2002-05-09
I think we need to clarify something here. Most French clerics, even those
involved in the revolution were Roman Catholics. I'm sure supporters of the
BMWA don't consider highly the opinions of the catholic church. Even some
American Protestants, those of the Baptist and Pentecostal denominations,
and maybe even the group who posted Tony Bennett's comments, consider the
Catholic Religion as a cult or a sect. Roman Catholics are not true
Christians
I have seen religious tracts put out by these groups depicting the Catholic
Church as the end-time whore of Babylon, and the European Union as the
revived Roman Empire. These groups see any type of globalisation and
standardisation as being in league with the powers of the anti-Christ. And
it is to these sentiments that Tony Bennett is trying to link metric and
metrication to.
So any attempt to place French religious clerics or groups in with the
reformers of measurements will be greeted by the BWMA and the Tony Bennett's
of the world as a "Look folks, the whore of Babylon is really the source of
the abolishment of imperial measures and enforce metrication. Resist her,
or you will be damned as she is damned".
And many will agree with his view point!
John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Naughtin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, 2002-05-08 23:44
Subject: [USMA:19986] Re: Some of you might find this interesting
Dear Joe and All,
And wasn't Gabriel Mouton an Abb� when he came up with the idea of a decimal
unit system using part of the circumference of the Earth as a standard for
measuring lengths, in 1670.
Mouton also suggested that Simon Stevin�s, 1585, system of tenths should be
used to divide the units into smaller or larger parts. I don't think that
Simon Stevin was a religious person; he was a quartermaster in the Flemish
army.
In 1675, an Italian, Tito Livio Burattini, actively promoted the length of a
pendulum that beat seconds as the universal unit of length. He referred to
this unit of length as a 'm�tre catholique' or a 'mesure universelle'.
Burattini was the first person to suggest the name 'metre' as the name for
the common unit of length.
I don't know of any religious affiliation that Burattini might have had,
however it is curious that he used the word 'catholique' to describe his
idea for a universal system of measures.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
CAMS - Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
- United States Metric Association
ASM - Accredited Speaking Member
- National Speakers Association of Australia
Member, International Federation for Professional Speakers
--
on 2002/05/08 00.13, Joseph B. Reid at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Further to my USMA 19955 I have found another clue that the metric system
> has Christian roots.
>
> The Bishop of Autun, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-P�rigord, on 9 March
> 1790 distributed to all the members of the *Assembl�e Nationale
> Constituante* a proposition on weights and measures. He listed the
chaotic
> mess of measures in use in France and proposed the seconds pendulum as
unit
> of length. He resigned as Bishop of Autun on 21 January 1791 and in March
> was placed under the ban of the church by the pope.
>
> On 8 May 1790 the Assembl�e Nationale Constituante requested the *Academie
> des Sciences* to propose a revision of the weights and measures. This led
> to the production of the metric system
>
> Joseph B.Reid
> 17 Glebe Road West
> Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
>
