“Flat Earth” is the idea that the Earth is planar. You will see later that different Flat Earthers do not necessarily think the earth is a circular disk, but a number of flat geometries.

There are many different types of Flat Earth Ideologies, most of which deny the existence of gravity in the way we know it.

The most common belief by far is that the Earth is a flat, motionless disk, with the Arctic at the centre, and the Antarctic around the circumference as a giant ice wall. Naturally, they do not believe in the existence of a South Pole. This view is usually accompanied by the idea that NASA is guarding the ice wall in an attempt to prevent other humans from reaching it and seeing beyond the edge.

However, research by Carlos Diaz Ruiz and Tomas Nilsson indicates 3 main denominations or factions of Flat Earth Ideologies, with varying beliefs about the universe.(See more information about their research here)

In the 1st “faction”, believers argue that atheists use scientific ideas to make people loose faith in the Christian God. These ideas include vaccines, evolution, the Big Bang, and of course, a round Earth. They often use Scripture, taken literally, to describe the Earth and universe. An example, taken from Revelation 7, is “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth”. This separates these believers from the more common belief that Earth is a 2D circle, and instead suggests that the Earth is either a quadrilateral (like a square) or a 3D tetrahedral shape.

The 2nd “faction” believes that the true nature of the Earth is being kept a secret by a few elite people, who wish to withhold information from the public in order to remain in power. These people may believe that satellite images of the spherical Earth are fabricated by institutions such as NASA in an attempt to prime the rest of the population into believing other “conspiracies” like gravity.

The final “faction” believes that knowledge should be obtained personally, through experiments and individual experiences rather than from books and “authoritative sources”. Because of this, their only concern is the truth within their lived experience, which on its own, indicates a flat earth. They distrust outside sources. Without witnessing the Earth from a satellite view, and without the personal means to disprove all evidence for a flat earth, these people suggest that the Flat Earth Belief is a reasonable deduction based on what they themselves can see.

But how do they explain other physical behaviour on Earth? If gravity is not real, why do objects fall? If the Earth is flat, why do sailing ships disappear bottom-first?

Flat Earthers usuallly find isolated explanations to each of these cases. For example, some believe that the Earth moves “upwards” at the speed objects fall such that it looks like things are attracted to the Earth.

While it is easy to mock the beliefs of Flat Earthers, it may be more helpful to encourage better scientific literacy and help others exercise critical thinking skills. Often, Flat Earthers may be motivated by religious devotion, suspicion of authorities, and paranoia. Round Earthers are not necessarily exempt from these motives either.

As they say, the only thing a Flat Earther fears is sphere itself.