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Ils affirment que la terre est plate.

Ils affirment que la terre est plate.
They claim that the earth is flat.
From Lesson 411:Logical connector for contradiction (or)·French

Questions & Answers about Ils affirment que la terre est plate.

Why is the indicative est used here instead of the subjunctive soit? Doesn't 'claiming' something false introduce doubt?
Even though the statement is objectively false, the verb affirmer (to claim/assert) expresses a certainty in the mind of the subject making the claim. In French, verbs of declaring, thinking, and believing take the indicative mood in the affirmative. You would only use the subjunctive if the verb were negative (ils n'affirment pas que...) or inverted in a question.
Can we drop que just like we often drop 'that' in English?
No, you can never drop que in French. While in English you can say 'They claim the earth is flat,' in French the conjunction que must always explicitly connect the two clauses.
Is affirmer a direct translation of 'to affirm'?
It can be, but it acts as a slight 'faux ami' (false friend). In French, affirmer is used much more frequently than 'affirm' in English. It generally translates best to 'to claim,' 'to state,' or 'to maintain' a position.
Why isn't terre capitalized here, since it refers to the planet Earth?
In everyday contexts or fixed historical expressions like 'the earth is flat' (la terre est plate), it is common to write it in lowercase. You typically only capitalize Terre when talking about it strictly as an astronomical planet alongside Mars or Jupiter.

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