Powerful Texas politician, Warren Chisum, rejects modern astronomy?
As far as I can tell, the sole evidence of Chisum's geocentrism seems to be a memo that was circulated by Warren Chisum, a copy of which (PDF) can be found on the Capitol Annex site. The memo was not written directly by Chisum himself, but is Chisum's forwarding of a memo from Georgia Representative Ben Bridges. The latter memo does not directly promote geocentrism itself, but cites some pages on a geocentrist website as containing alleged evidence for a creationist claim that evolution is not "secular science with no religious agenda" (hence legally eligible to be taught in public schools) but rather serves an alleged "religious agenda" because evolution was considered as an "alternate creation scenario" in some Kabbalistic Rabbinic writings. But Chisum has apparently denied being a believer in geocentrism, according to a Texas news paper article Chisum a 'Fixed Earth' advocate? No by Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 20, 2007. Copies of other relevant news stories can be found on the page The Warren Chisum-Ben Bridges Memo Controversy: Special Report on Anti-Science and Anti-Semitism in Texas by Steven Schafersman, February 16, 2007, on the website of Texas Citizens for Science. One of these other news reports is a Dallas Morning News story, "Chisum contrite over memo," by Linda Brooks and Robert T. Garrett, February 15, 2007, in which Chisum denies agreeing with the memo on anything other than its advocacy of creationism. Another relevant news report is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution story Anti-evolution memo stirs controversy by Jeremy Redmon, Thursday, February 15, 2007, in which Bridges, too, "denied writing or authorizing the memo" -- but, unlike Chisum, does voice general agreement with the memo, even while refusing to take responsibility for the details:
Another news report, the New York Times news story Lawmaker Apologizes for Memo Linking Evolution and Jewish Texts by Ralph Blumenthal, February 17, 2007, confirms that Marshall Hall is the actual author of the memo. Hall, who "said he had sent the memorandum to Mr. Chisum at the request of Mr. Bridges, whom he called a longtime friend and supporter. Mr. Chisum, in a letter accompanying the memorandum, said he distributed the memorandum 'on behalf of' Representative Bridges." Later, Chisum apologized for offending Jews and claims that he never took Bridges' memo very seriously. Chisum is quoted as saying, "I sincerely regret that I did not take the time to carefully review these materials and recognize that I may have hurt or offended some groups including some of my dear friends." So, as far as I can tell, we don't yet have clear evidence that Chisum himself is a believer in or advocate of geocentrism. As far as I can tell so far, the only evidence for Chisum's geocentrism is the above-discussed memo (PDF). Bruce Wilson's AlterNet post Copernicus Was Wrong?: The Flat Earth Temptation, February 16, 2007, cites, as its only sources for the statement that Chisum advocates geocentrism, the following blog posts: (1) Texas GOP memo: It's Jewish conspiracy that Earth revolves around sun by Glenn Smith, AlterNet, February 16, 2007, (2) the Daily Kos post Texas Republicans are anti-Copernicus, Friday, February 16, 2007, and (3) Bruce Wilson's own earlier Talk to Action post, Proving Geocentrism, lobbying for Apocalypse, Sat Feb 17, 2007. For these posts, in turn, the sources are:
Bruce Wilson's 2007 Talk to Action post Copernicus Was Wrong : Reconstructionism & "The Flat Earth Temptation" is very similar to his AlterNet post of the same name, with only small differences, including a slightly different set of sources. It does not reference Glenn Smith's AlterNet post, but, instead, references Warren Chisum: Science is a religion, too by Eric Berger, in the SciGuy blog on the Houston Chronicle site, February 15, 2007. Eric Berger's sole source regarding Chisum's own alleged geocentrism is another copy (page 1 and page 2) of the Chisum memo. If there is any direct evidence that Chisum himself is a geocentrist -- as distinct from just evidence that he associates with his fellow creationists, some of whom are geocentrists -- I would be interested to see it. On another subject: Thanks very much to Bruce Wilson, Rachel Tabachnick, and others here for keeping an eye on the New Apostolic Reformation. Like you, I certainly hope that the mass media will begin to notice its existence as a distinct religious movement soon.
Powerful Texas politician, Warren Chisum, rejects modern astronomy? | 51 comments (51 topical, 0 hidden)
Powerful Texas politician, Warren Chisum, rejects modern astronomy? | 51 comments (51 topical, 0 hidden)
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