Danny Faulkner’s book, “Falling Flat,” takes an unorthodox approach to addressing the flat earth debate on both the biblical front and the scientific front. As a Christian and an astronomer, he assures us that he is eminently qualified to write a book on this topic. Unfortunately for us, it turns out he is a very poor writer and an even worse debater. The book consists of 13 chapters of convoluted arguments, pseudoscientific evidence, and presumption after presumption.
The entire book is packed with fallacious reasoning and logical fallacies. It’s a hard book to critique, but not because it doesn’t have mistakes and errors that an 8th grader with a classical education could not easily recognize, but because the book has so many mistakes and errors.
The challenge in critiquing Faulkner’s book isn’t that there isn’t enough to critique–it’s that it is an overwhelming task because you’re stopped by a train wreck in nearly every paragraph, and much of the time the disasters are from sentence to sentence. How much should a critiquer delve into all the problems in Faulkner’s arguments and pseudoscience, and how much should we mention his shredding of traditional hermeneutics and exegesis when it comes to addressing biblical arguments?
I can almost hear readers saying, “Well, why don’t you tell us how you really feel?” I know, this is a harsh critique, and it’s only the beginning. But Faulkner takes on one of the most serious and important subjects of our day: whether the earth is a sphere in a heliocentric system or flat in a geocentric system. And he presumes to prove his arguments from both biblical and scientific perspectives.
His book is an epic failure, and this series of articles critiquing his book will lay out our rebuttal demonstrating his failure, and more importantly, the failure of his arguments.
The first chapter is a disjointed mess, structurally, grammatically, logically, and one would think that Danny Faulkner had no experience whatsoever debating a subject or making a persuasive argument to support his position.
A couple of highlights from the first chapter will illustrate some, but not all, of the problems.
The first chapter delves into the history and evolution of the flat-earth arguments, boldly claiming that it is only a myth that medieval people widely held a flat earth view. He traces the modern flat-earth movement back to the 19th century, highlighting key figures like Washington Irving, Samuel Rowbotham, and places most of the blame on a single person, Eric Dubay, who allegedly started this modern movement with a book. “Much of this was started by Eric Dubay, who began posting on the Internet and published two books on the subject, The Flat-Earth Conspiracy and 200 Proofs the Earth Is Not a Spinning Ball. Soon, others took up the cause, and a movement was born.” Faulkner, Dr. Danny. Falling Flat: A Refutation of Flat Earth Claims (p. 7). Master Books. Kindle Edition.
All of this is a gross misrepresentation of history, so much so that surely the author who claims to have researched the subject thoroughly for years and even states he has devoted his life to this cause, must know he is misrepresenting history. And if we are to be clear with the use of the English language and meanings, let’s use the correct word here. Danny Faulkner’s book is full of lies and misrepresentations and distortions of history.
Faulkner also claims that the Bible has often been misinterpreted to support flat-earth theories. This is another false statement. It is, in fact, Faulkner who has misinterpreted the Bible to support his globe view in a heliocentric system. He argues that the flat-earth belief gained traction due to a mix of misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and sometimes deliberate misinformation. Talk about throwing stones from a glass house! We truly are living in a time when lies are boldly heralded to be true and truths are labeled lies.
Faulkner repeatedly uses the Straw Man Fallacy to lump true flat earthers into larger categories of people Faulkner discredits and slanders. For example, he writes:
“There is a wide diversity of theological beliefs within the flat-earth movement — conservative Christians, New Agers, deists, and pantheists, to name just a few. Flat-earthers often remark that there are no atheists in their ranks. I suppose that’s because the flat-earth model is so contrived, no one would seriously suggest it evolved.” Faulkner, Dr. Danny. Falling Flat: A Refutation of Flat Earth Claims (p. 7). Master Books. Kindle Edition.
By lumping all flat earthers into his “crazy people” category of “new agers, deists, and pantheists,” Faulkner hopes to discredit the character of all flat earthers without any evidence whatsoever, and without arguing the core issues. He again uses this technique to demean and slander good Christians who believe in the Bible’s flat earth description. But Faulkner was not done throwing flat earthers to the crazies, because he added “to name just a few,” meaning he had a lot of other ugly names he would use to associate flat earthers with. This man has no shame as one who claims to be a Christian.
Then he carries his Straw Man Fallacy and slander even further when he writes that “Flat earthers often remark that there are no atheists in their ranks [no we do not, nor do I know of a flat earther who ever made that statement]. I suppose that’s because the flat-earth model is so contrived, no one would seriously suggest it evolved.” Throughout his book, his descriptions of Godly flat earthers drips with contempt.
The author expresses concern that the flat-earth movement undermines both scientific understanding and the credibility of biblical creationism. He aims to counter these misconceptions and provide a rational perspective on the subject. If this were not laughable, one could become righteously angry, and perhaps the latter is the Christ-like approach to someone who claims to present biblical truth but denies God’s creation as specifically described by God himself in Genesis and in many other verses. What Faulkner calls “biblical creationism” is nothing other than Satan’s counterfeit of God’s creation story.
Notice how Faulkner describes Christians today who believe in the Bible’s description of Earth as flat, or at least not a sphere. He classifies them as “ignorant people of the past.”
“I challenged our cultural mythology that, until the time of Christopher Columbus five centuries ago, nearly everyone thought the earth was flat. Supposedly, with our sophistication and intelligence today, we know better than the ignorant people of the past.” Faulkner, Dr. Danny. Falling Flat: A Refutation of Flat Earth Claims (p. 12). Master Books. Kindle Edition.
Faulkner concludes his first chapter by stating that he wrote the book for three main reasons:
- To help people who are confused by flat-earth arguments.
- To correct the wrong approach to interpreting the Bible in the context of the flat-earth theory.
- To counter the threat that the flat-earth movement poses to the creation science movement.
If these are his three motivations for writing this book, he is sadly misguided himself. The truth is, this first chapter, and the entire book demonstrate three logical conclusions about Danny Faulkner:
- Danny Faulkner is deeply and irretrievably confused about the deception and lies of the globe and heliocentric arguments;
- Danny Faulkner is spiritually blinded and does not have the ability to correctly interpret the Bible on the subject of God’s creation of the Earth, which includes Faulkner’s inability to use traditional hermeneutics and exegesis to correctly interpret the plain text of the scriptures; and
- Danny Faulkner is himself a threat to the propagation of God’s true creation story, and his book actually promotes Satan’s counterfeit creation story, the worship of false gods, and encourages people to turn away from God as the True Creator of the heavens and the Earth.
Faulkner writes, “In this book, I will be most concerned about the Christian version of the flat-earth movement because I see it as a great threat to true Christianity today.” Faulkner, Dr. Danny. Falling Flat: A Refutation of Flat Earth Claims (pp. 7-8). Master Books. Kindle Edition. The truth is, his version of the globe in a heliocentric system is Satan’s counterfeit creation story, and Faulkner is promoting that over God’s own creation story.
As you can see from this article, Danny Faulkner has made so many mistakes, has such wrong motivations, and is himself part of the problem of reaching people for Christ, it’s almost overwhelming. This is why his book is a challenge to rebut. It can’t be done in one article.
