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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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No one can prove creationism or evolution which does prove Nye is a jerk for coming out with such a preposterous video. What some people with do to make a buck at the expense of our children. By product of what we get when we have no basis for a moral standard.
Excuse me: what some people will do to make a buck...
"What some people with do to make a buck at the expense of our children"
That would be religion, right?
There is actual proof of mirco evolution done with finches
Billy really changed my entire world view. No, wait, he didn't. Bill Nye is a children's TV show host just beneath Pee-Wee Herman and Dora the Explorer. He has been "awarded" honorary diplomas which basically means they gave him a piece of paper. Keep playing with dry ice, Bill. Leave the science up to the scientists.
How about you leave the intelligent comments to those with more than four brain cells to their name, eh?
Science is and can be for everybody. Even you !
No credentials required, just follow the method.
1. Ask a question
2. Do research on question
3. Form a hypothesis (conjecture)
4. Make a prediction based on hypothesis
4. Test hypothesis by doing an experiment; see if predictions match results
5. Analyze the results and draw a conclusion
6. Publish! (optional)
Way to go Bill! Please do not retract any statements.
Nye like many in the science community venture into unfamiliar ground when comparing the Genesis account of creation with evolution. The ignorance here is painfully apparent and one wonders if he even read any of Genesis. The Genesis account gives no indication as to the actual age of the universe. The creative days merely outline the beginnings of life. There is little indication as to how long the creative days are. The fact that we are still in the 7th creative day (since that day is never referred to as ending) indicates that the creative days could have been thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years in length. But what is amazing about the Genesis account is how closely it holds to what we know as fact as to the stages that life appeared. How did Moses, the writer of Genesis, know that? The rest of Nye's argument that believers in creation need to accept evolution because everyone else supposedly does is ludicrous. The actual evidence for evolution is scant, at best. There is almost no fossil evidence (which should be in abundance if true) and that what we scientifically know about life is that it reproduces according to its kind (which is all we have observed) and its highly complex. Mutations are rare, generally harmful and the mutants usually sterile. Mutations could never adequately explain the vast variety and intricate designs of living organisms and the complex interdependency that exists among them. But belief in an intelligent designer could. Now whether that intelligent designer still cares about humans and the earth is another question.
Where did you go to school? The University of Huh?
YOU say that the Genesis "day" is a "creative day" that could be of any length whatever. Plenty of fundamentalist Christians, however, say "The Bible says 'DAY', dammit. It wouldn't have said DAY if God hadn't MEANT day. And we know what a day is, it's the same day that God gave us on Day 1, and it's the same day we're living in today. And if you think otherwise, you're an apostate blasphemous heretic who'll burn forever in Hell for daring to disbelieve the Holy Word of God."
So why should we believe you instead of them? You gonna reach behind that pillar and pull out Marshall McLuhan, um, I mean God to say "You know nothing of my work"?
What Bible are you reading that says "On the First Creative Day..." I have read many scriptures from many religions. I have never seen that.
Man, oh man. That's what happens when Bible is the only book you have read. Who told you that fossil record was scant??? Or that mutations are always harmful??? Or that mutant progeny is always sterile???
My all-time favorite work of fiction is Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth". It's a collection of blasphemous stories and essays that Twain specified could only be published after he was dead and didn't have to put up with all the crap that the fundies would rain down on him if he were still alive.
Anyway, one of the entries, under the general heading "Papers of the Adam Family", was "Eve's Diary". (Yes, THAT Eve.) I recall one entry where she was put out that her hubby never got enuf credit for inventing the Theory of Downhill Water Flow. SOMEBODY had to be the first to notice it, she pointed out, and just because all the ungrateful whippersnappers think it's obvious NOW doesn't make it any less of a terrific discovery.
All Abrahamic religions are based on the Genesis presentation of creation and science has not convinced us otherwise. There appears to be a lack of integrity concerning science and the fossil record. In their attempt to prove their theory they draw imaginary lines connecting the dots the way they want them to appear. This is hardly what true objective science should be doing. To believe that God created a mature universe and that everything was designed is actually easier to believe than to believe that everything just happened by chance, that matter just appeared from nothing and that present DNA was not designed. I expect that in less than 100 years from now it will be evolution that will be considered a myth even by true science.
Science may not have convinced YOU otherwise, but it's worked OK for sane, open-minded people.
You've never actually taken science courses, have you? I mean from a real, accredited university, not Liberty "University" or some crap like that.
I agree, George. thanks for your statement.
Grad Student=George's sock puppet.
It is easier to believe that God created Universe only if you got science digested for you by priests and theologians. If you studied science, including evolution theory yourself, it would be much easier for you to believe in it. Anyway, most rational and educated people believe in science not just because it explains things, but because it accurately predicts them.
"Suppose we're worshiping the wrong god. Then every time we go to church we're just making him madder".
- Homer Simpson
Moby Schtick:
So that means that it is God is responsible for those women being guilty of murder according to "Sanct.ity of Human Life Act:H.R. 212" which says that life starts at fertilization and guarantees that life full protection under the law. If the clump of cells dies the women are murderers.
Who is this Pee Wee Herman-looking motherphuqer to tell anyone how to raise a kid?
Your mommy's new boyfriend.
Get lost kid. You're far too stupid to understand anything beyond "chimp level" anyway.
DaveNYUSA,
Yeah, he so wishes that he looked like his stunner of a page mate up there, Rick Warren!
Charles Darwin started the theory of evolution as a prank and admitted that he did .Now our so called "educated "experts push this as Fact. Oh and don't you disagree with them becauce they will call you a religious nut. Well Im a religious nut .I have seen much more proof of GOD than than I have of scietific "fact" Gods word hasn't changed in 6000 years. Scientific"therories" Change quite often. MAN has tried to change the Bible by rewriting if but it's still intact.
Charles Darwin's life's work a prank?
What kind of idiot are you to say such nonsense?
You're either a troll or stupid. Neither merits a real response.
Evolution is a prank? BWAHAHAHAHA...... Who told you that?
It's amazing that people who have been studying this for years are more biased than your average Joe Sixpack. Amazing indeed.
Are you talking about your Bible that's been changed several times over the past couple hundred years from several languages, and then several times again in the English language?
Thanks for setting the world of science straight. You can expect a call from the Nobel committee very soon.
I know it is not actually covered in the Bible so you may not know this but Darwin did not create the theory of evolution he merely built on the research of others who had been postulating such a thing for over 300 years.
ArthurP is correct. Darwin did not create the idea of evolution. He co-created the theory of Natural Selection, which was the first nearly-complete, logical explanation of how evolution could have occurred.
"when you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in it, it holds everyone back."
I'm intrigued by what he is implying about progress. In fact, I've always been intrigued by how anyone who doesn't believe in a higher power could come to the conclusion that there is any purpose to life at all beyond what we have socially or individually constructed for essentially selfish reasons. The idea of progress implies that there is some sense of getting to a destination. But if all we live in is a universe that ultimately has an expiration date, every single thing that we do ultimately is meaningless. The principle of entropy suggests that every effort of ours to create some meaning in and of ourselves is going to result in a big fat "zero" in the end, because we will all cease to exist at some point, either because our planet/galaxy/universe will come to an end (albeit, perhaps millions of years from now, unless you're of the camp that believes that a catastrophic meteoric event could end all life on Earth) or, much more likely, we will all kill each other as scientific "progress" leads to ever more powerful and lethal weaponry. Look at how much trouble less than a century of nuclear power has already caused on this planet...what are the chances of something more catastrophic happening with that and/or more powerful technologies that develop over the next several hundred years?
We have to take our first principles to their logical conclusion. Bill may be a smart Science guy, but his thinking is also very narrow.
Creationism claims that there was a beginning to everything in the Universe. Ask Mr. Nye if he believes the universe is expanding. If it is, then wouldn't that expansion have started from a single point (The Big Bang). Where did the energy, the ingredients, the catalyst come from that created the Big Bang? Then think about the odds of this taking place without intervention. Also, think about the Earth's location in the Universe. If we were slightly closer to the sun, if our solar system was slightly closer to (or further away from ) the center of the galaxy, life could not exist on earth. The odds of this a happening without intervention are like painting one quarter red and covering the state of Texas with regular quarters, five feet deep. Try to find the one red quarter.
Try to learn about statistics before barfing them up half digested. Also, check out M-theory. You're way behind the curve.
Guess what? I just rolled a pair of dice 5 times, and got 1-3-2-5-6-6-4-2-5-4. What are the odds of that! It must be a miracle!!!!
And rather than say "we don't know how it happened -yet," and continue searching, your response to not knowing is to say "oh, wait, I do KNOW the answer – magic." That makes more sense.
And yes, the odds of life on earth are probably great. Do you have idea how many stars there are in the universe? Quite a few.
We don't know. How is "big magic sky daddy did it with a magic spell" a better answer?
Adam, you couldn't be more wrong or uneducated. There are thousands of possible explanations, all far more plausible than God's intervention. You must consider that our universe is not the only one and that universes blink in and out of existence all the time. That is certainly possible. Another possiblity that I find intriguing is that we live in an infinite multi-verse, where-in every thing that is possible has happened. In that reality, there would necissarily be an Earth and a you and a me.
Creation also says that chickens, ducks, snakes, and humans all were proofed into being fully formed in our current states. Which we know that back in a certain point in time none of those species named existed.
you are right. the odds are astronomical. It would perhaps take billions of years for such events to occur...
To Adam,
Well, I would counter your arguments with the following. First, as to the 'odds' that the universe exists without a creator; given that the universe does exist, the odds are 100% (if there is no creator). I know what you're trying to say, but math doesn't back it up.
As to your second point, you're underestimating the vastness of the universe. Let's posit that only earth-style planets (Class M?) are capable of supporting life. Even if, say, one in a million stars were capable of supporting that size of planet, and one in a million of those stars actually had that planet, and one in a million of those planets were actually at the right distance from the sun, etc,etc, given the incredible number of stars there are in the universe, the odds of a life-capable planet would still be that high. Since we're one of the lucky ones, we tend to be myopic.
In the beginning there was nothing. Then it somehow exploded!!!
exactly and we are somehow still evolving from that one explosion. what a bunch of self absorbed idiots
Nope. We don't know where the singularity came from. That's a better answer than, "Big magic sky papa made a magic spell!!!"
any day of the week.
ill choose the logical one i think..
Moby believes people came from a rock. Where's the evidence?
Looks like the summer school failures are here at last.
strait a's at BYU....ahahah how bout you buddy?
Oh wait, you guys are right. A big magic fairy man spoke a spell and then there was earth and light before stars and then a snake talked to a woman and then the big magic fairy man had to sacrifice himself to himself to appease himself by exploiting a loophole in a plan he made himself because of an invisible disease (sin) in an invisble body part (soul) so that he doesn't have to torture us forever in the big fire pit he made even though he doesn't want anyone to ever go there but he just can't help himself.
Fairy tales.
"Moby believes people came from a rock. Where's the evidence?"
What evidence do you want? Better yet what will you accept?
Just show me how life comes from it raining on a rock. I would like to observe this.
"STRAIT"? Ahahhhaha!
You bozo. You're all of 15.
decisive atheists are the runts of a very large litter
Much like people ask of your petty religion. . . Prove it!
What are "decisive atheists"?
What an odd term.
your the runt, you prove it.
It's "you're", Einstein.
an odd term for an even odder group of weirdos
"Weirdos" that actually understand how apostrophes work, moron?
You prove it.
I like being called decisive.
Of course "W" called himself "the decider". I bet his language skills were about the same as many here.
you understand how apostrophes work, i understand how the universe works.. now whos the moron you petty little runt? 😉
I doubt you understand how shoelaces work, darlin'.
all-star track athlete sweetie pie
So you're a lunk-head, then. Should have guessed.
Have fun trying to get a girl to let you boink her once she finds out you're a dolt.
here's a joke.. the atheist nerd telling the all american sprinter how to get laid. hide yo wife you twig
You idiot. I'm female and married.
What a little dimwit you are. But you're cute so some tw@t who's as brainless as you are will probably let you knock her up.
fiesty mysterious woman, i will have you shouting such things in the bedroom that you can only say along with the lords name
It's "feisty', you fvctard. I don't scre w idiots.
our next science project is testing out the theories of natural selection... at my house babe so your husband doesnt interfere with my technique
Calling this hindu, ignorant, believer of hindu filthy evolution a scientist is an insult to scientific community, He need to study results of Quantum physics in Switzerland, before spewing his hinduism, absurdity of evolution, experiments prove of spirit, soft ware to be the source of being, for every thing in existence, one has to be a hindu, ignorant to deny truth absolute, God, source of being for him and every one else.
Who's doing what now?
As a believer in Poe's law, I can neither agree nor disagree with you.
FVK OFF filthy Muslim!
This guy is a hoot. He shows up all over the place. He doesn't rant about Jews, or Christians. But he's absolutely OBSESSED with Hindus.
Which is why I'm sure he's a Paki!
hindu of filthy jew hindu hinduism filthy racist hinduistic hinduism hindu hindu blah blah blah!
Wow, not only are you wrong, you can't even get out your crazy thoughts in a coherent way. Crawl back under your rock and pretend things are all guided by one superior being.
I am saddened by all those who cling to religion and continue to endorse it as reality and insist that it somehow should govern morality and law-making. One can lay out all the evidence and build (and have built) an airtight case against every single religion on Earth past and present, but still believers will not budge from their point of view, even when presented with the lies and contradictions in the very scriptures they base their beliefs on.
Understand, I am not talking about a belief in God. I do understand that. I am talking about religion. Every one of which has been empirically proven false but yet clings like moss to ancient rocks.
I believe the single most important factor in this inability to see through the foolishness of religion is fear. Children’s stories of heaven and hell. The initial indoctrination for many, simply cannot be undone.
Secondly, there is a feeling of community that comes with any “club” Naturally this is not relegated to religion so it does not qualify as an excuse.
Lastly some minds are unable to think creatively enough to imagine the more plausible alternatives. What are those alternatives? Well we have to turn to science, but also we have to accept what we don’t know and keep looking. And in truth, we don’t really know anything about how the universe came to be, what came before and where it is going. If there are multiple universes and time lines through which we move, these would be marvelous discoveries. There is a wonderful article in Scientific American this month regarding a new spin on the Quantum theory. That being the quantum universe could have foamlike fluctuations that rule spacetime, not unlike the 0’s and 1’s that are the foundation of computing and storing information.
If we wish to believe in the supernatural, we have to make things up. Hence religion. It doesn’t mean there is no god, or gods, or aliens, but it does mean that we don’t have the answers and most likely never will.
Now we arrive back at fear. What will happen to me when I die? For me, I look forward to an eternity of nothing. Others fear this prospect and prefer to believe in fairies and fantasies and are not even ashamed that their mental description of an after life is akin to that of a 5-year-old’s picture book.
I believe the Universe and the “everything” are FAR more bizarre than we could ever imagine with the faculties we have thus far obtained via evolution on this planet. And I wonder how many millions of civilizations across the vastness of space and time have pondered likewise.
Finally, the entire planet is affected by the irrational belief systems of the various mainstream religions. It affects the global economy, it affects world peace, it affects our secular life style in the United States. These ancient belief systems are based on superst.ition and mythology. One would think humans would have moved forward by now but instead we as a species behave in the same self-destructive manner now as we did thousands of years ago with more at stake then at any other time in history. It matters.
Religious nuts are dangerous fools. Religious leaders far more so.
Mono-Theistic belief systems are necessarily immoral. Tyrants are not to be worshipped.
According to atheists that mossy rock is your great grandfather so be nice to it.
You live inside the moon, don't you? Don't mess with me! Give it to me staight!
Very well written and very well said!!! I am willing to say that there is or was a being, one might equate with a god, somewhere in time that one day lit a match and started this whole thing but not in the way it was written in the bible.
Some day God will slam Bill Nye. The Bible clearly says that "every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Lord of all. By the time Bill Nye is forced to admit that at the judgement seat of Almighty God, it will be too late. The last words he will hear are "depart from me, I never knew you!"
He didn't say a word about Jesus, or did he?
For what? Not being gullible? God should be much clearer then....
...unless of course one of those other religions you are atheistic towards turns out to be the real one. Oooops.
For what? Not being gullible? God should be much clearer then.....
Funny, I don't believe in your god for the same reasons you don't believe in Quezacotl.
... and the same for all fools who worship the gods of science: THEMSELVES.
He draw's his strength from your hinduism, absurdity called religion, hinduism, fabrication of hindu Jew's, filthy secular s to hind humanity. Son of blessed Mary condemned religion and preached Theen Ellah Consti tution of truth absolute "HIM" not hindu pagan Mithra ism, savior ism labeled as Christianity.
Your "bible" is NOTHING but a figment of the imagination of primitive Bronze Age desert people. Please PROVE to us that your "god" said what you claim. Unless you bring evidence, keep it to yourself because without EVIDENCE, direct provable scientific EVIDENCE of your claims, there is NOTHING different between what you just said and Jack and the Beanstalk.
Your "bible" is NOTHING but figment of the imagination of primitive Bronze Age desert people. Please PROVE to us that your "god" said what you claim. Unless you bring evidence, keep it to yourself because without EVIDENCE, direct provable scientific EVIDENCE of your claims, there is NOTHING different between what you just said and Jack and the Beanstalk.
@Ray Vos
That makes you all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it?
Its sorta like when a gunman holds a gun to a woman's head and says "love me or die"...
Gotta love "freewill" !
Google Pascal's Wager.
Please show me where modern science and technology has replicated the formation of life on Earth?
Please show me the math that explains how gravity provided enough force to compress hydrogen gas into helium via fusion.
Please explain to me how there was nothing and then BOOM (Big Bang) the Universe was formed with all the matter in it. (It all started at one single small point.....that sounds more like God doing it than some yet unexplained process.)
Please show me what the He|| your point is.
Point is.....WHERE IS THE ANSWER TO THE BASICS MR. SCIENCE?
Don't knock God when the Big Bang looks like it might have been Him.
"it might have been him". Any evidence for this, other than "I don't know....so god!"
i agree people just dont want to beleive in got because they would have change there lifestyle thats whats wrong with this world its totally ignorant that people would think that we just appeared. some people dont want to see anything in this world unless there is science behind it faith doesnt exist anymore in this world
There are plenty of books to show you the answers to your questions, all based on current observations and which use logical steps to get an answer. Get a library card and check them out. I would recommend "A Universe from Nothing" first, it starts from possible events leading up to the big bang and goes from there.
How can you slam Bill Nye....really? It's like dis-ing Mr. Rodgers
Mr. Rogers was one highly evolved human being.
The world is about 6000 years old. Letting kids anywhere near Bill Nye is child abuse.
GWAAAA.... you must either be trolling or an idiot. Probably both.
Poe's Law!
Duh....carbon dating!
...or public schools
Where is the missing link? 6000 years to about 150? Lot of time for evolutionists to even tie. Bill Nye should know a closed mind is the worst for kids. Creationism and evolution can coexist. Bill Nye is Scared of the challenge
Rick James just called me a troll. Ain't that a b.
He has good taste. I'd have called you fvck-faced sh!t-for-brains.
The "missing" link. Good one, Squidward. There is no such thing. It's a strawman argument when you can take any evidence and say "there must be something in between". The only thing that would satisfy a "missing link" nut would be the remains of the first organism and each generation of offspring from the beginning till now. If we had the complete record, except for missing your great-great-great grandfather, you would say "aha, you don't have that one".
DUH! The "missing link" would definitely NOT be found at 6000 years old anyway, dolt! Since modern humans, according to the known fossil record, have been on this planet for roughly 30,000 years! DOLT!