Beginning of the Kernel Article by Joseph L. Flatley
In the year 1543, the Pope teamed up with Copernicus, the Church of England, and possibly Aristotle (who, inconveniently, had died in 322 B.C.) to convince unsuspecting Europeans that, despite the Earth’s obvious flatness, it’s actually a sphere, and that the sun is the center of the universe. In the years since, the usual bad guys—Catholics, Jews, and bankers—have jealously guarded the secret of the flat Earth. And with the birth of the space age, NASA (basically a joint project between the Freemasons and the Nazis) got involved. That, at least, is the story according to the Flat Earth Truthers, a small but vocal group who believe that the world is flat, and that this knowledge is the key to understanding who really runs the world.
My Thoughts
This is entirely why we need a better education system. Rather than try to reconcile Religion and Science, we ignore one and focus on the other, which leads to no one addressing the perceived contradictions people of faith believe are there.
1 in 4 Americans don’t know the Earth orbits the Sun (Article).
4 in 10 Americans believe God created the Earth just under 10,000 years ago (Article).
42% of American Citizens believe God created humans as we are (Article).
What academics refuse to acknowledge is how religion is not the problem; the problem is that academics refuse to explain and convince the majority of these people that the scientific discoveries of the last several centuries, let alone since the Pythagoras mathematically proved the Earth was round six centuries before Jesus Christ was even born. Why is it so hard for those of science to even try to address someone’s ignorance in a respectful manner? Ignorance is not something to be put down. Letting people remain ignorant and teach their ignorance to others allows the problem to run rampant.
I am Catholic. I understand why people of faith think science could disprove their religion, but if they are worried that the truth of the world contradicts what they believed and therefore ignore the world in its entirety, then I doubt the strength of their faith was ever strong to begin with. The two saints I encourage everyone of any faith to read are Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. They were men who did not let their faith be shaken by secular science nor did they let their faith blind them from the implications of scientific inquiry.
If God created the World and the Bible, then any contradiction we find between them does not disprove one or the other but shows our own ignorance and our need to grow and learn from both together rather than keep them separate. Trying to argue that God could not or does not do something that science has discovered and proven only limits God’s capacity and power.