26% of Americans doubt that the Earth rotates around the sun.

In Ancient Egypt, the earth did not revolve around the sun, and the sun was far from a gaseous reaction of the fourth state of matter: plasma. The sun and moon were the eyes of the Falcon God Horus. In Ancient Greece, the sun was borne in chariot by Helios, the god of the sun, who drove his chariot in the skies from east to west every sunrise to sunset, and at night sailed the oceanic stream.

A survey of 2,200 persons resident in the United States of America, conducted by the National Science Foundation found that only 74% of these persons interviewed understood the Earth to rotate around the sun. This was released at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in the Windy City, Chicago.

The report is not without political ends however and is set to be made to Democrat, Barack Obama, who is currently fighting a legislative war with various major religions in his country, including the Catholic Church. For instance, AFP who we rely upon for the results, says that 48% of respondents understood people to have evolved from earlier species of animals. While the Catholic Church tends to favour evolutionists over other theorists, many other Christian religions do not, and many of the American President's opponents, hold views contrary to evolution. Evolution however, like relativity, is merely a theory, however well liked by scientists. Perhaps a request for knowledge and understanding of the theory would have been a better gauge of education levels. Unlike the earth revolving around the sun, something which can be directly observed.

Wording of the survey is important also. For instance, another survey of Americans recently found a strange number of virgin mothers. It is unlikely the answerers to the survey in question meant to denote, in that case, that they had never had sexual relations, and it is unlikely IVF accounts for the difference.

Hat Tip:

AFP | 'Quarter of Americans unaware that Earth circles Sun' at Saturday 15 February 2014 - 8:16am