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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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Common sense slams Bill Nye. Order out of chaos. Purpose out of non-purpose. Life out of non-life. Complexity out of simplicity. Time and chance explains everything. I don't buy this lame theory. A poor rationalization of origins when you take God out of the equation. Amazing the lengths folks will go to to justify their worldviews.
There is not a single example of evolution above the species level. And no plausible explanation for how animals even survived during periods of rapid change. Utter nonsense.
Blake, adding in "biginvisiblemagicmanintheskydidit" doesn't seem to add much of an answer to your questions.
This is a prime example of the logical fallacy known as the argumentum ad ignorantiam (argument from ignorance), which can be paraphrased as "I am too stupid, ignorant, or unimaginative to understand this, therefore it must be wrong."
Read "The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins. It will blow your mind with the vast amount of evidence supporting evolution. Embryology, molecular genetics, etc. Everybody should be a skeptic but to flat out ignore the large amount of evidence for evolution is absurd. Especially when you drive a car, use pharmaceuticals, etc. It is the same scientific method that created these things that is used for evolution. Seriously stop driving your car and using a computer. Your a hypocrite if you do and refuse to accept that evolution is happening.
So a talking snake enticing a woman to eat a magic apple is more believable to you than natural processes? Do you see why the U.S. is getting worse at science?
People who think evolution as fact are dumb. People who say that the world came into being by chance are dumb. Just think ! even before the universe came into being what was there? Is it nothing ! From nothing all things were created, does it sound believable. God is the author of all, the past present and the future. So I support creationism and I don't want my children to be taught anything that contradicts my belief. I am certain that I have that much of liberty to teach my children what is morally, ethically and spiritually correct. I don't want my children to grow into animals, I want then to become Humans with set of rules and regulations. I want them them to know good and bad I want them to know the difference between right and wrong. I don't think I am asking too much. Even if it thousands of years from now the view that God created the universe will not die, in fact science will be made use of to prove creationism.
So the universe had to come from somewhere–so "god." Okay, I'll sing your tune: God had to come from somewhere–so Invisible Pink Unicorn.
Your children will be retards like you. Sad for them, sad for us.
Man are you ever narrow minded. You want your kids to believe what YOU believe! Well maybe they will have other ideas. I see scientific fact all around me everyday. Hard facts. I do not see anything relating to God in hard facts. Where the actual physical evidence. Not too mention believing in creationism, God and religion has nearly destroyed mankind over and over again.
your children will grow up to society welfare suckers who know nothing and do nothing to advance our species. your belief isn't worth a pile of beans since it was created by a bunch of bronze aged opium smoking loons. terach your kids whatever you wish but my children will certainly out pace yours in intelligence and and finding a successful job b/c i won't be raising them on a steady diet of BS handed down from one know nothing dolt to another.
Hey Bill "Deny" the closed minded Science Guy...
Take a look at this site: http://www.icr.org/earth-science/'
Then tell me what's wrong with it, as well as what's the error in defending one's opinion like what Whitcomb & Morris did in writing "The Genesis Flood." When Darwin wrote his book, "Origin of Species" did he not use several French books that sorta described what he finally pulled together in one volume.
Yeah, I am a Chrisitian, and I believe in the Bible. Yet, I am not one to totally reject testing opposing views in our schools. What is wrong with teaching Creationism? You say, it brings God into our schools...yes it does...what is wrong with that? Isn't Evolution, by definition a Religion too? Don't they believe in something like religious people do? Isn't the belief in the absence of a God by definition a belief system...which is a religion?
How unfortunate that Bill Nye rejects even the possibility of Creation be Divine by origion. After all, isn't ALL science built on Hypothesis's? Take a look, and read "The Genesis Flood" with an open mind, consider the possibilities. As well as, read the opposing views, presented with a Biblical defense at: http://www.icr.org/earth-science/
"Isn't Evolution, by definition a Religion too? "
The very fact that you ask that question shows that you do not have any idea why and how Creationism is from Evolution.
mmf.usmc, the site you cited is loaded with bogus junk. And since you claim to believe in the bible, I have to ask if you have truly read that nasty book, since it demands that you do some pretty awful stuff in both NT and OT. Do you keep up with that?:
Numbers 31:17-18
17 Now kiII all the boys. And kiII every woman who has slept with a man,
18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
Deuteronomy 13:6 – “If your brother, your mother’s son or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul entice you secretly, saying, let us go and serve other gods … you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death”
Revelations 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Note that the bible is also very clear that you should sacrifice and burn an animal today because the smell makes sicko Christian sky fairy happy. No, you don't get to use the parts for food. You burn them, a complete waste of the poor animal.
Yes, the bible really says that, everyone. Yes, it's in Leviticus, look it up. Yes, Jesus purportedly said that the OT commands still apply. No exceptions. But even if you think the OT was god's mistaken first go around, you have to ask why a perfect, loving enti-ty would ever put such horrid instructions in there. If you think rationally at all, that is.
And then, if you disagree with my interpretation, ask yourself how it is that your "god" couldn't come up with a better way to communicate than a book that is so readily subject to so many interpretations and to being taken "out of context", and has so many mistakes in it. Pretty pathetic god that you've made for yourself.
So get out your sacrificial knife or your nasty sky creature will torture you eternally. Or just take a closer look at your foolish supersti-tions, understand that they are just silly, and toss them into the dustbin with all the rest of the gods that man has created.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Join the movement. Be free of Christianity and other superstitions.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
Should have had "is different" before "from evolution."
"What is wrong with teaching Creationism?"
Nothing wrong with it. In fact, it SHOULD be part of the curriculum in a HISTORY of science course in high school, where we could haul it off the shelf along with geocentrism, phlogiston, the luminiferous ether, the fixedness of the continents, and other myths that have been supplanted by evidence thru the centuries.
Then we could haul it out again at the college level for PHILOSOPHY of science, where we learn how to tell good ideas from bad ones, using creationism as a salient example of the latter.
But for actual SCIENCE classes, we should teach, you know, actual SCIENCE.
Jesus would have thought I was some kind of demon or pond-gremlin, because he was totally fu-cking ignorant lol!
It's too bad that discussions like this so often devolve into hateful flamewars between atheists and fundamentalists. There's plenty of room in the middle, especially if we focus on the science. Bill Nye's comments in this article don't even mention religion.
I disagree. Religion should be over and done with by now.
RS, don't be such a wimp. There actually isn't room in the middle, when freedom and truth are concerned. You should not kowtow to the fundies when they take away your rights and freedoms.
@Religious scientist –
You're kidding, right? The article is about Mr. Nye taking issue with creationism. Are you really trying to make the assertion that the creationism referred to is not biblical creationism?
Really-O: Yes, Mr. Nye is debunking creationism. But creationism is not a religion. You don't need to attack someone's entire religion in order to defend evolution. Unless you are actually interested only in attacking religion. Choose your battles carefully.
RS, well said. I am an atheist and I also lament that the dialogue has devolved. I know some of it is that for year atheists did not feel safe speaking freely and the anonymous nature of the internet allows them to blow off some steam. It's also a bit unsettling that so many people wnat to rejoice at the thought of us burning for an eternity in god's mercy. However, I do wish we could all actually talk. I agree with you on every point you made. Science should be taught in science, you can teach the other in philosophy or history.
@Religious scientist –
Creationism (ID, theistic evolution, etc. – whatever you choose to call it) is ground-zero for fundamental Christianity's trespass on science and intellectual integrity. This is the front-line in the battle between reason and supersti'tion. Do you really think a pass should be given in a disingenuous attempt to be nice?
Hi, Christians!
Do I look "transitional" enough for you re-tards?????????
🙂 Yeah, this one blows my mind too.
The concept of creating the world in 6 days is mankind's definition of a day. Days are measured by hours/minutes based on daylight. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth." How long did this take? As light was not created yet and there was only darkness.
I thought Leonard Nemoy died, or is this freak Bill Nye a cousin? I swear on my own soul I will never stop teaching the good news to my children.
Good news, kids! Believe what you want... evidence is overrated.
I take pleasure in posts of religious nuts that show no cogency whatsoever.
2 sentences out of you and already one of them promises to break the 3rd Commandment. Yeah, great role model YOU are!
Didn't God teach you not to swear you horrible sinner!!!!!???
Swearing on your own soul? You are supposed to say yay, nay, and never swear, according to the Lord your God, right?
Didn't God teach you not to call people freaks you horrible horrible person?!a pox of toads on thee....or something.
The Basics
Science: I believe it because it's true.
Religion: It's true because I believe it.
Science changes it's view often. So your statement can not hold good. You believe science because that is the most probably true.
Religion I believe because is most probably true as well. But problem comes when you want every little thing to be true. Science is adaptive in the sense that I would change views based on new findings. But in religion, I try to deny new findings.
There can't be one without the other.
Arv, whose who's are you hewing into hues? There are two tu's to your tutu too. It's time for its correct usage.
Arj, whose who's are you hewing into hues? There are two tu's to your tutu too. It's time for its correct usage.
Bill Nye like everyone else who rejects the God of the Bible who created them will find out one second after they die that they were wrong. If they rejected the only means of salvation, which is biblically believing in Jesus, they will spend etermity in the hell they probably don't currently believe in. I hope they come to know Jesus as their Savior before it is too late.
What an azzhole your god is to create and maintain and allow people to go to his hellfire.
@chrcon
Please read up on "Pascal's Wager."
Peace...
I don't believe in God, but I also don't discount him. With that said, I live more of a Christian lifestyle than most Christians I know. If I do face God in the afterlife, I like my chances.
And there it is, the eternal damnation fear card! Well played sir! I'm sure every non-believer reading this blog has repented! Well played!
Creationism is mental terrorism.
chrcon – If God created all the fossils, the DNA evidence, the biogeography, the successful evolution experiments, the congruence of evolution and geology, of evolution and biology, of evolution and physics – then God went to a LOT of work to make us believe that species evolve. So if you believe in God, why do you ignore all His evidence and believe a few verses written by some man? That's no way to show your faith.
Salvation through Jesus isn't the only way to salvation. You do realize that there are many religions in the world, right? And have been throughout recorded human history. Of course you only think the Christian Bible is the correct one; just like every other religious person out there. And there's nothing to support ANY religion scientifically.
"Adam lived to the age of 930 years, his son Seth lived 912, his son Lamech lived 777 years, Lamech’s son Noah lived to 950 years, his son Shem lived 600 years."
But evolution is less believable?
you assume out of context – the Bible says God created – that's God created... is it too hard to think then that men could have lived that long?
Evolution – you don't actually mean what you say, because you cannot have meaningful statements if life is meaningless.
Take Scripture for what it is, the whole thing, it's not a buffet to pick and choose
Their parents, or Grandparentts, at one time, in their beginning, had Perfection. They had perfect health. They had perfect working bodies. They lost favour with God. It took their bodies 900 years to wear down and give out.
Their Parents, Adam and Eve, or, the first Parents, Adam and Eve, had perfect health at one time. They were given Perfection. When they lost God's favour, it took their bodies almost 1000 years to give out.
http://www.eliyah.com/1tim1.html
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia–remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than righteous edification which is in faith.
Yeah, actually it is easier to believe that, than evolution which teaches that everything we see today evolved from rocks. Now thats just plain dumb!
Cat's Cradle is cracking me up, seriously.
I have no problem with Nye, nor his position, but I find if funny that Nye has only an undergraduate degree in engineering, yet likes to spout about science. Nye's educational credentials are barely enough to get him into graduate school, much less to pontificate on a grand scale. Eleven of my twelve graduate students (who by the way are all under 25 yrs old), have more knowledge about basically everything scientific than Nye. Just beware folks that press coverage does not equal knowledge.
Bob, that is what makes the Christards so funny. They can't even match wits with this guy.
So how many of your students agree or disagree with him?
Having "knowledge" and being able to tell your a$$ from a hole in the ground are often two different things, I've found.
Besides, what do Nye academic credentials have to do with anything? He can explain scientific concept to a popular audience. Good for him.
You don't need a PhD to realize that creationism is silly.
"Nye's"
@Bob
If Nye has said any thing about science that isn't true, call him out on it. If someone with less academic credentials than someone else but has the same knowledge, that does not invalidate their espousing of said knowledge.
ALS (if I may put words in his mouth) and I are calling you out on ad-hominem grounds. If Nye's arguments are wrong, then tell us so and why they are wrong.
Yet most fundies, who lack a basic education, think they know more than someone with an engineering degree. The stupid burns with these people.
“Press coverage does not equal knowledge”
Yes, there are plenty of press hungry Christians that prove that. Pat Robertson comes to mind, so does Howard Camping
Having a graduate degree is not indicative of anything. You'd know that if you were actually a professor. You'd also know that all of your program's admissions criteria are not publicly available, so your ability to judge Nye, much less anyone without seeing their CV and speaking to them, on graduate program eligibility is bupkis.
Scientists value knowledge, logic and creativity. You sound more like an administrator (or a failed prof turned dean), putting credentials before the content of someone's mind.
Yes Bob – isn't it sad that thousands of better educated scientists have done so little to encourage children to love science while Bill Nye has done so much. Really, what kind of a curmudgeon are you to criticize such an amazing and successful creator of new young scientists.
'46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution.'
What do you think those numbers were 100yrs ago?, 50?, 25?
Good for him. More people have to point out and correct ignorance and stupidity when they encounter it. The religious types will claim to be oppressed, but that's a deflection, because they have no real case.
I don't agree with Bill Nye entirely, but one thing I do agree with him on is that kids should be allowed to make their own choice about creationism vs. evolution. Parents shouldn't force creationism on their children-let them find their own way.
Teaching creationism is education abuse. Religion IS child abuse
Creationism isn't science. It's religion trying to pass itself off as science.
I have yet to see evolution make it through the scientific process.
I evolve neural networks as specified by a genome on my computers.
It's ironic that religious fundamentalists in this country are destroying it far beyond what the Taliban could hope to accomplish.
really, how?
And what exactly are they destroying? It is easy to make hateful statements like that, but a lot harder to back them up
Ill tell you what they create. Fear. The majority of those who condemn ALL Muslims as murderers and terrorists are Christian hypocrites. Instead of teaching acceptance of others regardless of their differences as Jesus your SAVIOR taught, they instead condemn a religion that has extremists, just as their own does. They also create an intolerant mindset. They would seek to take rights away from others that don't carry the same views as them. Religion, Christianity in particular tends to create a very closed mindset that doesn't allow for a different set of views. And in creating these things, it is infact DESTROYING the American dream.
And now that youve heard my rant about the bad that religion can create, Id also like to say that not all followers of relgion bare these traits. Some followers of their religion live in GOD in a way that tolerance exists but In america these days its hard to find. Especially when an entire political party runs a campaign based on it.
God gave us the ability to understand the origin and workings of his world through direct observation of his wonders. When we instead assume all his glory can be revealed by endlessly decoding a 2000 year old book penned by men, we surely sadden and disappoint Him.
How do you know that a god willfully "gave" us anything?
Furthermore, what is the evidence on which you base your statement that such a being still gives a hoot about his supposed creations?
Marty, How would you know that? What facts do you use to support those assertions? As far as I can tell, this is the problem; making asserions attributing actions/events to God or God's will, I suppose you could say. It's insane.
God would rather give touchdowns to football players than food to children in Africa.
Religion is a refuge for ignorance and intolerance. It's truly sad that so many still cling to these stone-age beliefs.
@David,
David, please be fair. Bronze age – at least!