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In 2017, a California man named Mike Hughes planned to launch himself 1,800 ft into the air in a rocket he made himself. The rocket was steam-powered.
Why would Hughes do this? Well, it turns out he was convinced the earth is flat, and he was willing to risk his life to prove that was the case.
His plan was thwarted by the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which denied him permission because he did not obtain the proper permits. Also because it was a terrible, terrible idea.
There’s some debate, of course, about whether the government should be allowed to make such a ruling. If someone wants to risk their own life, should the government have a say in whether they’re allowed to do so? Should we be legally obligated to wear seatbelts, or have our cars inspected? If someone wants to build a rocket and shoot themselves into the air, shouldn’t they be allowed to?
It’s a fascinating question, made all the more poignant by the fact that Mike Hughes did launch his homemade rocket three years later. And he died when the rocket crashed mere seconds after it was launched.
Whose fault is Mike’s death? Clearly not the government, who tried to restrain his choices. Of course we can blame Hughes himself. And maybe there’s some fault to be laid at the feet of the flat earth community, a group so hell-bent on denying reality that they’ll literally risk their own lives to prove what Aristotle proved 300 years before Jesus was born.
Who can save us from ourselves? What happens when we’re so committed to a bad idea that we won’t turn away?
Flat earth isn’t the only deadly ideology. From white supremacy to patriarchy, to the human impulse to conquer and colonize, these are what Christian theologians label as sin.
