If you were atheist in the year 400 A.D. was the universe flat, because there was no evidence to say otherwise?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

I don't believe anyone has ever claimed that the universe is flat.

If you mean the earth, there has only ever been a few who believed that (there still are) The majority of people from day one believed the earth to be anything but flat.


You should take time to actually read up on the subjects before making a total fool of yourself.
I suggest you read up on Eratosthenes, Aristotle, Lucretius, Pythagoras and others who were around well before 400 AD

Answer 2

However, the Earth was, there was nothing we could say for or against it without evidence. Fortunately, we tend to be more scientifically minded. This means that even if our current evidence suggests a flat Earth, it is open to change with further evidence.

The evidence today suggests overwhelmingly that religion is superstitious belief. It's books are all man-made and reflect the knowledge and cultures from which they came, not any "divine" knowledge. There is vast evidence that humans tend to make up and strongly believe in myths, superstitions, and urban legends. And any comparison of them to religion shows a similar basis and structure.

Still, there is the remote chance that a god somewhere, no matter how defined, does exist. I just have zero belief at this moment in the existence of any of them. If, by some remarkable feat, religious people suddenly came up with good evidence for the existence of a god, I would consider it. The pitiful attempts so far, though, are laughable.

Answer 3

I can only imagine "universe" is supposed to be "Earth," so I'll proceed with that in mind.

If I was an atheist, I would not have the advantages of rational thought gained since the Enlightenment, but there were atheists and skeptics at that time, to be sure. I might have thought the Earth was flat, sure... but you imply that I would be wrong and that an underlying truth of a nearly spherical Earth would be waiting for me while I was sure the Earth was flat. That is, my "science" would be incorrect while "God" would be waiting in all his Mighty Correctness. In this case, the truth would not be what it first appeared to be, you're right about that... but your example quickly becomes useless.

A ruse easily seen through, and not well thought out. Your example is carefully set in an age when rational thought was not what it is now, but even so, it is science that first discovers that the Earth is not flat... and religion that kills people for saying so, since "God" said it was flat. And contemporary science requires a wealth of evidence and peer review, so scientific theories are not wild guesses, as might have been case in 400 A.D.

The "flat Earth" was the interpretation of the day -- but make no mistake, it was a religious interpretation. As facts began to stack up against the theory, early thinkers began to wonder if, in fact, the Earth was not flat. In other words, science changes as evidence appears whereas religion only changes when science has embarrassed it into doing so... unfortunately, after many have lives have been lost, in some cases.

Your implication of a truth different that what is now known is a situation that has already played out over and over... and science has shown over and over again to be accurate where the Bible is vague or completely useless. And the Bible is interpreted a new way every minute. Try counting the number of Christian sects in the world today. I dare ya.

Answer 4

I can move in four directionalities: forward-backward, up-down, left-right and into the future. I need no advanced science to determine that. Therefore it can be readily deduced that there are at least four dimensions.

QED the universe is not flat.

By the way, YOU are the guys who believe things whether there is evidence against it or not.
WE only believe things if there is no evidence against it AND there is plenty of evidence for it.

And also, you also might want to read De Rerum Natura, a book by possibly the only atheist from around 70 BC which happens to come closest to what we now know to be true out of all books about nature from the Roman era.

There is no book from before 100 AD which describes the physically observable universe* as well as De Rerum Natura. Even Christians must concede to that.
So even back then, we atheists owned you guys.

*Those parts where God is not directly observable.

Answer 5

Actually the Greeks accurately calculated how far it was around the Earth in 300 BCE. What the hell are you talking about?

And there was no evidence it was flat either. Bad analogy because there was evidence in a million BCE, we just didn't recognize it. You can't pick one positive claim over another with no evidence.

Answer 6

Isaiah 40:22 New International Version
He sits enthroned above the CIRCLE of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Book of Isaiah Three main authors and an extensive editing process:

Isaiah 1-39 "Historical Isaiah" with multiple layers of editing, 8th cent. BC
Isaiah 40-55 Exilic(Deutero-Isaiah), 6th century BC
Isaiah 56-66 post-exilic(Trito-Isaiah), 6th-5th century BC

The evidence was there long before 400 BC let alone 400 A.D.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dating_the_…

Answer 7

The concept of a spherical Earth dates back to around the 6th century BCE in ancient Greek philosophy. It remained a matter of philosophical speculation until the 3rd century BCE when Hellenistic astronomy established the spherical shape of the earth as a physical fact. Eratosthenes (276 BCE - 194 BCE) estimated Earth's circumference around 240 BCE. He had heard that in Syene the Sun was directly overhead at the summer solstice whereas in Alexandria it still cast a shadow. Using the differing angles the shadows made as the basis of his trigonometric calculations he estimated a circumference of around 250,000 stades. The length of a 'stade' is not precisely known, but Eratosthenes' figure only has an error of around ten percent if an Olympic stade of 176.4 meters is used which would be equivalent to 250,000 * 176.4 meters = 44,100 kilometers. The actual circumference of the Earth being about 40,075 km.

Answer 8

If you think about it, what you are saying is that everyone "knew" the earth was flat until some one proved it otherwise. And since you are comparing that belief with your belief of god, then some one could just as easily prove that god doesn't exist.

Answer 9

I suggest that you read more history. And I believe you mean the earth, not the universe.

Answer 10

No, even then I wouldn't have thought the universe was flat.......If you could see the moon which was round, why would anyone think the universe is flat?

Answer 11

If I was an atheist in 400 AD, I'd be in church praying like crazy so no one tortures and kills me for heresy. A flat Earth is really quite meaningless when you're being gutted.

Answer 12

No because I don't like making baseless assumptions.

Answer 13

there were no atheists 400 ad ago just pagans.

Answer 14

You mean the Earth?