Scholarly consensus forms our view of the world more than we think. Most of us do not have the resources to traverse the atmosphere and view the earth from an observer’s point of view (or analyze other evidence), so we have to rely on scholars to inform us that it is a sphere. Robust models become prominent in scholarly circles and then become public knowledge within a few decades. Many of us look with a critical eye on those who flout scholarly consensus. Atheists scoff at neo-ussherian Christians who believe…