

Peace

There's a better source here: Saudi cleric rejects that Earth revolves around the Sun

Several people noticed this bit of ignorance also happened on Galileo's birthday.

This fool clearly ignored the part of the Quran which talks about the Earths orbit...



Really unbelievable sometimes!

It is all about the point of perspective. From here, it appears that the earth is standing still and the sun rotates around it. If you put the starting point at where you live, either option is available and correct as related to you at that point. I cannot say this guy is wrong, his view is different than mine but it could actually be more correct in relation to things.

a reply to: rokkuman

Finally a cleric i can agree with.

I feel sorry for people who don't have a clue about basic science.

originally posted by: butcherguy
But I would be interested in hearing President Obama publicly say that he disagrees with the guy....

Gosh! What do you suppose that means? Is Obama a "secret Muslim"??? Yeah... Thanks for proving that some people will believe anything.

originally posted by: rickymouse
It is all about the point of perspective. From here, it appears that the earth is standing still and the sun rotates around it. If you put the starting point at where you live, either option is available and correct as related to you at that point. I cannot say this guy is wrong, his view is different than mine but it could actually be more correct in relation to things.

You're right. It's all about perspective. You could assume, for instance, that the Earth is at the exact fixed center of the Universe and everything else is in motion. Unless you could say that the fixed center of the Universe is somewhere else, that point of view would be just as valid as anything else. I'm not defending what the cleric said because I'm pretty sure that this wasn't his line of reasoning.

In fact, the only thing you can say for certain is that the Earth does not revolve around the Sun. Newton's Laws would dictate that the Earth and the Sun revolve around a common point very close to the Sun, since the Sun's mass is much greater than the Earth's.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
I feel sorry for people who don't have a clue about basic science.

originally posted by: butcherguy
But I would be interested in hearing President Obama publicly say that he disagrees with the guy....

Gosh! What do you suppose that means? Is Obama a "secret Muslim"??? Yeah... Thanks for proving that some people will believe anything.

I like you BH.
You are jumping to conclusions here though.
I said nothing of the sort here. But if you want to know, what I am referring to, though admittedly not directly, is the fact that this is a Saudi cleric.

a reply to: rokkuman
The science behind this hasn't exactly been kept secret from the world. Anyone interested in proving the earth orbits the sun can learn the math in school, and calculate it for their own personal satisfaction.

A facepalm just isn't sufficient for this one.

a reply to: rokkuman

Wasn't there a thread recently about a large number of Americans thinking the same thing? You'd think that they have nothing in common.

I get what the guy is saying. It is confusing to think about... I hear a whole lot of "he is stupid" but no one has countered his point. If the Earth rotates at around 1600 miles per hour East to West, and you are in a plane no longer on the surface, it seems to reason that the Earth would continue to spin. If you stop still in mid air The Earth would not stop so if you are above Dallas and wait an hour the Earth should have still traveled 1600 more miles in it's normal rotation, and you would be above a lot of Atlantic Ocean by then.

I have often wondered why a Dallas to LA flight is the same as a LA to Dallas, what law of physics do i not have a grasp of understanding on that cancels out the effect of Earth's rotation, or causes me in a hot air balloon not have 1600 mile an hour wind hitting my face while I'm trying to keep up with. How can a guy take off to the edge of space and then jump from his balloon long after take off and still land what, 70 miles from where he left? I have never taken a physics class, but I'm no dummy either, so why does this confuse me? Google can be useless at times, as I haven't dug for hours, and maybe used the wrong search words, but I haven't found a clear answer explaining this.

Ridicule the cleric all you want, i don't think he will ever come reply here. If you choose to ridicule me for my ignorance that is fine too, but will someone smarter than me explain it in English, so I can whoop up on this ignorance problem I'm having with the Physics of this.

Just a thought on the topic. I think we will find out that consciousness plays a bigger role in the Physics of the real world than we give it credit for. We have seperated science from the mystical and doing so put a limit to what is logical making it easy to ignore or make fun of what we don't understand. We have Secret Societies that some believe have had some hidden knowledge for ages. We often find out that what we thought we knew yesterday is complete BS today. Constant new discovery, much of it strange and confusing especially in the Quantum world. I think consciousness will end up filling a lot of holes in a lot of equations.

Honestly who know's?! Maybe we are the Center of the Universe. Maybe the world does revolve around me. Not many people seen what Earth really looks like through Human eyes and if you look around here enough you'll find a lot of people don't really believe we have ever really even been to space.

Truth is really just a popularity contest anyway.

Saudi Arabia hasnt really been known historically for "Science".
Crazy extremes of religion, decadence and wealth...yes.
A grounding in reality...no.
Oh there was a brief time when Faisal was King, but he was assassinated.

let's not go down this trail again.

but unless you can find a perfectly still position within the universe from which to observe it is impossible to say what is still and what is moving because everything in the universe, galaxy, solar system is moving.

The problem is even if we could find a spot we must be able to verify it is still and that would rely upon another spot in the universe that is equally still and no place could be found for either.

originally posted by: wastedown

Gravity

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
There's a better source here: Saudi cleric rejects that Earth revolves around the Sun

Several people noticed this bit of ignorance also happened on Galileo's birthday.

With the exception of Copernicus being lucky and smart enough
to avoid immolation for his beliefs, I see none of the preventive
aspects in this cleric's makeup. Maybe the rest of us will
get lucky... but I think the Vatican won't pound on him for this one.