According to the literal reading of the old testament, humanity did not even exist by then, and the world itself did not exist. There can't be a bad habit as old as 8000 years.
I think you mean "literalistic". When the plain words are plainly meant to be understood in a non-literal way, then to interpret them literally is in fact not to interpret them "literally". I use the word "literalistic" for the kind of moronic reasoning that assumes that if one of King David's psalms says that God will shelter you under his wings, then that means that God must have wings. Or when the author of The Song of Songs writes "Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim" then that means that this woman's eyes are actually the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
So if you're going to be a moron, then you can claim that the Bible teaches that the world was created in six days 6,000 years ago, with the light from distant stars already in transit.
