Flat Earthers Gather in Colorado for Flat Earth International Conference 2018
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Hundreds of participants attended the 2018 Flat Earth International Conference in Denver, Colorado’s Crowne Plaza Denver Airport Convention Center last week.
The conference, which ran from November 15th-16th, attracted around 650 people who at least entertain the idea that the planet Earth is flat. It featured dozens of speakers presenting on a variety of topics from 14+ Ways the Bible Says Flat Earth to NASA and other Space Lies.
Many flat earth claims are couched in scientific language, including Rob Skiba’s talk titled Testing the Globe: A Zetetic Investigation. Skiba’s presentation is predicated on the idea that “attempting to debunk Flat Earth often leads to becoming a believer in it”—zetetic literally means ‘proceeding by inquiry.’
Of course, according to the weekend’s presenters, all inquiries point towards mankind not inhabiting a spherical planet.
"I don't believe that we are. I don't believe that there is the evidence to support it from a scientific method,” conference coordinator Robbie Davidson told Denver's Fox affiliate, KVDR. "The conference is about being able to question things and not being afraid to ask questions."
"Scientifically when you go and try to prove the curvature, or the movement, of the Earth—you can't do it. There's not one experiment, from Earth, to prove Earth as what we've been taught," said Davidson, who takes a fundamentalist view of the bible's creation story, to NBC affiliate 9News.
"I just started looking into it and, as a Christian, I started looking at the Bible," he said. "Well, why does the Bible say this? So, for me, it was just looking into the evidence."
"I take a biblical mindset the fact that the firmament divided the waters from the waters, so that the sun, moon, and stars are inside the firmament—so it placed the sun, moon, and stars in the firmament on day four, after the Earth—so how do you have the Earth created first and then the sun, moon and stars?" pondered Davidson.
Fundamentally, much of Flat Earth Theory depends on conspiracy theory to disprove the scientific evidence presented in favor of a spherical planet.
"When it comes down to it we’re finding out that a lot of what we’re being taught these days is more theoretical science," Davidson said in an interview with ABC’s Denver7. "You can’t apply it under the scientific method."
Conspiracies are used to explain things like photographs of Earth from space.
"It’s a picture—pictures can be doctored," he said.
Davidson himself admits to having once laughed at Flat Earth Theory, and asked only that people approach the subject with an open mind.
"I just encourage people to come out with a bit of an open mind, laugh for a bit because I laughed at this, but keep an open mind and hear what’s presented," he said. "And I’ll tell you, it’s wild."