Saudi Cleric Rejects Notion That Earth Revolves Around Sun (Video)
In a recent video demonstrating that he does not know how airplanes or the rotation of the Earth work, a Saudi cleric refutes the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun, claiming instead that the Sun must revolve around a stationary Earth. Ironically, this occurred on Feb. 15 — the 451st anniversary of Galileo’s birth.
It began when a student asked Sheikh Bandar al-Khaibari whether the Earth was stationary or moving; according to Al Arabiya News, he replied, “Stationary and does not move.” Explaining the logic behind this statement, he used a cup of water to represent the Earth, saying, that if a plane stops still in the air, “China would be coming towards it” if the Earth rotates in one direction. It the Earth rotates in opposite direction, however, the plane would never reach China, because “China is also rotating.”
Al Arabiya reports that in a different video, Sheikh al-Khaibari stated that man never went to the moon and that he considered NASA’s moon landing video a “Hollywood fabrication.”
Twitter users have taken notice of the cleric’s remarks, tweeting a hashtag that translates as #cleric_rejects_rotation_of_earth to promote scientific knowledge and support Galileo’s centuries-old claim that the Earth does, in fact, rotate around the Sun.
