When I was at school, flat earth theory WAS taught. To
understand how the modern understanding of the shape of the
earth came about it is important to understand the
prevailing thought at various times and why it was
compelling. (At school I was also told that "they all
laughed at Christopher Columbus because he said the world
was round". This turned out to be my teachers mistaking
Ira Gershwin and Frank Sinatra for historians. The shape of
the earth was pretty much universally accepted to be
spherical by the late 15th century. After all, Eratosthenes
had calculated its diameter nearly 17 centuries earlier
in 200BC and Aristotle had given compelling arguments to
believe it was round a century and a half earlier than
that).

I don't understand why American Bible Belt activists are so
unimaginative. Surely they owe it to their God to bring
some intelligence to their exegesis. It seems quite
reasonable that the "four corners" comment in the bible
could have been figurative. I don't see why God should tie
one hand behind his back by speaking only literally. Even
if it was meant literally, this could be a sign of God's
mystery - find four corners in a sphere and you are on the
road to enlightenment. (Well, those types of riddles
(koans) work well for Buddhists anyway.)

To answer the question: Yes, reference should be made to
flat earth theory in school but to present it as a viable
alternative belief is just silly. (From this side of the
Atlantic at least.)

Regards,

Adam




On Tue, 30 Mar 1999 17:45:33 PST Yau Chi Yat Ben
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Sir,
>
> Thanks for your email, but do you think "flat earth theory" should be
> taught in school?
>
> Best Regards,
> Ben
>
>
>
> >I thought this must be a joke too. I e-mailed Philip
> >Kimball of FLAT to confirm this but he replied:
> >
> >"this is a very serious issue.  come to the press
> >conference at the public library, today, march 30, at 2:00
> >p.m"
> >
> >Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the press
> >conference as I am in Bristol, England - 92 degrees to the
> >East of Kansas City.
> >
> >
> >On Tue, 30 Mar 1999 20:43:04 +0100 Buck
> ><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> My money says this is a  infantile, "rationalist"  put-on.
> >> (Yawn!)
> >>
> >> Jim Buck
> >>
> >> >FLAT EARTH THEORY SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS, NEW GROUP SAYS
> >
> >----------------------------------------
> >Adam Nieman
> >Email: [log in to unmask]
> >
> >University of the West of England
> >Faculty of Applied Sciences
> >Coldharbour Lane
> >Bristol BS16 1QY
> >
> >Tel: +44 (0)117 976 2671
> >Mob: 07803 287661
> >Fax: +44 (0)117 976 3837
>
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

----------------------------------------
Adam Nieman
Email: [log in to unmask]
WWW1: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/facults/fas/staff/an/
WWW2: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/5379

University of the West of England
Faculty of Applied Sciences
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol BS16 1QY

Tel: +44 (0)117 976 2671
Mob: 0780 3287661
Fax: +44 (0)117 976 3837