Flat worlders....

Question answered by honorarykid in Scientology

Anonymous asked this question on 8/6/2000:

when will you ever get away from believing the earth to be flat...the questions here are designed to be provocative and insinuate criminal activity without proof and without prejudice. In all cases the questions are coming from a select group of people whos designs are to destroy religions..I see their questions on other boards as well. there is only one answer to this..flat worlders unwilling to change their viewpoint at the expense of the majority.. so who is the group that is anti Scientology?

honorarykid gave this response on 8/6/2000:

What an interesting take you have on the concept of flat earthers.

That term is usually used to categorize those people who dogmatically and irrationally and religiously hold on to their existing beliefs, in spite of clear and convincing evidence that their position is false.

Which group here, the critics of Scientology or the Scientology believers, best fits the concept of a "flat earther."

While I don't dispute that many questions are being posed as springboards for revealing some unflattering truth about the CoS, that does not stop the truth from being true. The critics see evidence of wrongdoing and criminal behavior and say "I think that there is wrongdoing and criminal behavior here, here is my evidence." Check out these types of answers. They usually come with references to URLs, Scientology scriptures, etc.

Scientologists with whom I am familiar (including those who have kindly volunteered their time to serve as experts here on Askme.com) generally turn away from that type evidence without even looking at it, while without any evidence of their own, frequently claim these same critics are criminals and SPs because their group's "scriptures" tell them it's true.

And which of those two groups, in spite of much contrary evidence, irrationally believes that by practicing some mildly hypnotic trance induction drills, they will be the ONLY people who know the real truth about the mysteries of life and magically raise their IQs and cure their physical ill and become the ONLY people to achieve happiness?

Which group, in spite of no hint of evidence, irrationally teaches that the final outcome of it's mental conditioning processes will be people who can magically control Matter, Energy, Space and Time?

I think you know the answer, but I'll tell you anyway. It's Scientology that teaches those things and Scientology adherants who believe them.

I realize that these analogies aren't quite perfect to the people in the Flat Earth Society, but I think they're close enough to make my point.

And by now, I'm sure you've figured out what my point is, haven't you? ;-)

Btw, there are still a few flat-earth believers out there, to this day. But there are probably far fewer than the number claiming to be. Most of them don't *really* believe it. Rather they are doing it for effect, to be a part of a fun and/or eccentric sideshow. You understand that it can be a powerful and heady experience to be a part of a group, right?

Again, the whole issue of being a flat-earth believer is really just a question of how open-minded we are about letting go of our old ideas and beliefs (even the comfortable and comforting ones) when faced with clear and convincing evidence that those ideas and beliefs are false. Being a flat-earther requires that one not think critically, and refuse to look at evidence.

To end this answer, I'd like to paraphrase a debate that happened in England several hundred years ago.

One older, more experienced man was properly trained in tradition, and therefore 'knew' that the world was carried across the heavens on the back of a giant turtle.

When a scientifically minded young man asked him "but what is the giant turtle standing on?" he replied, "you can trick me with such questions, young man. It's turtles, all the way down."

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Recommended reading:

"The Deamon Hauted World" - Carl Sagan

"Mysticism and Logic" - Bertrand Russell

"Insight, untested and unsupported, is an insufficient guarantee of truth" - Bertrand Russell (from "Mysticism and Logic)

honorarykid gave this follow-up answer on 8/17/2000:

A quick follow-up to my previous answer.

1) Apologies, but I erred in typing the title of Sagan's book. It's title is "The Demon-Haunted World."

2) I undoubtedly first read the story of the flat disc of Earth, riding across the Heavens on the back of a giant turtle in the introduction to Stephen Hawkings' marvelous book on cosmology, 'A Brief History of Time' which is a terrific book, which I'd also highly recommend to anyone who wants to understand of the current state of scientific understanding of the formation of our Universe.

Here is the entire story, quoted from the Introduction to "A Brief History of Time" by Steven Hawkings:

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A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady, "But it's turtles all the way down!"

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