WinAce

I was thinking--has anyone made a webpage parodying AnswersInGenecyst and using misapplications of relativity and other theories combined with a sophisticated writing style to 'debunk' the evidence for a round earth?

I'm thinking of making one if there isn't. Specifically, I'll mention how Einstein's relativity makes it clear that gravity bends light, so the photos taken from orbit are actually flat but the light has been bent into a sphere... and other such crap arguments which are only slightly worse than the ones YECs use. Then to top it off, there'll be the flat-earth Bible verses and measurements of the surface of the Great Lakes which 'prove' they're flat, not curved.

Any suggestions? This will be purely for the benefit of undecided individuals, who might actually see that pseudoscience can be used to argue any position, no matter how ridiculous. Of course, there's always the risk that some fundies will take it seriously...

scigirl

Well, there's the <a href="http://www.landoverbaptist.org/" target="_blank">landover baptist</a> site, which parodies fundamental christian websites, and of course the <a href="http://www.geocities.com/ipuprophecy/ipu.html" target="_blank">Institute for Unicorn Research</a>, which was created by our very Lone Wolfe (and other infidels) and I believe, loosely based on the ICR.

But we can never have too many parodies, so go for it! Just make sure fundies don't fall for it (like they often do with articles from <a href="http://www.theonion.com" target="_blank">the onion</a>.)

scigirl

[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: scigirl ]</p>

Tharmas

<a href="http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/FlatWhyFlat.htm" target="_blank">flat earth parody site</a>

Hope this link works!!

WinAce

Hah! Just what I was looking for. Unfortunately, the rebuttals section of the site is still under construction. However, the evidence for a flat earth is marvelous!

Thanks a lot.

GeoTheo

Win Ace,
You believe that anybody who believes in creation is just as stupid as a flat Earther?
Does it bother you that you believe that human life is no more signifigant in the over-all scheme of things than viral life and that you have no answer for that? Do you wonder why atheists are percieved as arrogant?

Thor Q. Mada

Yes, I do believe that anybody believing in creation is as stupid as a flat earther. Arrogant?? Hardly. Realistic is more like. It also doesn't bother me in the least not to be considered more significant than viral life. Is that arrogant?
But thinking that you are the special product of somebodies creational activeties, that in my book is arrogant.

WinAce

I was specifically referring to literal Young Earth Creationists, with no common descent, fossil record as a result of the Flood, dating methods uniformly and inexplicably messed up, distant starlight created by God... etc.

Theistic evolutionists and deists at least make an effort to reconcile their beliefs with the data, and although I consider those unfounded they at least make partial sense.

The exact same types of pseudoscientific YEC 'arguments', however, can be used to attack the evidence for a spherical earth, so they're the direct equivalent of flat earthers because the evidence flat-out contradicts them! (Pardon the pun).

And who said I believe human life, which is obviously more than the sum of its parts and has the emergent property of self-awareness, is equal to a virus, which isn't even technically alive according to some definitions and exhibits little except the capability to replicate?

I think you've taken your prejudices against atheism, stuffed a nice, juicy strawman and done little else.

scigirl

<img src="graemlins/boohoo.gif" border="0" alt="[Boo Hoo]" />


scigirl

Arch Stanton

What if it did bother him that human life is no more significant than viral life? Doesn't make you any less wrong.


Arch.

excreationist

I think you should make a flat-earth site rather than a creationist one. That way you can be using Biblical literalism without having strawmen.

You should use ALL of these passages:
<a href="http://www.tektonics.org/tekton_03_03_01.html" target="_blank">tektonics.org</a>

You should talk about a non-spherical earth vs. a spherical earth. That's because the earth could be round AND flat.... but a spherical shape can't be flat.

Here I asked the Straight Dope board members about what the ancient Hebrews believed:
<a href="http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=a0df3b4a6b88ef358f58fde38a0caedf& threadid=109601" target="_blank">Ancient Hebrews' knowledge of the earth's shape</a>

Note that some of the passages mentioned above are in the Bible repeatedly... e.g. <a href="http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?SearchType=AND&language=english&searchpage=0 &version=NIV&search=+ends+earth" target="_blank">"the ends of the earth"</a>. i.e. its surface isn't continuous and never-ending. Even if it didn't have any ends it could be a torus (donut) shape or a cylinder or something. There is no mention in the Bible of the earth going on forever (that no ship can sail off the edge or no bird can find the end, etc), while still having a limited size. (That is how the universe is believed to be I think - no edge - but not infinite in size - it's 3 dimensional space on the surface of a higher-dimensional shape)
There is also no mention of people being able to walk around the earth - on the top, sides and bottom! This is very amazing and in books like Job where they are talking about the amazing things in God's creation, including the earth, but it doesn't mention anything like that.

As far as I know with respect to the shape of the earth, it only suggests that it is non-spherical/flat - there is no clear passage which says that it is spherical. There is a passage in the NT which talks about it being day and night during the second coming though - Luke 17:34-36. In verse 24 it says the second coming happening like a flash of lightning... so it implies day and night is happening simultaneously. Perhaps the writer of Luke believed the world was spherical... after all, he would have written it in Greek and would have probably been aware of Greek science - that Greeks had believed for centuries that the earth was spherical. (since about 500 BC)

Also, you should include the passage in Daniel 4 - which talks about a king's God-given dream about a tree which was visible to the *whole* earth (verse 20). This means the earth in the dream would have been flat. It is quite easy for a human mind to grasp that the earth is spherical - that it is just a huge ball - there is no reason for God to pretend that the earth is flat.

In the tekton link they said that "earth" could have other translations, such as "country"... if so, that means that maybe the flood wasn't global - but Bible literalists would say that the flooding of the earth in Genesis meant the literal "earth" - not a country.

There is quite a bit more I could say on this... if people are interested in making a site or something based on this please contact me.

[ July 18, 2002: Message edited by: excreationist ]</p>