It's NOT a religious belief. It's ignorance. A satellite could, and does, easily disprove these whacky views, yet they refuse to believe them.
Their disbelief in science is generally fueled by their faith though. Faith is something that you can't reason against.
The irony, though, is that ninety nine percent of the time, their conflicting viewpoint is not really dictated by the Bible, but only by some preacher's interpretation of the Bible. Hence, the medieval church believed that a round earth was heresy, and that a sun centered solar system was contrary to the Bible. Not very many people today believe that the Bible contradicts these claims, though.