Bombay High Court Rules Astrology To Be a Science 478
neosaurus writes "In India, the Bombay High Court recently ruled astrology to be 'a time tested science more than 4000 years old.' Not only does this stretch the definition of science, it also reaffirms people's faith in pseudosciences at a broader level." At least we can know for certain the people trying to get creationism taught as science in our schools have equally wacky friends around the globe.
Re-enforcing India's Supreme Court (Score:5, Informative)
RTA, Bombay High Court didn't "rule" this way. They noted that India's Supreme Court already ruled on whether Astrology is a science back in 2004 and parroted the result of it. Seems consistent to me.
Bombay/Mumbai? (Score:3, Informative)
I thought it's called 'Mumbai' now?
from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_High_Court#History_.26_Premises [wikipedia.org]:
"Although the name of the city was changed from Bombay to Mumbai in 1995, the Court as an institution did not follow suit and remained as the Bombay High Court."
Wikipedia doesn't explain why that is so.
RTFA (Score:5, Informative)
According to TFA,
"So far as prayer related to astrology is concerned, the Supreme Court has already considered the issue and ruled that astrology is science. The court had in 2004 also directed the universities to consider if astrology science can be added to the syllabus. The decision of the apex court is binding on this court," observed the judges.
Apparently India's Supreme Court has already made a ruling about this and the lower court is just following orders.
a little cultural background (Score:2, Informative)
zoroastrians, the folks who actually started astrology, at one time had the largest empire in the world, the achaemenid empire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire [wikipedia.org]
eventually, as their empire dwindled and islam rose, they fled persia for india, where zoroastrians became a wealthy, influential and rich minority, the parsis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsi [wikipedia.org]
if you like the music of queen and freddie mercury: his background is parsi
another thing that always struck me about parsis, the towers of silence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence [wikipedia.org]
earth, fire, air, water... no i'm not talking about the last airbender, but in zoroastrianism, so as not to pollute the other elements, the dead can only go to the air, so their bodies must be put on pillars to eaten by vultures
this ruling is more about the power of an influential group in india, as so much in the world is
Re:Idle (Score:4, Informative)
hmm. where shall I start.
how about "grind up the claw of a bengal tiger to give yourself good fortune" to drive animal populations to endangered/extinct.
Or the "today is a great day to (activity)" which may result in taking extra risks, death, etc.
bolds don't make your post lack any less grammar than it already does.
Re:Idle (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Idle (Score:3, Informative)
Feather Indians are Native Americans
Dot Indians are from India.
People who use either phrase tend to not date either type for very long.