a. The earth is flat.

     There are only a few people left in the world
who believe that the earth is flat.
But this was the most common belief about our world
from the dawning of human awareness.
Since gravity always pulls down,
water anywhere in the world appears to be flat.
The flat-earth observation does not need to be taught as a dogma.
Every child knows that the earth is flat
—until he or she is taught otherwise.

     But there are a few adults in modern society who still maintain
that the earth is not a large sphere
but a flat surface surrounded by a wall of ice.
One member of the Flat Earth Society
offered as a proof that the earth is really flat
the fact that his wife had traveled to Australia
—and she did not fall off the earth!

     Such dogmatic beliefs are maintained
by always interpreting whatever evidence comes in
as supporting the pre-established belief system
and ignoring or discounting anything
that has even a remote possibility
of being considered contrary evidence.

b. Alcoholism is a disease.

     Many people have been helped to recover
from a problem with alcohol
by the use of methods and approaches
that require them to avoid drinking alcohol
for the rest of their lives.
Such a belief-system basically does no harm.
Alcohol is not necessary to survival or happiness.

     But such approaches sometimes depend on
telling the alcoholic that he or she is 'allergic' to alcohol
or some such medical term.
This might be explained genetically
—claiming that the individual was born with genes
that would make it impossible for him or her to control drinking
once alcohol gets into his or her body.
Such a dogma may be very helpful
for controlling the drinking behavior,
since it might be better for that individual
never to start drinking than to drink in moderation.

     For some recovering alcoholics this belief-system
is so central to their identity
that they will not tolerate any other ideas.
And they may take every opportunity
to try to convince others of their dogma.