IN THE WEEKEND NATION of October 2, Mr David Brathwaite explains the celestial mechanics of eclipses and then continues to postulate that because they occur predictably, they could not be considered as any kind of “sign”.
He seems miffed at the fact that such a pronouncement should emanate from a Barbados Astronomical Society executive. Therefore, I wish to inform the public of our official policy.
The Barbados Astronomical Society exists to facilitate astronomers to study the stars and to educate the public on astronomical phenomena. The membership consists of people interested in the stars – who may be Christian, members of other religious faiths or atheists.
Unlike some astronomy societies in other countries, our local society allows for the expression of all viewpoints and there is no mandate that board members must limit their research topics to the physical realm only.
The physical mechanics of the eclipse were fully explained by our president to an attentive audience, and I also alluded to the physical science of the event during my lecture.
I wish to make several important points to the public of Barbados:
1) The study of astronomy has only become exclusively confined to the physical within the last 100 years (the age of materialism linked to the rise of science as a panacea for everything). Prior to this, astronomical research considered both the physical and the spiritual.
2) I have been a scientist and educator for most of my life. Science has its purpose and has transformed our physical world. The study of physical science is extremely useful to mankind. But there are aspects of our human existence that physical science alone cannot address.
The spiritual is a definite reality – and an attempt to sweep it into the realm of superstition and fable, simply because it is beyond the scope of the premise on which physical science is constructed, is quite narrow-minded. Atheism is actually a belief, as is Christianity or any other religion – an unshaken belief that there is nothing beyond the physical.
3) People interested in learning about the stars in Barbados come from churches and schools where religious instruction is taught, and morals are encouraged. It is intellectually unacceptable to limit the scope of your explanation to a physical cosmology that denies the existence of spiritual forces.
Evolutionary biology that does not allow for the spiritual component of existence is completely amoral, and is an incredible leap of faith, to be so dogmatic about what we humans know so little about.
4) There is this notion floating around that The Bible is a “made-up story”. People who actually read it and investigate it will soon become aware that its history is accurate. For example, archaeological research has recovered Egyptian chariot wheels from the bottom of the Red Sea in the exact area where the Israelites crossed it.
Many of its specific predictions (prophecies?) have actually come to pass literally.
5) Finally, although it is becoming fashionable among “enlightened” people to relegate it to the “fiction and fantasy” section, its universal recognition by the human race suggests that it is more than just the physical words contained therein. Bibles have been burned and banned; Bibles have started wars or ended them; they are used in courtrooms, hospitals and jails. No other book has had such a profound impact on the entire human race; people’s lives have been changed by it.
Objectively looking at this evidence should cause a closer inspection of its contents. I am amazed at how easily so-called intellectuals dismiss it. Could this suggest that spiritual forces are at work?
It is evident to all and sundry that Barbados is in deep trouble – violence, drugs, lack of morality . . . the society is going downhill rapidly. It’s time to get back to The Bible, lest we become a mere statistic in the fulfilment of the predictions contained therein.
– STEPHEN MENDES