Geocentrism? Really? Galileo not yet forgiven by *all* Catholics. [View all]

[Silent3]

May I introduce Robert Sungenis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sungenis

Sungenis has become known for his advocacy of geocentrism. He believes that physics and the Bible prove that the sun and all the planets orbit the Earth and that the Earth does not rotate. In support of his beliefs, Sungenis published the book Galileo Was Wrong in the hope that people will "give Scripture its due place and show that science is not all it's cracked up to be."

I'd like to say that 99% or more of Catholics would consider this guy nuts, but over the years I've discovered that it's very difficult to come up with an idea so crazy, odious, or both that you can't find at least 5-10% support for it. Lacking real statistics, I'll still give at least 90% of Catholics credit that they'd probably disavow Sungenis' craziness if and when they ever might hear about it.

More disturbing than geocentrism is Sungenis' antisemitism, but with antisemitism being, sadly, a fairly common vice, geocentrism stands out as a more jaw-dropping eccentricity. These two extreme views are perhaps not unrelated, however, as both rely on a very conspiratorial world view.

Oddly enough, I find one thing to like about this bizarre man: "Sungenis is known for his apologetic works critiquing the Protestant doctrines of sola fide and sola scriptura." Not that I believe in religious salvation at all, but I've always particularly disliked the idea, now common among many Christian fundamentalists and evangelicals, that "faith, not deeds" is what's important.