Poul-Henning Kamp writes:
And talking about superstition... The NeoPagans will demand that we rotate Stone Henge to match. The UFOlogist will insist that we turn the Great Pyramid accordingly. And just wait until the astrologers find out...
One person's superstition is another's heartfelt belief.
Our modern sensibility may lead us to discount Egyptian and Druidic (or earlier) world views, but surely the many cultures worldwide that produced pyramids and other monolithic structures do demonstrate the frequent centrality of spirituality in human decision making. Those cultures most definitely knew the motions of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets intimately. Steve Allen already provided a convincing real world example of the response of a more recent mainstream religious community to civil calendar issues. At this critical point in world history, what possible justification could there be for truncating the discovery process for uncovering similar requirements placed on civil time by the great religions of the world before making a large change in the definition of civil time?
Rob Seaman National Optical Astronomy Observatory