Geocentric creationism

Geocentric creationism is a religious belief held by a small subgroup of radical Young Earth Creationists who, in addition to asserting that the Earth was created between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, also endorse the outdated geocentric model, which claims that Earth is stationary at the center of the universe.^[1][2] Advocates of Geocentric creationism believe that God placed the Earth at the center of the Universe to symbolize the uniqueness and centrality of humanity.^[3] This view is in direct contradiction to established scientific consensus on the movement of the Earth, biology and the age of the Earth and is thus classified as pseudoscientific.^[3][4][5] It is primarily followed by a some groups of Protestant and Catholic fundamentalists alongside a few Orthodox Jews, but is fringe within even the Creationist movement itself.^[6][7]

Geocentrism differs from modern flat Earth beliefs and, while still largely insignificant, has had a somewhat greater influence within the anti-evolutionist movement. However, like flat Earthers, geocentrists also reject much of modern physics, astronomy, and biology.^[8][3]

Background and history

Historical background

The geocentric view of cosmology—especially the Ptolemaic model influenced by Greek thought—remained the dominant framework until the Copernican Revolution of the 16th century.^[9] During which multiple Christian theologians such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, Philip Melancthon and the Catholic Robert Bellarmine rejected the implications of heliocentrism due to their understanding of the Bible.^[10]

Portrait of Tycho Brahe

Such individuals like Luther often were strong in their critiques of the Heliocentric model, and Luther is famously recorded as saying that Copernicus was a "fool who turned the whole science of astronomy upside down," reflecting his view that the new model contradicted Scripture and centuries of accepted truth.^[11]

The model of the Cosmos as theorized by Tycho Brahe.

Resistance to heliocentrism continued beyond theological objections. The Protestant Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, also rejected the Copernican system. However, Brahe attempted to find scientific explanations for Geocentrism. Aware of the observational advantages of Copernicus's model of the Universe, particularly in explaining planetary motion—Brahe developed a compromised system that attempted to preserve the Geocentric model while attempting to explain the observations of planetary movement. In his model, the Sun and Moon revolved around the Earth, which remained stationary at the center of the universe, while the other planets orbited the Sun. This system was also adopted by many Jesuit astronomers of the 16th and 17th centuries. However, Tycho's successor and a fellow Protestant Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) did not follow Tycho's compromised theory, but instead defended the heliocentric view that all the planets orbit the Sun.^[12] Nevertheless, according to the Reformed professor R. Scott Clark, some Reformed theologians such as Wilhelmius A Brakel resisted heliocentrism even until the 18th century.^[13]

Modern Geocentrism

Modern Christians generally reject the geocentric model, and the strict understanding of the verses used to defend it in the medieval age.^[11] However, despite scientific advances, even today a few still try to cling unto the Geocentric model of the past. This has been influenced by the Dutch-Canadian named Walter Van der Kamp founded the Tychonic Society around the 1970s, which promoted the geocentric view that Copernicus was mistaken and that the Earth remains stationary at the center of the universe.^[14] One of the most prominent geocentric creationists of the 20th century is the Protestant Gerardus Bouw, director of the Association for Biblical Astronomy and author of several books defending geocentrism. ^[15][16] And although unlike other Geocentrist advocates, Bouw had a PhD in astronomy, his views are not taken seriously by the scientific community.^[14]

Articles arguing that geocentrism was the biblical perspective appeared in some early creation science newsletters associated with the Creation Research Society pointing to some passages in the Bible which they interpreted as indicating a stationary earth,^[17][18] and the view was also defended in 1991 by Marshall Hall, although his book was received extremely badly by Young Earth Creationist organizations.^[19] Such religious beliefs have also been held by the traditionalist Catholic Robert Sungenis, co-author of the self-published Galileo Was Wrong: The Church Was Right (2006).^[20] Robert Sungenis attributed his acceptance of the geocentric model to the influence of creationist Gerardus Bouw around 2002. His work is frequently marked by criticism of mainstream scientific theories. One of his most know projects was the 2014 film The Principle, in which he featured interviews with scientists such as Lawrence Krauss. However, these scientists later stated they were unaware that the film was intended to promote geocentrism and publicly disavowed its message.^[21] Alongside Christian Fundamentalism, there has also been a movement towards Geocentrism within some anti-evolutionary Orthodox Jewish groups, which is often motivated by the statements of the influental Rabbi Maimonides (1138–1204), who argued that the Earth is stationary.^[22]

The two largest modern Geocentric creationist organizations include The Biblical Astronomer and Catholic Apologetics International.^[16] Despite this, the geocentric creationist movement has been rejected by mainstream creationist groups such as Answers in Genesis,^[23] Institute for Creation Research^[24] and Creation Ministries International.^[25] Nevertheless, there are signs that geocentric theory may gain more traction within the creationist community.^[15]

Impact

According to a report released in 2014 by the National Science Foundation, 26% of Americans surveyed believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth.^[26] Morris Berman quotes a 2006 survey that show currently some 20% of the U.S. population believe that the Sun goes around the Earth (geocentricism) rather than the Earth goes around the Sun (heliocentricism), while a further 9% claimed not to know.^[27] According to 2011 VTSIOM poll, 32% of Russians believe that the Sun orbits the Earth.^[28]

Characteristics and beliefs

The Tychonic system shown in colour, with the objects that rotate around the Earth shown on blue orbits, and the objects that rotate around the Sun shown on orange orbits. Around all is a sphere of stars, which rotates.

The Modern Geocentrist movement form a radical movement within Creationism, arguing that their perceived "scientific assault" on the religion did not begin with Evolution, but with Heliocentrism.^[29] This view was explicitly held by Gerardus Bouw, who argued that the Copernican Revolution set the stage for the development of Biblical Criticism, and attacked the doctrine of Biblical literalism. He argued that the anthropocentric view of creation logically leads to a geocentric view of the Cosmos.^[30]

These proponents advocate for adopting the Tychonic system, which gets its name from the 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, which places the Earth at the center of the universe while allowing the planets to orbit the Sun. This model serves as a deliberate compromise between the strict geocentrism of the Ptolemaic system and the heliocentrism of Copernicus.^[4] At the heart of the modern Geocentric view is that the Earth and his creatures are special to God, and the status of the Earth at the center of the universe symbolizes this belief.^[3] They also believe that passages such as Joshua 10:12-13 in which God stops the sun over the valley of Ajalon are evidences of the earth being at the center of the solar system.^[31] Geocentrism has relied upon multiple verses in the Bible which seem to talk about the Earth not being moved, such as Psalm 93:1.^[4] However, due the shift from the strict interpretation of such passages from the Middle Ages, even the majority of creationists reject the strict geocentric interpretations of such passages, and instead view them phenomelogically.^[32][33]

Geocentric creationism is based on a rejection of the mainstream scientific method in favour of supernatural explanations of the Universe, arguing that God created everything that exists within 6 days around 6000 years ago and created the Universe with the Earth at its very center.^[34]

Criticism

Theological criticism

Modern Young Earth creationists who reject Geocentrism have argued that the debate over Geocentrism and Heliocentrism in the 16th century arose not from a proper understanding of the Bible, but from the influence of Greek philosophy, critiquing the usage of verses from poetic books such as the Psalms to build a cosmological doctrine,^[35] rather arguing that such passages employ phenomenological language, not what happens literally in nature.^[33]

Old Earth Creationists, including R. Scott Clark, contend that the Scriptures are written by God in a way that accommodates human understanding, meaning that Scripture should not be read like a scientific textbook. In this perspective, the Bible communicates to us in terms people of the time could understand, rather than providing a detailed scientific account of the Universe and the natural world.^[13]

Scientific criticms

Geocentric creationism stands in contradiction to modern physics, particularly in its mechanics of motion: the model requires the entire universe, including distant stars and galaxies, to revolve around a stationary Earth—implying speeds far exceeding that of light.^[4] That the Earth orbits the Sun and Evolution have long been established by scientific consensus, despite being rejected by geocentrists. This thus places Geocentrism into the category of pseudoscience.^[3]