Should the Earth really be flat after all?

Here's a Vancouver Sun piece by poverty activist Jean Swanson who obviously thinks
the Earth should be flatter than it is.

The belief that the Earth was flat was almost universal until about the 4th century BC, when the Ancient Greek scientists and philosophers proposed the idea that the Earth was a sphere, or at least rounded in shape. Aristotle was one of the first thinkers to provide evidence of a spherical Earth in 330 BC. By the early Middle Ages, it was widespread knowledge throughout Europe that the Earth was a sphere.

However, our relationship to our environment, to the rest of humanity and to God cannot be defined in terms of spherical geometry. In fact, the Earth should be flat . . . . . after all. Not in a geometrical sense but a metaphorical one as in "Level Playing Field". All humans should have an adequate share of the planetary resources available to satisfy their needs and we should all use only what we need to live comfortably.

Comfortably in this context does not mean several fossil-fuel burning vehicles, food transported from distant places, entertainment which requires inordinate amounts of resources to produce and many more of the things we take for granted in our industrialized society. Comfortably means having all one's needs well taken care of and not wanting more.

In order to look for the flat spot which would give everyone sufficient and no one an advantage, some form of measurement is necessary. Unfortunately, humans always seem to look for and accept measurement of the human condition only in terms of monetary value. Even though measuring what is essentially quality of life in dollars makes no sense to me, that is probably the best comparative data available.

Click on the buttons below to see data for some representative countries which shows annual GDP per capita:

Living on a "Flat Earth" with today's global population and available resources might well give a Standard of Living close to that of some of the countries in the middle group above. Remembering that, to the majority of the world's people, this would seem like Heaven, could we do this?

We would probably ask, "Why should we do this?" A simple answer is "Because it's the right thing to do", another would be "Because it's what God would have us do". We find it easy to talk about bringing justice to the world and to pray for it, but ultimately those of us who live above the average would have to do it. If we are not willing to sacrifice our personal wealth to make justice happen for everyone, then praying that God will do it serves only our own selfish interests.

JfD

Here is a couple, Hal and Norma Taussig, who do everything they can to flatten the earth. Reactions to his efforts at justice provide a look at how hard our society makes it to do the "right thing". For an article on Progressive Christianity written by Hal Taussig, go to the Reading Room.

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