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August 27th, 2012
11:31 AM ET
Bill Nye slams creationismBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN)–Famed TV scientist Bill Nye is slamming creationism in a new online video for Big Think titled "Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children." "Denial of evolution is unique to the United States," Nye begins in a YouTube video posted on Thursday. The video quickly picked up steam over the weekend and as of Monday morning had been viewed more than 1,100,000 times. Nye - a mechanical engineer and television personality best known for his program, "Bill Nye the Science Guy" - said the United States has great capital in scientific knowledge and "when you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in it, it holds everyone back." "Your world becomes fantastically complicated if you don't believe in evolution," Nye said in the Web video. Creationists are a vast and varied group in the United States. Most creationists believe in the account of the origins of the world as told in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories In the creation account, God creates Adam and Eve, the world, and everything in it in six days. For Christians who read the Genesis account literally, or authoritatively as they would say, the six days in the account are literal 24-hour periods and leave no room for evolution. Young Earth creationists use this construct and biblical genealogies to determine the age of the Earth, and typically come up with 6,000 to 10,000 years. Your Take: 5 reactions to Bill Nye's creationism critique The Gallup Poll has been tracking Americans' views on creation and evolution for the past 30 years. In June it released its latest findings, which showed 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution. During the 30 years Gallup has conducted the survey, creationism has remained far and away the most popular answer, with 40% to 47% of Americans surveyed saying they believed that God created humans in their present form at one point within the past 10,000 years. Survey: Nearly half of Americans subscribe to creationist view of human origins "The idea of deep time of billions of years explains so much of the world around us. If you try to ignore that, your worldview becomes crazy, untenable, itself inconsistent," Nye said in the video. "I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, that's completely inconsistent with the world we observe, that's fine. But don't make your kids do it. Because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need engineers that can build stuff and solve problems," he said. Creationists' beliefs about the origins of the Earth are often a narrow focus, based in large part on religious beliefs, and while they reject evolution as "just one theory," they often embrace other fields of science and technology. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter In "The Genesis Flood," the 1961 book that in many ways help launch the Young Earth creationism movement in the United States, the authors write: “Our conclusions must unavoidably be colored by our Biblical presuppositions, and this we plainly acknowledge." Their goal for the book was to harmonize the scientific evidence with the accounts in Genesis of creation and the flood. The idea of creationism has been scorned by the mainstream scientific community since shortly after Darwin introduced "The Origin of Species" in 1859. By 1880, The American Naturalists, a science journal, reported nearly every major university in America was teaching evolution. "In another couple centuries I'm sure that worldview won't even exist. There's no evidence for it. So..." Nye ends his video. soundoff (14,640 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 Next » |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Dear Mr. Nye - this is SUCH a disappointment! For years we tolerated you because you were an interesting addition to our children's education. But to say that evolution EVER existed, much less hint at the fact that it is still occurring, is OUTRAGEOUS! Say, have you seen any half-upright apes carrying a briefcase lately? Whether YOU choose to believe in your evolutionary theories as an adult or not, that's fine. But don't force our children to. God is evident in all that is around us. We would not exist but for Divine Design. Evolution is not good for our children - it teaches them that they are no more than monkey-brains, when in truth, each one was lovingly constructed by a God Who needs each individual for HIS purpose, not yours. Certainly there is ADAPTATION...we all have to adapt to the changing world around us, but is it really beyond your grasp that we serve a God who sees what we will need before we need it? That's what He's all about. You can plan and program and configure all you want, but your efforts are in vain. We will never live on other planets because only one was designed to sustain human life...this one. Make no mistake - God loves you, and all who think differently because it leads to creativity and invention and necessary technology. Otherwise, we would all be alike and this world would be extremely boring. I'm just so sad that you, like so many others who have been blessed with such great intelligence and a great way of teaching others, have let the prospect and power of "fame" grow to such an extent that you believe you were self made. You were not. "You are not your own; you were bought at a price." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
OK, so... if we are able to settle on other worlds, you will therefore be wrong and therefore evolution must be true? The truly sad thing is that I can't think of anywhere in any religion that says that we were only meant to live here and this was the only planet for us. You just made that up. That's the problem with blind faith – it is blind.
Bill Nye is trying to do you a favor more than you obviously can ever know. You are the root of the entire problem of further dumbing down the population as you indoctrinate your children in your bronze age myths. I hope people like you finally die out and reason finally wins the day.
beautifully put. thank you !
I see up-right apes carrying briefcases every workday.
It's clear that it is YOU that does not understand evolution, and what's worse is that you are passing this misinformation to your children and poisoning their brains against progress. As I've been saying, misinformation is more dangerous than total lack of information. I'm amused that you think humans aren't continuing to evolve – if that were true then researchers with job descriptions ending in -biologist would be out of a job.
Does your church show cartoons discrediting evolution? Why does every rebuttal involve these 'half-evolved chimps' theory. Ans somehow, because there's no talking monkies, evolution is a lie? Omg. I cannot believe the stuff they shovel to you guys. It's sad and pathetic how they have your mind. I'm crying inside my face right now (sniff).
???? I really feel bad for your children ... no child deserves to be brainwashed to the point they cannot think and function on their own. If you want to believe in a religion, so be it, but for 'god's' sake, please allow your children to see and absorb all that is around them, without your bigoted narrow view. Seriously, get some help.
This article sure has brought all the idiots out of the woodwork.
"half-upright apes carrying a briefcase lately?"
I see it every day.
Why do religious nutters, who purposefully choose to be ignorant about science, come onto internet boards and demonstrate that ignorance for all to see?
I agree let science do its job, but quit using an outdated unproven theory and move on.
And molecular biologists around the world bang their heads against the wall. Where are you people learning about evolution? Wherever it is, it's doing an awful job of teaching.
Evolution is as current as ever. It has been proven as much as the theories of gravity and magnetism. We can see it at play in MRSA and many single celled organisms – but Christians deny it because it makes us PART of the environment rather than having dominion OVER it. Evolution is a process that takes a few millenia to observe, which we have done with carbon dating, fossil records, and normal scientific processes. When any new observations are recorded, Christian spout the same nonsense about it being "just a theory" and "untested". What makes a Christian any different than a Heaven's Gate cult member or a member of the Raelian church? Their book is in more book stores...other than that, they all have a predilection to ignore and belittle actual forensic scientific evidence when it opposes their point of view. If you are going to argue a point, support your ideas with something other than a "good" book.
The " literalist " view of te Bible is based on a wrong translation in the King James version.
The Hebrew does not say "in THE beginning..." which would be "b'HA rashis', it says "b'rashis", in beginning, or – as a start.
That is one reason why no Jewish movement, from ultra conservative to reform, is literalist / fundamentalist.
All know better.
In fact, some ultra conservative Kabbalist mystics consider that this present universe is not the first.
No Jewish group rejects evolution, although there are some thinkers who claim an unknown divine purpose.
“You think it’s because they’re lying? Nonsense! I like it when people lie! Lying is man’s only privilege over all other organisms. If you lie–you get to the truth! Lying is what makes me a man. Not one truth has ever been reached without first lying fourteen times or so, maybe a hundred and fourteen, and that’s honorable in its way; well, but we can’t even lie with our own minds! Lie to me, but in your own way, and I’ll kiss you for it. Lying in one’s own way is almost better than telling the truth in someone else’s way; in the first case you’re a man, and in the second—no better than a bird! The truth won’t go away, but life can be nailed shut; there are examples. Well, so where are we all now? With regard to science, development, thought, invention, ideals, aspirations, liberalism, reason, experience, and everything, everything, everything, we’re all, without exception, still sitting in the first grade! We like getting by on other people’s reason–we’ve acquired a taste for it! Right? Am I right?”
-Fyodor Dostoevsky
We are indeed, an odd culture. That fairy tales take precedence over truth and Science sets us apart from a world living in real terms. The Earth is Billions of years old, Dinosaurs are millions of years old, as are our ancestors, Australopithecus and all. Those who cannot accept our humble beginnings are afraid that realism makes us ALL relatives. Bigotry goes hand in hand with organized religion and is frustrated when the fairy tales don't work, No wonder our Sciences and Education are stunted. Too many fools spoil the reality.
The brainwashing from birth to take bronze age myths as truth and demonize those who don't as "evil communist atheists" has to stop before we humans finally emerge from the dark ages. As long as Christians remain in power in the US, their war against reason will continue and we will all continue to suffer for it.
Beautifully stated Dave.
The Genesis account, of 24 hour day is not literal. Each day is not 24 hour period, rather an age, an epoch if you will. Each day could be thousands of years, the genesis account only describes the Creators preparation of the earth for mankind, The universe has been around for millions of years, the earth an uninhabited waste.Of course creation is in complete harmony with science, it is logical. For example give the water cycle, it was described in the bible, long before science could accurately describe it, as is the form of the earth being a circle, when it was believed that the earth was flat. Who else other than the creator could describe it. Mr Nye. your theory is just that a theory, there is too much evidence, why just look at the brain that allowed you to be an engineer and create your youtube video,did you design it too?
Your definition of a theory is different than Nye's. A scientific theory is not an educated guess. A scientific theory has been tested , your theory of creationism has not been tested nor can it be.
@Logical
Nothing "designed" Mr. Nye's brain. It arose out of the natural processes of evolution and natural selection. That is the beauty of evolutionary theory, no external agent is required. This is such an astoundingly elegant theory, It adequately explains the diversification of life on this planet without employing any super natural or extraterrestrial elements. It requires no leaps of faith nor does it ask you to accept any part of it without evidence. I honestly feel sorry for you, you live in a beautiful garden, but you are only concerned with the beauty of faeries that aren't their.
Even if you claim each "day" of creation was a thousand years – you are still off by many orders of magnitude. And even worse, it does nothing to fix the mistakes your god made in the "order of creation".
@Huebert: Let me wrap my head around this one, basically you say a computer just turned up on my lap, after millions of years, it put itself together elegantly? And, yet the human brain is much more powerful, complicated, than these machines we use today to communicate. In fact, scientists have copied nature to produce machines, there is a field of study its called biomimicry, and its a science, who did it first?
Nice photo Colin –
http://www.facebook.com/anty.colin
Bill Nye a scientist? He's more of an entertainer-TV Reality person than a scientist. His personal views on anything really don't have any value. If he did a little more research he might just be surprised about what evidence there is for creationism.
It's also interesting that he mentions Darwin and his research because in the last few years of his life Darwin discounted his own theories and said evolution was not true. Huh! It's surprising what information you can discover when you look with an open mind.
Darwin never discounted his own theories and he never used the word evolution. He used the phrase decent with modification. Creationism is not a theory, it isn't even a hypothesis, it cannot be tested therefore it is invalid.
What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in here is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
got links?
You must be religous – everything you said in your post is a lie. Darwin did not discount his theories. There is not one shred of evidence for creationism. You will never find a rabbit fossil mixed in with dinosaur fossils. The fossils appear in certain geolgical layers based on time. The further back in time you go, as you proceed through the layers, you find different types of animals. Its a fact also the molecular evidence supports Darwin – there is no debate – evolution is the best mechanism that explains the diversity of life on earth. You clearly don't have a rational mind and have to lie to justify your beliefs. Do your self and become educated. You know what turns people into atheists? – they read their bible and when they get to the parts about God endorsing slavery etc, and when they see the storied on TV about priets molesting children you realize that its all BS.
I hope your joking...
Way to keep an open mind evolutionists, if someone disagrees with you , Just call them stupid.
To be fair, Jed's post isn't stupid so much as ignorant. The things he said are utterly false, and he doesn't know that.
If he did he probably feared religious zealots like yourself! Actually, Darwin did not refute his own theory of evolution. Lady Hope, a fervant christian was the person who started that urban myth. Darwin's own family refuted Lady Hope's propganda. It's amazing how far christians will go to discredit a theory they don't like (based on some ridiculous book)! I feel sad for this county knowing there's so many people like you out there.
If YOU did a little more research you would be surprised that:
-Bill is an engineer. Doesn't use evolution in his work, but all science is impacted by having an educated populace, so I'm glad someone is sayign *something.*
-evolution is a fact and theory. The facts concerning evolution are vital to agriculture and biomedical research.
-creationism is faith based. Faith, by definition, does not require evidence. Science, by definition, does. Creationism belongs in church, not the science classroom.
Well here we have it, a guy with a bad bow tie says it aint so so is must be true...
There we go. Some silly book says it so it must be true...
Yeah, "me" what is the difference between a guy with a bad tie and a silly book that you think god wrote?
@lamb of dog..... wow how many "silly books" are out there and we take them at what they are? Go back to reading your copy of 50 shades of grey.....I am sure it's all true or maybe your a Harry Potter kind of person.....
The difference is the tie is hard to look at. No need to use quotation marks around Me I wont for you...
Hey! Doctor Who says Bow Ties are cool. And it was so, and he saw that it was good. 😀
Why can't you believe in both. Using science as the vehicle that God use to create the world? A Creationeveolution? I feel that science does a very good job explaining God in my opinion. And if we humans are so bright, then explain everything. I just don't feel things happen without cause. That to me is just a lazy explanation to something, "you don't understand". So I say, let science do it's job, because one day, there will be the "A-ha!" moment, and behind the curtain, is God.
Occam's Razor. If scientifically-understandable processes can occur without a deity. Then just tacking on a deity behind all those explanations is just an unneeded hypothesis that can be done away with.
Good point – you absolutely can. Nye's point was that teaching kids this at a very young age is impossible at best and damaging at worst. They don't have the capacity to think abstractly, and they generally believe what they are told by people they trust. So his point is you have to teach them to base their reality on facts – things that you can prove – and not pollute their cognitive capabilities with religion/gods/whatever. When they get old enough, they can decide for themselves. This is a huge reason why Catholics are confirmed around the age of 12 – before they can make a adult decision themselves – so that they are roped in before they can think for themselves.
A ha. There is no god.
" I just don't feel things happen without cause."
Then you don't understand quantum theory. And if you choose to not understand quantum theory, what is the rationale for saying what you did?
Why does he hide behind a curtain? what is he afraid of?
I would argue about the holes in his theory but whats the point. If you want to believe a theory written in 1859 I cant do anything about it. No matter what I say your ears are closed. Sorry you will have to find your argument somewhere else.
As opposed to what? A theory written 2,000 years ago by a bunch of guys trying to get the ignorant masses to stay in line?
2000 years ago they didn't even know the world was round and you based an entire life around ideas of prehistoric men LOL
Are bible thumpers REALLY this dense?
The sky fairy wrote that book and he knows everything.
John...it sounds like your ears are the ones that are closed...
Those holes you speak of are just gaps in YOUR knowledge. The idea is basic and can be and has been tested over and over again. Religion is based off a book about stories of things that happened thousands of years ago that were passed down from generation to generation until finally written down. In Christianity, you don't even have consensus about the same book. Look how many forms of Christians there are, an they are all based off of the same exact stories.
The problem with religion is simple; rules have been devised around the MOST unprovable thing you can think of. A God.
It's arrogant, to believe you have contact with the 'Alpha and Omega'. We'll acheive time travel before a 'God' comes to reveal himself.
It's dangerous. Obviously it's a HUMAN/ humans that will tell you these 'rules'......... and you trust THIS guy with that info?!? I wouldn't. Try to dispute him, and you'll be killed by the followers that have already fallen in line (isn't that pretty much the start of anything like this?) Anywho.... it's been proven time and time again, the one able to keep his message probably had to 'off' a few folks who disagreed. All in the name of the Most High. .......... (which some of you must be)
If parents want to teach their kids a bunch of silly nonsense and tall tales calling them "facts", then that's just a product of their confounding beliefs and I don't think Bill Nye is going to change their mind. There's a lot worse things parents teach their kids that we need to be worried about.
As an atheist with an ex that is indoctrinating our 4 year old into catholicism, I am not so sure about that statement. I find it incredibly disconcerting.
David Sedaris said it best, "A bow tie announces to the world that I can no longer get an erection." Poor Bill. He's angry at himself and taking it out n Creation.
.
To believe in creation is to believe in a devine being or force which create us all. This, by extension, leads to the belief that life does not end at our mortal death, but carries in an afterlife for the true believer. Being conscious of our own mortality, this belief gives comfort to millions of people, that their soul will live on long after thei bodies had faded away. Who is Bill Nye to take that away?
Nye isn't denying a creator, he's denying creationism. It's so sad that you don't understand the difference.
He is telling people an uncomfortable truth. An uncomfortable truth is superior to a pleasant lie.
The voice of logic and reason?
Put your head back in the sand, religious nut bags. Deny the outside world because you're afraid what happens when you die. You're a dinosaur and the world will be better off when your religious ideas – a plague and virus on mankind – has died.
@John,
"Nye isn't denying a creator, he's denying creationism. It's so sad that you don't understand the difference."
To deny Creationism is to deny a creator. Understand that.
Nottoobright, you should never use the word "understand". You have no clue what it means.
Sad thing is if Darwin were alive today he would be disproving his own theory.
While your statement is not necessarily true, science does try to either prove or disprove itself to arrive at the most truth we can understand at the moment.
Unlike religion, whose perpetrators stick their fingers in their ears, close their eyes, and say "Nyah nyah nyah" over and over, hoping the big bad logic, facts, reason, and science go away so you can live your lives believing in a fairy tale.
How so? Darwin believed to the day of his death in his work. Nothing has contradicted his work so far. Why would he suddenly abandon his proven concept?
Bill Nye is not saying anything different than what is said in the official statements of every professional scientific organization. The only resistance to teaching evolution is religious – that should be telling us something obvious.
False... Watch Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
Finally someone with sense! Thank you Bill Nye, I knew that I was doing right by the world by bringing you into it at this time in evolution.
What Billy boy has not mentioned is that some of the VERY BEST scientific discoveries, and I mean the MOST IMPORTANT ones we discovered my devoutly Christian men who loved God and believed in creationism. For him to say believing in creationism will block or hinder our chidren from making huge or amazing discoveries is small thinking. I think It will help them, and Gow wil give them the strength and determination they need to succeed.
All that proves is that they got their science right. The rest is up for debate.
Brad...who is Gow?
@ Brad. Creationism and faith don't have to be the same. Creationism is the idea that the earth is only about 6000-10000 years old and that man was created in the exact image that they are in today. You can believe in a god and still accept the fact of evolution. Darwin himself was a religious man. Nye is not going out and condemning religion. What he is saying is that religion shouldn't get in the way of proven facts. Its ok if you want to believe in an all powerful being, but you have to live in the world around you and accept reality for what it is.
The Gallup Poll has been tracking Americans' views on creation and evolution for the past 30 years. In June it released its latest findings, which showed 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution.
This is seriously embarrassing, who reads the book of Genesis literally? Why do people take this literally? It's because they are inheritantly lazy and fearful. If they question outside their little faithbox they're life gets more complex. They want everything to make perfect sense in their world and not push themselves to learn more and question. Whether you believe in God or not, is not the question. Life and 'God' should be more complex than what you read in a book. Holy or not. I think Bill Nye is right on the money.
Religion is a social virus.
Think about it.
If your parents, entire family, and life has been devoted to it – how hard it must be to believe anything else. For if you do begin believing in logic, reason, and science, basically everything and everyone you know is wrong.
That's a pill too hard to swallow for most people I'd imagine, so the social virus continues.
"This is seriously embarrassing, who reads the book of Genesis literally? Why do people take this literally? It's because they are inheritantly lazy and fearful. "
If you haven't read the bible and investigated thoroughly as to whether these things are true, then aren't you the lazy one? Lazy beyond belief even when you consider your soul depends on it.
@shoos "This is seriously embarrassing, who reads the book of Genesis literally? Why do people take this literally? It's because they are inheritantly lazy and fearful. "
If you haven't read the bible and investigated thoroughly as to whether these things are true, then aren't you the lazy one? Lazy beyond belief even when you consider your soul depends on it.
@shoos,
"Life and 'God' should be more complex than what you read in a book. "
According to who, you? And how would you deliver the message then? Not to mention that ALL Science is delivered through books.
It's amazing that people know about big bang theory that explans how the universe began.
However not many know that it was the Catholic priest who gave it to us = Father Georges Lemaître = Father of big bang theory.
Very cool. Thank you for that. I didn't not know that he formulated the theory.