NewsWatch

The Flat Earth Myth

Creation.com, 8/15/24, “The Flat Earth Myth” [Excerpts]: For the last 200 years or so, many anti-Christians have resorted to a scurrilous lie (acting consistently with their worldview): that the early and medieval Christian Church taught that the earth is flat.

Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell (1934–) thoroughly debunked the flat earth myth over 20 years ago in his definitive study Inventing the Flat Earth.

[Evolutionist] Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002) favourably reviewed this masterpiece: “There never was a period of ‘flat earth darkness’ among scholars (regardless of how the public at large may have conceptualized our planet both then and now). Greek knowledge of sphericity never faded, and all major medieval scholars accepted the earth’s roundness as an established fact of cosmology.”

Russell showed that flat-earth belief was extremely rare in the Church. The flat earth’s two main proponents were obscure figures named Lactantius (c. 240–c. 320) and Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th century; the last name means “voyager to India”). However, they were hugely outweighed by tens of thousands of Christian theologians, poets, artists, scientists, and rulers who unambiguously affirmed that the earth was round. 

One of the best-known proponents of a globe-shaped earth was the early English monk, theologian and historian, the Venerable Bede (673–735).... Less well known was that he was also a leading astronomer of his day.

Here is what Bede said about the shape of the earth—round “like a ball” not “like a shield”: “We call the earth a globe, not as if the shape of a sphere were expressed in the diversity of plains and mountains, but because, if all things are included in the outline, the earth’s circumference will represent the figure of a perfect globe.… in its width it is like a circle, and not circular like a shield but rather like a ball, and it extends from its centre with perfect roundness on all sides.”

https://bit.ly/3T4VkKF

Gen Z Is More Religious than You Think

IntellectualTakeout.org, 8/20/24, “Gen Z Is More Religious than You Think” [Excerpts]: Many Americans believe our world’s becoming more secular. While that’s true, many of today’s fastest-growing religious denominations aren’t progressive—they’re traditional. Here’s what the data show.

In the 1990s, 90 percent of Americans identified as Christians on Pew surveys. Today, that number has fallen to about 67 percent. Among young adults, over 40 percent are religiously unaffiliated.

There’s something, then, to the stereotype of secularization. Yet these trends don’t mean that religion is losing its place in American culture. It’s not the case, for instance, that Gen Z is leaving religion at higher rates than millennials or Gen X, all of which are disaffiliating at a rate of about 19 percent. Rather, members of Gen Z are simply less likely to have been raised in religious families. So while the overall number of nonreligious people is rising, it’s not because young people are leaving churches in greater numbers than before.

It’s also not the case that all religious denominations are shrinking. For example, while Catholics and mainline Protestants have seen substantial decline, evangelical churches (such as the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, and the Assemblies of God) have grown. Curiously, the churches that make more demands on believers have grown in appeal, even as more progressive traditions have lost adherents.

https://bit.ly/3AHsXvM

Israel Retrieves Bodies of Six Hostages from Gaza

NationalReview.com, 8/20/24, “Israel Retrieves Bodies of Six Hostages from Gaza amid Renewed Cease-Fire Talks” [Excerpts]: Israeli forces said Tuesday they had retrieved the bodies of six hostages from Gaza during an overnight military operation in the southern city of Khan Younis, as Israel participates in the latest round of cease-fire negotiations this week.

There are 109 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, according to the current tally. Thirty-six of the hostages are believed to be dead.

“Tonight our forces returned the bodies of six of our hostages who were held by the murderous terrorist organization Hamas,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. “Our hearts ache for the terrible loss.”

https://bit.ly/4cJvQta