 |
|
|
|
 Commenters were fired up about Bill Nye, creationism and evolution.
August 28th, 2012
10:37 AM ET
Your Take: 5 reactions to Bill Nye's creationism critiqueBy Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor (CNN) - Bill Nye does not think that children should be taught to deny evolution, and a YouTube video of him explaining why has gone viral. The CNN Belief Blog's report on the video has generated around 10,000 comments and thousands of Facebook shares since Monday. There were some broad themes in the comments, reflecting a debate that is largely unique to the United States. While Christianity is booming in Africa, Asia and Latin America, creationism is not, Penn State University religious studies professor Philip Jenkins writes in his book "The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South." Here are five schools of reaction that have emerged in comments: 1. Those using this controversy to bash religion Atheists love the Internet, as we've chronicled on the Belief Blog. While they may be a small portion of the population, they seem to make up about half our commenters. It was their chance to join with Nye and cheer him on:
2. Those who say wait a minute, being a creationist isn’t necessarily being anti-evolution Lots of folks from the theistic evolution camp came out to say that believing God was involved doesn't automatically make you anti-evolution.
3. Those who say that science is stupid and that young Earth creationism rules Young Earth creationists, who believe the Earth is about 6,000 years old, appeared to be out in force in the comments.
4. Those who say Nye should stick to his area of expertise This tweet was the most polite remark we could find on this subject. Other comments and tweets, not so much.
[tweet https://twitter.com/watsup1101/status/240168918109523968%5D 5. Those who say CNN is cooking up controversy where none exists Lots of people suggested we were generating a story instead of covering one.
For the record, plenty of other news outlets covered this story, pointing out that Nye's video was posted on YouTube just before the Republican National Convention opened. Turns out that Nye taped the segment awhile back and had no say in when it would be released. Thanks for chiming in. The comments are open here, and you can always hit us up on Twitter @CNNBelief. soundoff (2,811 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 Next »
Next entry »Dolan to pray at Democratic National Convention
« Previous entry5 faithy players to watch at the Republican National Convention
|
  About this blog
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.  |
|
|
|
Evolution is "proven" by means of Occam's Razor. It's the theory that requires the fewest assumptions. Creationism requires a huge number of assumptions namely pretty much every page of Genesis and a few more probably.
Religious people have no mind of their own, so why bother...
Because salvation can be theirs.
Did I just say that?!?
Brilliant – Rob's resorted to name calling and the casting of aspersions. Neil Armstrong (I only mention him because he's just been in the news" was a deist – ie one that believes in a God). Of course – he was doubtless just one more mindless individual, if you are as all knowing as Rob, that is.
Point is, if you can fool people into believing Creationism, that pretty much proves we are still a nation of rubes. Embarassing...
Good point. Another is:
If you are closed-minded enough to believe in something that you have no evidence for, how do you know where to stop? What makes you not believe anything anyone tries to tell you?
Dave
Brilliant – Rob's resorted to name calling and the casting of aspersions
I didnt see him call anybody names.
One man can contribute more to humanity than every religion in the history of our species.
Why can not one say they do not know because quite honestly, none of you know, none of you were there when the first cell was created or evolved, or the first person was created or evolved. For me personally to believe there is some magical man in the sky who knows you all personally, is listening to you all and granting prayers and wishes........until he is not because the time is not right or he has something better in mind is absolutely ludicrous. But I respect others choice to believe so. But for this belief (not fact) to be used within and by government officials and as a rule of morality for the country is nothing but pure ignorance of the FACT that no one ever blew up a building or started a war because they did not believe in a man in the sky. Religion kills and hates and discriminates, science creates, tests and finds a preponderance of evidence or rules it out. That makes sense. If we allow beliefs to rule our logical mind we get.............right........the war and hate filled world we now have. Perhaps it is time to try something new?
I am sorry to disagree with you on this but the worst scourge of war to ever take place on this planet was instigated by a pagan named...Adolf Hitler.
Anthony you need to do your own thinking and research.......Hitler was a christian
Hitler was a Catholic, and a strong one at that. First treaty Hitler made was with the Vatican.
"God on our Side" was the motto he had but on the belt buckles of his soldiers.
And the christian crusades killed more than Hitler....again.......having knowledge of history is imperative if you want to intelligently discuss these things
Anthony
I am sorry to disagree with you on this but the worst scourge of war to ever take place on this planet was instigated by a pagan named...Adolf Hitler.
----------------------------------------------------–
A Pagan who modeled the Nazi cult of "blood and country" after "Christian" rights and symbols.
Most of Hitlers favorite people from history are men who killed
in the name of god.
Hitler installed the "third reich".
You should read about the first two to better understand what Hitler was trying to do.
Do you also understand that we are currenlty entering the "fourth reich" ?
Bill Nye's explanation makes a lot more sense than the one given to a kid by Goobernor Rick Perry.
Nye is looking to replace God with himself. Good luck, buddy.
No, Nye is looking to replace nonsensical, fear-based dogma with rational critical thinking. I applaud him and hope he continues. We may not reach all adults, but many kids can read and rationalize for themselves. Our future rests with the children and it is the children that Nye hopes to reach.
Wow, where'd you get that from? Methinks you need a fresh tinfoil hat.
Such an utterly stupid comment.
I'd be happy to replace God with Bill Nye. He's not some strange, confusing deity people have been making up rules about for the past 2000 years.
"Nye is looking to replace God with himself."
Nah, the zealots pretty much have the market cornered on this.
Yikes, someone has some years of therapy to make up for. Get abused much, Lanken?
R Lanken
Nye is looking to replace God with himself. Good luck, buddy.
Sounds like something a Christian Republican would say.
Or a six year old.
Prayer changes things .
don't feed it.
Please don't feed it. Its Truth will Grow and Grow. Pray to God that it is not fed, atheism will disappear from the face of the earth if you feed it!
Two wonderful Truths, atheism is useless and God is available. God bless
Belief in unreal things like gods and ghosts must be taught by others, and taught at a young age if you want them to stick.
Evolution = science
Religion = ancient mythology
I'll take science over ancient mythology any day.
Micro evolution does exist, but macro evolution, which is required to explain the origin of species, is not. So, check your science facts before you speak of science.
keeeleee, can you back up you claims? You have stated this multiple times but offer no support. Why?
Luis Wu
Evolution = science
Religion = ancient mythology
I'll take science over ancient mythology any day.
-----------------------
Everybody is born an athiest.
Then they fill you up with this drivel
without your consent.
Before you judge my comment, I agree, Intelligent Design should not be taught in schools. I also believe that Darwin's theories should be taught as science with the caveat that to some degree our understanding of evolution has "evolved" and that there are unanswered questions that need to be resolved within the field.
Having said that, Bill Nye's opinion is truly irrelevant. Bill Nye is NOT a scientist. Bill Nye IS a comedian and an entertainer who's pay check comes from the entertainment industry. Although I haven't specifically spelled that out I'm sure anyone who wants to can discover that I am correct in this assertion. Back in the late 80's he found it more lucrative to work in television than work for Boeing. Perhaps he couldn't cut it as a professional engineer anymore. His scientist "persona" is just that, an assumed persona that he portrays on TV. Everything he says is simply regurgitated material from real scientists and leaders in their fields albeit that Bill get's to decide who's views to regurgitate. On a personal note, in my opinion, having met the man, he's also extremely conceited and arrogant and not someone that I'd want to assocaite with.
Bill IS a scientist. You should do some research on that before opening your cakehole.
Bill Nye is, in fact, a scientist. Get your facts straight.
When you pull up a Wiki page, you should probably read past the first couple words.
Bill Nye is a science teacher and has a degree in mechanical engineering. That kinda makes him a scientist.
Yes he is. At the very least he's an Engineer, which is good enough for me.
According to Wikipedia his educational background is pretty solid:
"He studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University (where one of his professors was Carl Sagan[8]) and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1977. Nye began his career in Seattle at Boeing, where, among other things, he starred in training films and developed a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor still used in the 747. Later, he worked as a consultant in the aeronautics industry"
"In the early 2000s, Nye assisted in the development of a small sundial that was included in the Mars Exploration Rover missions. Known as MarsDial, it included small colored panels to provide a basis for color calibration in addition to helping keep track of time. He holds several United States patents,[35] including one for ballet pointe shoes[31] and another for an educational magnifying glass created by filling a clear plastic bag with water."
How's that for qualifications?
No, Bill Nye is NOT a scientist. I like the anecdote about how he became "Bill Nye the Science Guy" buy the way. Full disclosure, this is a quote right out of Wikipedia, but I remember this tv episode like ti was yesterday:
"Nye began his professional entertainment career as an actor on a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Almost Live!; he attempted to correct the show host's pronunciation of "gigawatt" as "jigowatt." The host responded, "Who do you think you are—Bill Nye the Science Guy?" and Nye was thereafter known as such on the program. His other main recurring role on Almost Live! was as Speedwalker, a speedwalking Seattle superhero."
His undergraduate education in mechanical engineering from Cornell does not make him a scientist. His lack of pursuit of scientific knowledge since achieving his undergraduate degree certainly does not make him a scientist. Is he actively perform any ongoing research that increases our knowledge in the realm of science? No – he is an entertainer and arguably (although I think it's a stretch) a teacher. Now almost all science teachers are not scientists either unless they are teaching at a university and are actively engaged in research.
For what it's worth, I do know of what I speak. I AM a scientist damn it!
If Evolution is a big thing- and Man evolved from APES--then why are there still APES? DUH? So sad people cannot accept and believe with their hearts and souls anymore. The END is nearer than many want to believe or even contemplate now, but what a day it will be when our CREATOR comes again and reveals HIMSELF to us again. Can you imagine the mouths that will drop open and how people will say OOOPS-but then again they won't have that opportunity because by then it will be too late. WAKE up people. Your Salvation DRAWS NEAR! Phooey on Nye and all the people that try to cram the wrong things into our minds- Many a college professor already did their damage to our world. It's how we got here to where we are now. Sad- so very sad. God HELP US ALL!~
" Man evolved from APES–then why are there still APES? DUH?"
This statement shows exactly how much you understand about evolution.
LMAO!
Wow, that's some EPIC FAIL.
Man did not evolve from apes; but we do have a common, distant ancestor with them.
"""If Evolution is a big thing- and Man evolved from APES–then why are there still APES? DUH?"""
Reid, I realize I am replying to someone without even a rudimentary understanding of science, but I'm a masochist.
So I ask you...
If god made woman from clay, why is there still clay?
If god mad man from eve's ribs, why do women still have ribs?
Silly is silly.
There are still apes because we didn't evolve from THOSE species of apes. DUH! The species of apes we evolved from are no longer around because they evolved into us. Why don't you actually study evolution before making more ignorant comments.
Ask your doctor if he believes in evolution. Ask any competent scientist.
But.. let's see, here are the choices:
1. An invisible, supernatural man in the sky made the first man out of dirt, then because he was too stupid to realize ahead of time that he would need a woman, he later made the first woman out of a rib.
2. An invisible supernatural man in the sky magically "poofed" humans into existence, fully formed.
3. Humans and all other life on the planet evolved naturally from lower creatures going back to one celled animals 4 billion years ago.
Hmmm.... I'll have to go with door number 3.
Humans did not evolve from apes. Apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor. Your question is akin to asking "If Americans came from Europeans, why are there still Europeans?"
What planet do you come from? don't they have schools over there? Such a stupid comment, it's mind boggling
Good one, Jeff Williams!
"If man evolved from Apes, why are there still Apes'
- if Americans evolved from Europeans, why are there still Europeans?
I do not wish to be argumentative however your comment show you do not understand evolution. Humans and modern apes have a common ancestor so we they are distant cousins. So saying "why are there still apes?" is a meaningless question. We have both evolved into different species from a common great-great-great-great-great-great etc. grand parents going back thousands of generations.
Selective forces are best understood in the context of the local environment. In this case, red state or blue state.
Reid: Who ever said that man evolved from apes? We certainly did not; man and apes do, however, share an ancestor. That is an undeniable fact.
We did indeed evolve from an ape species. Chimps and humans evolved from a common ancestor but that ancestor was still an ape. There were many species of apes on the planet at one time all but 4 died out, humans chimps, orangutans and bonobos. However humans are actually still members of the ape family. Scientist officially list us with the great apes. Our DNA is 98% the same as chimps. Only 2% difference. There only a few differences, we have a bigger brain, we walk upright and we have very little fur by comparison.
I think Reid's point about apes is that we are much more advanced than any ape species, and if apes and humans evolved from the same ancestor, why didn't all ape species evolve into humans by now? We have many advantages over apes, and survival of the fittest might teach us that humans have a much better chance of survival. Besides, apes have had just as much time as humans to evolve. (evolutionist may attribute this to different living conditions?) Yes, our DNA may be 98% the same, but that 2% is a huge difference. It think it's interesting to think about. Also, I don't think the European argument is relevant. We're talking about species with vastly different rates of progress, not ethnicity.
Reid has to be a troll. No other explnation.
You wont find a "missing link" because one doesnt exist.
The DNA of early earth simiens was mixed with the DNA of a higher
species.
It was to create a more intelligent slave race.
We are "Manufactured".
To hide this fact they manufactured a religion for us to believe in.
Actually i think its funny that so many can believe in a god,
but cant believe in Aliens who created us.
Its the same thing.
I guess its easier to believe in an old white haired guy, who loves us
than a test tube start from a monkey and a lizard.
Its all DNA people.
Who's Bill Nye... And what the blue blazes is creationism?
Creationism is the belief that a God, the great Creator, started the human race by breathing life into an inanimate object originally made from clay (man) and then took a rib from that man to make woman.
First of all, anyone who says that the Earth is only 6,000 years old is basically ignoring science altogether. We have pretty much proven at this point that the Earth is multiple-millions of years old. Now, while i don't believe in God and while we can pretty much demonstrate human and animal evolution has taken place, I would agree that God's existence has neither been proven nor disproven... it is a matter of faith. And to the guy who said he was a witness to the risen Christ, I ask him to tell us exactly where when and how he SAW CHRIST IN PERSON because that would be impressive.
When man has climbed the last precipice of knowledge, height, and experience, do not be surprised if there awaiting you is a group of theologians.
I really do hope you are a golf pro, because if you ever have to make a living off of your mind you are going to be in a world of trouble.
When man has climbed the last precipice of knowledge, height, and experience, do not be surprised if there awaiting you is not a group of theologians.
Man will never achieve that. There will always be more.
Who cares what Bill Nye has to say on creationism. He's not a scientist, he a television personality.
Bill Nye is in fact a rocket scientist, he developed the booster rockets used to launch the shuttle into space
I believe NASA refused to hire him. He's as much a scientist as Dr. Phil is a psychologist
BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell. That's pretty science-y!
Goes to show just how ignorant you are...
I think many christians fall under the intelligent design category. You get your god AND evolution. Creationism sounds like some simpletons view on how we were created and am truly shocked when someone actually BELIEVES it. Then again, there are a whole group of people who believe in chemtrails and Niburi, so why should I be surprised?
Intelligent Design is just another name for creationism. There's no difference between them. Even the leading Intelligent Design textbook "Of Pandas and People" used to be a creationist textbook. They just replaced "creationism" with "Intelligent Design" with cut and paste.
You also get the Young Earth Creationists screaming at you that you can't be a real christian unless you also believe the bible literally.
And they have a goal of influencing education. So far, they've failed, but they keep trying.
Curiosity is before a secret known, Imagination before scientific fact found, bravery is most illogical but it saved the day, and was it the sperm before the desire to make love that made the baby? Can the sperm be analyzed and point to the desire which started conception? Before every fact known there was an intangible curiosity and so there is always the intangible that precedes the tangible and since God is spirit he cannot be found by tangible scientific material facts though the residue of a great presence mystifies the human mind it is only by faith and a pure heart and imagination that one can be closer to Him and it has a profound effect on the human heart. This is proof enough for me. So keep dreaming, keep hoping while the rest of the world battles over what they cannot see because heaven is a place for children and Jesus said "suffer not the little children to come to me for such is the kingdom of heaven". And this is why Jesus said " you must be born again, not of flesh and blood but of the spirit" and Jesus said "except you become as one of these little ones you cannot enter heaven"
I like your comment.. Never heard it that way before.
Who on this forum can tell me how many worlds are out there that 'could be' populated? How many galaxies? How many suns? What is beyond the last galaxie? But most can say there is no God! But there is evolution. Do you find that a little presumptous? You can't even say how many cells are in your own body. How they hang together. Look up Laminin on the web and see what you find out. How many can tell me how many breaths you have left? How many heart beats? Do you not find it odd that God said man shall live 70 or so years and at that average span the heart stops beating for one reason or another. He also said it is appointed unto man once to die and after death the judgement. Know anyone over 150 years of age? God is!
FAIL for putting words in other people's mouths. The people you're deriding generally do no declare things with absolute certainty; that's usually reserved for the theists.
God is older than 150 because the bible has been around longer than that. But that doesn't prove he exists, does it? Man is not meant to live a very long life, because as we've seen our bodies degrade rather quickly. I do agree however that there are millions of distant planets with beings on them, but they too were not necessarily created by God. Simply by the scientific law of averages, when you consider how many TRILLIONS of stars there are, the likelihood that some of those stars are sustaining life is very high. Again, at the end of the day, the existence of God is completely based on faith.. you believe he exists because you've been told he does. You have faith that he does. You cannot bring him to show and tell.
And it's not presumptious to state that your god, out of the thousands of gods people have believed in over hundreds of thousands of years, is the rirght one.
It's not presumptious to state that your god, out of the dozens currently worshiped by hundreds of thousands, even millions of people, is the right one.
It's not presumptious to state that your version of worship, out of 30,000 ways to worship, based on a 2000+ year old cult, is the right one.
With no proof. Only faith.
Who is presumptious? You're dedluding yourself.
You are stating God said...... but really man wrote what he thought God said or what was needed to control the population of the day. It is and was always about power and money, religion is no different. Man wrote the stories about a Jew named Jesus and to this day all religions are there to control populations and make excuses for or cause man's inhumanity to man
according to your bible, moses was over 300
You made my head hurt.
I am going to ignore you and have a beer.
The posts here from the faithful illustrate an appalling lack of knowledge about the sciences.
Considering that 75% of the country claim to be christian makes it less shocking that the U.S. doesn't even rank in the top 10 in global academic achievement.
"The posts here from the faithful illustrate an appalling lack of knowledge about the sciences."
Among other things!
The idea that being Christian somehow hinders intellect is just stupid. So how did it hinder scientists for the last 200 years? It didn't, if anything it made some more determined to come to a conclusion and their research led to many advances we enjoy today. Since creationism was taught until the 60's. It would seem the opposite is true. Teaching evolution dumbs down our kids.
"""The idea that being Christian somehow hinders intellect is just stupid. """
Maybe, but the evidence supporting it is mounting.
Rob-Texas, you are really a very silly individual.
Yes that would explain it! Kinda like when Europe kicked out our Puritan asses and then had their enlightenment. Think about it, America got all of Europes lamest holy rollers. Damn. This country is comprised of descendants of: native americans who hate the white man, black slaves who hate the white man, poor immigrants from other countries, and at it's core it's this super hateful superior white holy rollers, who hate everybody including women of all races. Yeah, I think we're bound to have some conflicts.
Hey, Rob – is is true that everything is bigger in Texas, including the levels of ignorance and and illiteracy rates down yonder?
Teaching evolution dumbs down our kids
------
Sure it does. The same way teaching them American history does.
"The posts here from the science minded illustrate an appalling lack of knowledge about faith."
Hadenuffyet "The posts here from the science minded illustrate an appalling lack of knowledge about faith"
That doesn't make sense as "faith" by itself does not require knowledge to be an expert in it. You have to finish it with "faith in ____"
Regardless "faith" in religion flies you into buildings, faith in science flies you to the moon.
Your call.
Rob "The idea that being Christian somehow hinders intellect is just stupid. So how did it hinder scientists for the last 200 years?"
You are assuming that all scientists were/are christian however your posts illustrate my point.
"The idea that being Christian somehow hinders intellect is just stupid. "
It isn't the idea that being Christian hinders intellect. It is the idea that being a FUNDAMENTAL [insert any religion here] hinders intellect. There ARE a lot of successful Christian scientists...and it is because they look at scientific evidence, understand it, accept it, and utilize it. Dr. Ken Miller was one of the key witnesses for teaching evolution (and wrote a major high school science textbook covering it) in the Dover, PA trial. He is a professor of evolutionary biology. He is also a devout and practicing Catholic. No conflict at all.
However, when one becomes FUNDAMENTALLY religious, no matter the religion, then they look at the same, valid evidence and deny it on its face. No matter how well gathered, how well repeated, how well verified, they come capable of essentially denying reality and saying "I refuse to believe this evidence SIMPLY BECAUSE it conflicts with this other belief I hold." They get to the point where if their religious book said the sky was red, then even seeing a blue sky everyday with their own eyes, they'd still say "Nope, sky's red. The religious books told me so." And it is THAT mentality that is dangerous and slows societal, intellectual, and technological advancement. The willingness to deny reality for personal belief.
Teaching evolution dumbs down our kids....
See that little sentence on top ?
That is what is wrong with this country.
Knowledge is wisdom.
If God is real, did he not give us a brain to use ?
If you are not using your brain, isnt that an insult to God ?
After all, he "created" you .
Remind me to stay away from Texas.
I wouldnt want to catch anything.