[Tom Bishop]

The sacred-texts.com version of Earth Not a Globe is public domain and may be used for any non-commercial purposes.

NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION
scanned at sacred-texts.com, June 2005. Proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare. This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published prior to 1923. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose provided this notice of attribution is left intact in all copies.

I would like to scrape the book from the site and host it directly here on this website. The person who digitized the book left various disparaging comments on the index page such as:

"To make his system work he had to throw out a great deal of science, including the scientific method itself, using instead what he calls a 'Zetetic' method. As far as I can see this is simply a license to employ circular reasoning (e.g., the earth is flat, hence we can see distant lighthouses, hence the earth is flat)."

These sorts of comments have no place in an informational resource. It could equally be argued that Rowbotham found the methods used by astronomers to come up with the theory of a round earth to be seriously lacking in evidence, and so Rowbotham adopted a much more empirical approach to determining the shape of the world.

The digitizer also comments that Rowbotham's motivations are mainly religiously motivated, when this is clearly not the case. The comments should be stripped out entirely and the book should be a source hosted on this site, where we could quote and link to freely in the Wiki and in the forums, without having to quote from a website called "sacred-texts".

[Jura-Glenlivet]

I would have thought, the fact he made stuff up and was a religious nut, is relevant.

[Tom Bishop]

I would have thought, the fact he made stuff up and was a religious nut, is relevant.

The comments made by the digitizer are completely false.

Religion is only mentioned at the very end chapter of Earth Not a Globe, where Rowbotham discusses the philosophical ramifications of a Flat Earth.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/earth/za/za66.htm

This is a plain, simple, and in every respect demonstrable philosophy, agreeing with the evidence of our senses, borne out by every fairly instituted experiment, and never requiring a violation of those principles of investigation which the human mind has ever recognised and depended upon in its every-day life. The modern or Newtonian astronomy has none of these characteristics. The whole system taken together constitutes a most monstrous absurdity. It is false in its foundation; irregular, unfair, and illogical, in its details; and, in its conclusions, inconsistent and contradictory. Worse than all, it is a prolific source of irreligion and of atheism, of which its advocates are practically supporters. By defending a system which is directly opposed to that which is taught in connection with the Jewish and Christian religion they lead the more critical and daring intellects to question and deride the cosmogony and general philosophy contained in the sacred books. Because the Newtonian theory is held to be true they are led to reject the Scriptures altogether, to ignore the worship, and doubt and deny the existence of a Creator and Supreme Ruler of the world.

The above statements are generally true, as even today the scientific purveyors of hypothesis and theory of astronomical natures beyond human experience are mostly irreligious and athiest.

A Round Earth is contradictory to Christian and Jewish teachings, which is also true. Since many people of the time period were Christian or Jewish, the philosophical ramifications have a place for discussion within the text. ENAG by no stretch argues that because the bible is true the earth must be flat. It argues that there is a plethora of evidence showing that the earth is flat, and the general reader should be inclined to agree with the evidence presented, which also agrees with the thousands of years of beliefs and teachings of our ancestors.

[Tom Bishop]

Furthermore, what kind of religious nut argues in favor of multiple religions, and only in the very end chapter which looks at philosophical implications? These accusations are clearly without basis.

[Dionysios]

Earth Not a Globe...sacred-texts...
...The person who digitized the book left various disparaging comments on the index page such as:

"To make his system work he had to throw out a great deal of science, including the scientific method itself, using instead what he calls a 'Zetetic' method. As far as I can see this is simply a license to employ circular reasoning (e.g., the earth is flat, hence we can see distant lighthouses, hence the earth is flat)."

These sorts of comments have no place in an informational resource.

The comments should be stripped out entirely and the book should be a source hosted on this site, where we could quote and link to freely in the Wiki and in the forums, without having to quote from a website called "sacred-texts".

Concur.