The only way out of the muddled debate as to whether Pluto is a planet or not is to go back to the source of all truth. Consider: when he walked the earth, would Jesus have considered Pluto a planet?<\/p>\n
At the time, the key distinction was between \u201cfixed stars\u201d and \u201cwandering stars.\u201d (The very word \u201cplanet\u201d comes from\u00a0planan<\/em>, Greek for \u201cwander.\u201d) Pluto is not a wandering star\u2014it\u2019s not visible at all under ordinary circumstances. Nor are Ceres, Xena, or all the rest of the miscellaneous rocks and ammonia-soda flavored snowballs floating around out there. Ergo, they\u2019re not planets. Nor is Earth a planet. By definition, where Earth is, the sky isn\u2019t\u2014and a thing that\u2019s not in the sky can\u2019t be a wandering star.<\/p>\n Now, if a light in the sky moves fast enough, it\u2019s a shooting star. This means that we\u2019ll have to reclassify the ISS as a shooting star, of course\u2014that\u2019s how a man of Jesus\u2019 time would have classed it upon seeing it pass overhead. For that matter, a jet visible high above at night would also be a shooting star\u2014unless it turned off its running lights. The Goodyear Blimp is a comet.<\/p>\n This does bring up the question as to just what Pluto and the like\u00a0are<\/em>, however. But given that they only become visible when someone tries to study the celestial sphere yet totally misses the point of gazing heavenward, I believe we should err on the side of caution and classify them as demons. (This certainly works well in the case of Pluto\u2014a pagan \u201cgod\u201d that rules the underworld. If that\u2019s not Satan hiding in plain view, I don\u2019t know what is.)<\/p>\n Going back to the definitions Our Savior and\/or the medieval Church would have used would be inconvenient for professional astonomers, perhaps\u2014but science must ever bow to traditional spiritual values and what the masses believe about the nature of the universe.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u05e9<\/p>\n Addendum<\/em>:<\/p>\n Clare and the Reasons, “Pluto”:
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