The Flat Earth Society
Flat Earth Discussion Boards => Flat Earth Community => Topic started by: Tom Bishop on February 19, 2020, 06:25:25 PM
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We usually don't talk about religion in the Wiki, but it may be an important enough topic that we could have some information. The other website has a Mythology and Religion (https://theflatearthsociety.org/home/index.php/featured/mythology-and-religion) section that has some nice information, although the title seems to tie 'Mythology' with religion.
It would be be nice to compile all of the Flat Earth scriptural arguments and verses in one location for further reference. The section should disclaim that not everyone believes in the religious aspects of FE, but that we are providing a resource.
The only thing I would suggest for it is that it portrays the religious arguments as possible interpretations, rather than certain ones. Not everyone agrees with everything said about the biblical earth interpretations, but there should be a place where we can read about those different interpretations.
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I think your approach is sensible.
In our FAQ, we state that
The Flat Earth Theory is neither officially nor unofficially associated with any religion. Throughout the ages various religious institutions have championed a Flat Earth model for the world. Unfortunately this leaves us with the vestigial thought that Flat Earth theory and religions are symbiotic. They are not, even though many religions today, both mainstream and otherwise, still teach its followers that the world is flat. While they are not incorrect, believing in a Flat Earth isn't contingent upon believing in a deity or being a part of any religion.
I think that as long as we include a similar disclaimer in any religion-related page, there is no issue in discussing the links between religion and FET. After all, we already document a wide spectrum of different FE views - why should those rooted in religion be treated any differently?
Personally, I'd suggest designing a template in a similar style to Wikipedia's disputed page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Disputed) template. It could be used to clarify that the page exists to document a cultural link between FET and religion, but does not necessarily constitute endorsement or agreement on our behalf. We'd have to be careful to get the phrasing right, so as to indicate neutrality from religion rather than opposition to it, but that shouldn't be all too difficult.
If this turns out to be the preferred solution, I'm happy to put together a template for this purpose.
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Coming back to this, I like the dispute template idea. I'm not sure how I should put that together. Would you be able to help with that?
I have been thinking about the structure for this page. I think it would be appropriate to generalize the Abrahamic religions together, as they accept the Old Testament and books like Genesis. It would not be necessary to talk about each of them individually. The ideological differences between the Abrahamic religions are unrelated to this subject matter, since they accept the source content. At a high level we can group them by Abrahamic and Non-Abrahamic. It would only be necessary to go into detail into some detail on the Non-Abrahamic religions. Here is an rough draft which shows the overview that I am thinking about for this:
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[Brief overview here - summary draft] The Flat Earth has persisted in human culture for thousands of years...[expand]
The Earth was flat in the first cultures and religions of the world...[expand] The Ancient Greeks [link to Ancient Greeks wiki page] were the first to contradict the prevailing belief and adopt an alternative model...[expand]
Below are possible interpretations for religion, under a Flat Earth context.
Abrahamic Religions
Abrahamic Religions are a group of religions who mostly accept the events of the Old Testament. 'Abrahamic' is in reference to an Old Testament event that God revealed himself to Abraham, descendant of Noah. Many of the well-known religions are Abrahamic religions, including the Judiac, Christian, and Islamic religions. Differences between the Abrahamic religions generally involve differing philosophies of the divine, or the acceptance or interpretation of the New Testament and other later texts.
- [Link to a page with various Old Testament verses on Flat Earth]
- [Information on the Book of Enoch - An apocalyptic book detailing the experiences of Noah's great grandfather, supposedly rejected by later-age biblical authorities for focusing too much on the Flat Earth]
World Religions
Non-Abrahamic religions also depict a Flat Earth. The xx and xx religions believed...[expand]
- [Link to a page which collects various interpretations of the Flat Earth in Non-Abrahamic religions (Ie. Buddhism, Native American, Sumerian religions)]
Early Zetetic Movement
Between the mid-1800's to the early-1900's many members of the early Zetetic movements viewed the Flat Earth investigation as a possible reconciliation of science and scripture. It was held that if the scriptures were based in truth, as some believe, then it stands that there should be physical evidence for it in the way that the world is described.
- [Links to the thoughts of early zeteticists on religion - ie. Blount, Rowbotham]
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The Flat Earth references you see floating around mostly come from the Old Testament. There may be some from the later books, but I am under the impression that those are minority, and any of those, if found, could be disclaimed at the end of the Old Testament verse page, or put onto a separate page.
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We should also probably have a page on religious beliefs and intertwining of religion and science of the authority figures of heliocentrism who ushered in the 'enlightenment'.
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Very outlandish but we need to have a "Free Cookie (Take 1)" section for all the hungry people. I'm pretty sure cookies are in the Bible so maybe this isn't so weird.
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Satan runs rampant in most threads, I'm not so sure we need one.