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From: Rob Seaman <seaman_at_noao.edu>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 09:30:48 -0700

Poul-Henning Kamp writes:

> And talking about superstition...
> The NeoPagans will demand that we rotate Stone Henge to match.
> The UFOlogist will insist that we turn the Great Pyramid accordingly.
> And just wait until the astrologers find out...

One person's superstition is another's heartfelt belief.

Our modern sensibility may lead us to discount Egyptian and Druidic (or
earlier) world views, but surely the many cultures worldwide that
produced pyramids and other monolithic structures do demonstrate the
frequent centrality of spirituality in human decision making. Those
cultures most definitely knew the motions of the Sun, Moon, stars and
planets intimately. Steve Allen already provided a convincing real
world example of the response of a more recent mainstream religious
community to civil calendar issues. At this critical point in world
history, what possible justification could there be for truncating the
discovery process for uncovering similar requirements placed on civil
time by the great religions of the world before making a large change
in the definition of civil time?

Rob Seaman
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Received on Wed Jan 26 2005 - 08:31:01 PST