"***I wonder if these people genuinely believe that the earth is being held up on the shoulders of Atlas?***
It isn't?"
Nope. It rests on the back of a large, invisible turtle.
If it's invisible, how do you know it's a turtle. It could be a tortoise.
Come on, haven't you heard that the world, which is flat, rests on the backs of four giant elephants, which ride on the back of a giant turtle?
Nope. It's on a fish, which is on a cow, which is standing on a rock which is floating in the water- or something like that according to Muhammad.