Myth of the Flat Earth....why do so many people still believe in it?

[nameless]

A few years ago I was attending an Astronomy class which was taught by a hardcore athesist professor. He didn't had a lot of good things to say about Christianity but he surprised the class at the same time by teaching us a few good things that came out of Christianity and religion in general in regards to science and such.

One of the biggest misconceptions he tackled about Christianity was in regards to the flat earth....the Church followed the Greek philosphers who had already established the fact that the earth was a sphere and there was never a time that anyone believed that the Earth was flat.

Yet everybody seems to believe that people back then thought the Earth was flat and is regarded as one of the 20 common errors in history.

When Columbus wanted to do his voyage, the Church warned him that he was either going to run out of food as the distance was much larger than he thought or that he would find another continent. Yet people believed that the church maintained that he would fall off the Earth.

So why is it that people still believe this yet the information is so readily available. I see it a lot on the internet these days when people start insulting religion and calling the church the ones that taught the Earth was flat.

[sumskilz]

Have you read Genesis?

EDIT: You might understand it better if you look at Proverbs 8:27-29 and Isaiah 40:22 too.

This is how the ancient Israelites imagined the cosmos:

[Jack04]

I was under the impression that [the Myth was] it was general public opinion that the Earth was flat, not necessarily the church. Whether that was actually the case or not either, I don't know. I suppose to your average person at the time of Columbus's voyage, it didn't make a huge amount of difference either way, so they may have just assumed it was flat. I never particularly associated the church with the concept.

[(s)AINT]

Does the water fall off the earth too?

[Lord of Lost Socks]

"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in."

Also, the earth does look flat to anyone but sailors. As to why anyone still believes it. They're idiots.

[Visna]

A few years ago I was attending an Astronomy class which was taught by a hardcore athesist professor. He didn't had a lot of good things to say about Christianity but he surprised the class at the same time by teaching us a few good things that came out of Christianity and religion in general in regards to science and such.

One of the biggest misconceptions he tackled about Christianity was in regards to the flat earth....the Church followed the Greek philosphers who had already established the fact that the earth was a sphere and there was never a time that anyone believed that the Earth was flat.

Yet everybody seems to believe that people back then thought the Earth was flat and is regarded as one of the 20 common errors in history.

When Columbus wanted to do his voyage, the Church warned him that he was either going to run out of food as the distance was much larger than he thought or that he would find another continent. Yet people believed that the church maintained that he would fall off the Earth.

So why is it that people still believe this yet the information is so readily available. I see it a lot on the internet these days when people start insulting religion and calling the church the ones that taught the Earth was flat.

I think it's because it's a cool myth, but it was never about the flat earth itself. It sets the stage for a greater dispute, evolution. The story about the lone hero who finally, after an epic voyage and against all odds, convinced a whole continent of Bible wielding ignorant shamans that the Earth was round struck a chord in the time, simply because it provided a way to discredit church teachings. It's such a cool myth that it has been shamelessly copied ever since.

IMO the main culprit is this fellow here. For well over 125 years his book "A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" was the authorative work on everything Columbus. Unfortunately he was a Romanticist with an active imagination. Not a good combo.

[Elfdude]

I'm sorry but the OP here is ignorant and though some elements of the statements are correct the church believed in a flat universe with a single up and a single down. Despite this belief the earth was obviously round thus the debate in the church was not whether or not the earth was flat but whether or not people on the opposite side of the planet existed. The thought was though they're may be mountains etc on the opposite side that the ocean and anything that crossed the edge demarking the 'top' from the 'bottom' would fall infinitely into nothingness. This was considered the edge of the world and it persisted as a major theory despite proof of the world being round. Christopher colombus dealt the death knell to the idea that the antipodes of earth were not inhabited or even reachable by crossing the supposed line from top to bottom. Although it's important to note no one really knew where the center was nor how big the 'surface' was as the greek calculations were made in units that no one knew anymore by colombus' time.

Despite not really knowing where this was christian scholars used the idea to perpetuate the myth of hell and the antipodes became rocky barrens devoid of water (since it had fallen off) and became the supposed location of hell.

I think it's because it's a cool myth, but it was never about the flat earth itself. It sets the stage for a greater dispute, evolution. The story about the lone hero who finally, after an epic voyage and against all odds, convinced a whole continent of Bible wielding ignorant shamans that the Earth was round struck a chord in the time, simply because it provided a way to discredit church teachings. It's such a cool myth that it has been shamelessly copied ever since.

I think it's interesting that you paint it as an attempt to detract from church teachings. it has nothing to do with that and if you weren't ignorant of the actual story you would know this. Unfortunately you seem to be jumping on the same ignorant bandwagon as the op.

IMO the main culprit is this fellow here. For well over 125 years his book "A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus" was the authorative work on everything Columbus. Unfortunately he was a Romanticist with an active imagination. Not a good combo.

I agree this man is probably responsible for biasing a large amount of knowledge about Christopher Columbus however I fear you think the story is more inaccurate than it is. Truly even the concept of where hell is originates from this church perpetuated belief that the antipodes (the opposite side of the earth) feels gravity (which they had no concept of) in the same direction (down) as the top of the earth where everyone lived.

The earth being spherical was well accepted in late antiquity, Aristotle advocated it, Ptolemy's Almagest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almagest) held that the earth was spherical, and was an integral text for medieval astronomers following its rediscovery in the 11th century. A pretty damning piece of evidence against the idea that the Christian church advocated the idea of a flat earth is the globus cruciger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger), a symbol probably familiar to most of us (and indeed would have been far more familiar to our ancestors) which is actually a representation of a spherical earth, mounted by a cross. Obviously it symbolizes Christ's dominion over the world, but this isn't the point; the world is clearly spherical, and this image would have appeared on many different coins, circulating the idea among the masses.

What you skip over is the equator around the orb and the location of the cross at the top or pinacle of the world. This is because the opposite side of that orb (the antipodes) was thought and perpetuated by the church to have the same properties as the top i.e. that one would fall into the ether forever if they crossed that boundary.

[Lazarus]

Because we like to believe we're a thousand times smarter than those "barbarians". Our ancient ancestors are the best group to look down on if you're the insecure type, because you can say whatever you want and they won't defend themselves.

[Valden]

The earth being spherical was well accepted in late antiquity, Aristotle advocated it, Ptolemy's Almagest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almagest) held that the earth was spherical, and was an integral text for medieval astronomers following its rediscovery in the 11th century. A pretty damning piece of evidence against the idea that the Christian church advocated the idea of a flat earth is the globus cruciger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger), a symbol probably familiar to most of us (and indeed would have been far more familiar to our ancestors) which is actually a representation of a spherical earth, mounted by a cross. Obviously it symbolizes Christ's dominion over the world, but this isn't the point; the world is clearly spherical, and this image would have appeared on many different coins, circulating the idea among the masses.

[Manco]

I'm pretty sure no one at all believed in a flat earth, considering all you have to do to disprove that is stand on a tower and look in the distance.

Funny thing is Columbus is the one who was completely wrong in his theories, he just lucked out the Americas were in the way.

[╬Ritterbruder╬]

I'm pretty sure no one at all believed in a flat earth, considering all you have to do to disprove that is stand on a tower and look in the distance.

I get your point, but I still think people who think the world is flat may not make the connection between the horizon and the curvature of the earth.

[Rijul.J.Ballal]

Check out the flat earth society for ''PROOF''

[╬Ritterbruder╬]

Check out the flat earth society for ''PROOF''

everything can be proof by leaving out the right details and stressing others. If you never heard anything about the shape of the earth, and this is the first thing you read, you wouldn't be able to say: "hold on, this part doesn't make sense"
and assuming the people who put it up actually did some thorough research, everything might appear plausible.

[conon394]

Because we like to believe we're a thousand times smarter than those "barbarians". Our ancient ancestors are the best group to look down on if you're the insecure type, because you can say whatever you want and they won't defend themselves.

Word - goes the same for all those it must have been aliens because no pre-modern people could build anything, measure anything or do math, or produce skilled craftsmen or some such.

On balance thought you have to admit it not so much that people believed or disbelieved in a round earth - its just that for most of them for most of history that fact made absolutely no difference in their lives as Conan Doyle recognized with Sherlock H and not knowing about the heliocentric solar system (*). When you think about it historically until you start traveling long distances N/S or sailing really far in the open sea its kind of pointless trivia (shape of the earth) that you would not really have the data to to make any assumption on anyway.

* edit: as much as like the new BBC Sherlock the joke does not really work for their Modern Sherlock. As an constant user of a cell phone and wireless he would have to be educated on when and why seasonal and solar conditions cause service blackouts/disruptions to various signals and thus could not really have failed to run across the ideal.

[Aeneas Veneratio]

I can explain that from a Dane's perspective. Acticles recently released in several Danish newspapers have stated that, despite the efforts of historians and medieval experts to refute it, 14 out of 15 history books state that people around the time of Christopher Columbus believed the Earth was flat. I, until recently, believed it aswell, since almost every Danish history books claimed that myth as a fact.

[╬Ritterbruder╬]

I can explain that from a Dane's perspective. Acticles recently released in several Danish newspapers have stated that, despite the efforts of historians and medieval experts to refute it, 14 out of 15 history books state that people around the time of Christopher Columbus believed the Earth was flat. I, until recently, believed it aswell, since almost every Danish history books claimed that myth as a fact.

silly danes, though I think that's true for a lot of countries, I actually doubt that specifick matter is adressed in Belgian history classes

probably similar to viking's horned helmets, something that was introduced by one or two romanticist writers, and which stuck on the windshield of history like a birdpoop you just can't get sprayed off.

[Lazarus]

its just that for most of them for most of history that fact made absolutely no difference in their lives.

Absolutely. Knowing the shape of the Earth doesn't make your farms more fertile, and it doesn't make your enemies easier to conquer. I mean, unless you're launching rockets or a sailor, how many times do you really sit and think "the world is round." Even now it's not something you really think about.

[conon394]

Acticles recently released in several Danish newspapers have stated that, despite the efforts of historians and medieval experts to refute it, 14 out of 15 history books state that people around the time of Christopher Columbus believed the Earth was flat. I, until recently, believed it aswell, since almost every Danish history books claimed that myth as a fact.

The question is likely the problem.

As I said while its true educated consensus since the Classical era was that the world was round and all kinds of proof and estimates were made/offered - how may people were educated in that fact and did it matter to them in 1492. I mean honestly when is the last time you personally applied trigonometry in your daily life, the Pythagorean formula, or say Bayesian statistics. You benefit from them all the time but most people most of the time depend on just a few experts to implement them. I suspect if you really did a poll in 1492 most people would simply say don't know, don't care, why not go ask somebody at the university. In fact given the date only about 50 years out from the Gutenberg printing press you are still more or less in a world where technical and scientific research can only be disseminated with great difficulty although that was just hitting a tipping point.

[Wulfburk]

There would not be a horizon if the earth was flat right? There is your proof.

[Lord of Lost Socks]

Flat Earth Society dismisses that with their theory that light curves upward. I repeat. They're idiots.