Apologies if this has already been covered; I'm catching up and replying on the fly.
Here's how it works. Please take the time to take this on board, beacuse it really is key to the entire issue.
The Earth, like every planet we know, is spherical. Slightly flattened at the poles, hence "oblate". Now...
A man believes the world is a flat, circular plane. Does that change the shape of the world?
The man points to an ancient book which supports his belief. Does that change the shape of the world?
The man finds ten people who agree with him. Does that change the shape of the world?
Those people recruit thousands of followers. Does that change the shape of the world?
Some of those people are scientists. Does that change the shape of the world?
Eventually the group grows to millions, some of them world leaders. Does that change the shape of the world?
Soon the entire population believes the world is a flat, circular plane. Whole websites and libraries are filled with literature declaiming the truth of the world's being a flat, circular plane.
Does that change the shape of the world?
Would the world, if able to express a preference, care?
That is why the argument from popularity is a logical fallacy. We already know there are people with such beliefs; but belief in a thing does not equal the true nature nor even the existence of that thing.
(May 9, 2014 at 12:23 am)Revelation777 Wrote: Well many of your government leaders, judges, law officers, etc. believe God created everything, does that make them idiots too?
Here's how it works. Please take the time to take this on board, beacuse it really is key to the entire issue.
The Earth, like every planet we know, is spherical. Slightly flattened at the poles, hence "oblate". Now...
A man believes the world is a flat, circular plane. Does that change the shape of the world?
The man points to an ancient book which supports his belief. Does that change the shape of the world?
The man finds ten people who agree with him. Does that change the shape of the world?
Those people recruit thousands of followers. Does that change the shape of the world?
Some of those people are scientists. Does that change the shape of the world?
Eventually the group grows to millions, some of them world leaders. Does that change the shape of the world?
Soon the entire population believes the world is a flat, circular plane. Whole websites and libraries are filled with literature declaiming the truth of the world's being a flat, circular plane.
Does that change the shape of the world?
Would the world, if able to express a preference, care?
That is why the argument from popularity is a logical fallacy. We already know there are people with such beliefs; but belief in a thing does not equal the true nature nor even the existence of that thing.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'