Wilbur Glenn Voliva

Wilbur Glenn Voliva (1870-1942) took control of the community of Zion, Illinois — a religious community which taught Flat Earth doctrine (through the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church) — after Alexander Dowie resigned due to poor health and scandal. He kept tight control over the community and broadcast his Flat Earth agenda from a 100,000-Watt radio station in the town.

Irving Wallace interviewed Voliva in 1932. Voliva declared that the Bible was his entire scientific library. Astronomers were 'ignorant fools'. The sun, he said, was only three thousand miles away and only thirty-two miles in diameter. When asked why he thought the sun so near the earth, he said: "God made the sun to light the earth, and therefore must have placed it close to the task it was designed to do. What would you think of a man who built a house in Zion and put a lamp to light it in Kenosha, Wisconsin?"

After a long battle with diabetes, Voliva died of heart and kidney disease in 1942.