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 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 »
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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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"As someone who is a born again Christian... a firsthand witness of the risen Christ..."
Remember, the Risen Christ can only be stopped with a headshot. Don't get your brain eaten because of a shot below the shoulders.
You know what the oldest Christian testaments, yes there are more that the four we have today, say about the Reselection. The cornerstone of modern Christianity. Nothing, nada, zip. It never happen. It was added afterward.
Someone should really interview this guy. I don't know anyone else who was alive 2,000 years ago – this is earth shattering!
Christians worship Yahweh Sabaoth the Hebrew god of war. They are in the end only as foolish as those Greeks who worshiped Ares the god of war.
"All you need to do to know there is a God is to get outside in nature and look with wonder upon the world around you...."
In other words all you need to do is to go outside but leave your intellectual curiosity inside.
Don't forget to also completely ignore all the terrible suffering that goes on in this world.
If it is good, it is from God, if it is bad, it is because of his free will.
/facepalm
I love the "ace up the sleeve" word religious people use... Faith. Wow, look outside and look at a few skeletons and one can see there is only evolution.
It's been 2000 years. People saw "angels" 2000 years ago, they had wings. Ha ha ha.
Wow, read a real book not one of dumb stories people couldn't understand two plus centuries ago.
Keep in mind religion is a business, thank God (pun intended), that it will go out of business some day.
Religion is evil. Read a history book!
You are so right, only a loving God would bless a family with a child that requires so much medical attention that it bankrupts the family costing them their home, destroys any chance that the other children can go to college unless they are ace football players et al and sucks up the parents retirement funds.
Lets all just sit in glow of his love.
The main problem I have is that all the thing around you people are proof of evolution. Dog breeding are a subcategory of evolution. Nearly all of our animal we eat and fruit never the same 100 years ago. The stuff we use everyday are the proof of evolution. The Theory of Evolution are the web that connect all those biology fact together. In science, there is no higher truth than theory.
I hear the same tired arguments all the time:"evolution is true! evolution is not true!" But barely do I hear evolution explained and how we know it's real. Both sides need to stop throwing words around, and start explaining precisely what they're arguing and provide the proof for their reasons, not just hurl insults at each other.
Go to the library, you know thos buildings that contain real books, and get out a 'modern' book on the subject, one written in the last 5 or ten years, and read it.
Christy, the problem that you run into is two fold. The evidence for evolution is not simple. But it IS very far reaching and there is NO evidence that goes against the theory. But, it isn't easily shown in a forum such as this. But, study Biology and it slaps you in the face over and over.
There is no actual evidence at all supporting Creationism.
Open a science book, or use the internet, there are plenty of valid sources containing extremely detailed information about evolution. There are also numerous peer-reviewed journals readily available on the subject, for free.
We do know evolution is real because it is made up from scientific fact. Evolution, like the theory of gravity, like the theory of germs and disease, like the theory of plate tectonics etc, are made up of facts. Scientific theories are meant to explain a group of facts. The problem is people aren't even willing to educate themselves on what a true theory is. All the information is out there, you and everyone else can access it.
Ever hear of Google? Do you really expect anyone to explain something as complex as evolution in a comment section of a blog? If you really want to know, why not hit up your local library?
ID/creationism is fariiy easy to explain. The entire argument boils down to the following nugget of logic: "I can't explain it and I don't understand it, so god musta done it."
I think there are plenty of places you can read about Evolution christy. Use the same internet, pretty helpful source. U can read at wikipedia, for instance.
The simplest evidence indicating evolution and contradicting creationism is the appearance of the major classes of life within the fossil record: from earliest to latest, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds. We have transitional forms bearing "between" structures for all of these major classes and we have concordant phylogenetics which match the predicted genetic "distances" between these classes. The order directly contradicts the genesis account and cannot be explained by a flood in which all organisms both lived and were drowned and buried simultaneously.
Richard Dawkins "the blind watchmaker" or "the best show on earth" Both these books explain it clearly.
Break down in simple terms. Selfreplicating molecules are the start of life, replicators that replicate better will become more numerous and will form the next generation, becomming more complex and better replicators. These became evntually DNA which is a map for building a better replicator. the best replicators pass on their DNA better and hence they become the next generation of replicators. Minute changes in the DNa cause changes in each replicator producedproduced. The better replicator surives to pass on its DNA batter, over many generations through a population those mutations in DNA that lead to better replication are passed on, hence DNA replicators evolve into better replicators.
Seriously there is nothing really hard to understand here. Pick up a book and read about it. It is pretty simple to grasp once you start reading about it and following the process through to its logical conclusions.
I'm talking about it in these forums, actual discussions, where people are trying to intelligently discuss why their viewpoints are true. Nobody really does that, and I'm coming to the conclusion that people on both sides don't really know what why they believe what they believe, except merely that a book told them so (a Bible or biology textbook)Yes, I've been to Talkorigins, which is a good site except when it attempts to tackle theology (very obviously not their area of expertise)
Why dont you start with the proof at the smithsonian museum in Washington. Why dont you go to God is imaginary.com and debate any one of the 50 proofs that god does not exist. People use to pray to sun god, god of the sea, etc. There are thousands of religions yet people justnkeep makingnup new ones that they swear by. Wasnt jesus jewish? Then why wouldnt people believe in what the son of god was? Like a certain comedian says..... You cant fix stupid!
I know electromagnetism to be true because I've studied physics extensively. If someone chooses to ignore facts and evidence of electromagnetism, I can't help them. They're free to enroll in some courses at their local community college and educate themselves, but a few lines of text is not sufficient to adequately explain to anyone the intricacies of EM theory, let alone explain it to someone who intentionally buries their head in the sand.
Yes, I need to read the Blind Watchmaker. Really, I haven't found any reason for DNA disproving God. I do believe that science has proven that the earth is old, and that there is a strong case for the phylogenic tree, but it doesn't address nor provide for the spiritual needs that a human has. It doesn't disprove the prophecies of Christ, either. It doesn't disprove philosophical evidence for God. (see Aquinas)
The difference between relying on a science text book and the bible is that science textbooks are based on scientific literature which is, in turn, based on empirical physical evidence and validated mechanisms. Relying on science books has provided every useful innovation. The same record of demonstrable mechanistic evidence and utility cannot be found for the bible. As another poster once stated, all science (and their books) converges on the same conclusion as to how things work. All religions invariably diverge because there is no objective means to validate their claims.
Sorry chriisty but you are an idiot. I am truly not trying to be mean but REALLY?
You actually believe all that stuff in that really really old book that is full of stories not based on any science?
Ok Christy,
I dont know if you genuinely want to know or not. Now, if you pick any science text book, and I literally any text book, there is no mention of god exists or god doesnot exist. That is not the question of science or its principle. God is a religious concept. And Evolution has sufficient evidence to be accepted as THEORY (and please note theory in science is very different from the common-day use of the term, it is not a concept, it is backed by proof).
Some people are trying to include Creationism (that God made the universe) as a scientific theory, without any evidence to prove their stand. They only evidence they seem to be able to site is IT IS IN THE BIBLE! If that is science, I really want to be not here, may be somewhere on a planet in Andromeda galaxy! Even your own country's Science authorities have refused to accept the Creationist concept, it is as simple as this – Prove it and we will accept it!
Evidence of evolution is all around. Case in point, MRSA (Multi-Drug Resistant Staph aureus). MRSA is an extremely costly (over 17 billion annually according to the CDC) organism that has evolved because of over usage of beta-lactam antibiotics like penicillin and methicillin. Ofcourse anti-evolutionists will say that microevolution does not provide evidence of macroevolution. So I would then recommend reviewing the evolution of birds, which are dinosaurs with feathers. If that doesn't convince, then I recommend starting where Darwin did with cases of human induced artificial selection...say with dogs. Are there not dogs as different as Great Danes and Toy poodles? How did those breeds arise? Any dog breeder will tell you that it was from hard work due to careful selection of important characteristics. Artificial selection is analogous to evolution by natural selection which is really what Darwin's theory was about. I bet you didn't know that his theory was not strictly that Evolution happens, but how it happens. Evolution was seen as a fact before he ever came into the picture. What he determined was how it occurred. Lastly, I would like to point out that Darwin himself was trained in religious studies as a Parson. So, you could say he learned of intelligent design and yet he determined that it could not explain all the wonders of life on earth.
In the beginning God and the Misses were, well you know, and he was being very attentive to the her which resulted in a very Big BANG!!!!
More intellectual drivel from "The Evolved" ...
TheTraveler:
Prove me wrong heathen ....
The Bill Nyes of the world only have to stand up and say things like this because religious insanity is on the rise and threatening to turn education and government into the same cesspool religion has always created when in power.
If religious people minded their own business and kept their faith to themselves, none of this would happen. But they don't.
More humans need to understand on a fundamental level of their consciousness, that mathematics is one of the crucial keys to existence, not deities.
...and at a any given point in our minute portion of the time line, we are ever ignorant and really shouldn't be asking such hard questions of our race, when we are so ill equipped to opine on creation, and just end up fighting 🙁 our species is much like a 3 year old human child, too young to really understand certain things yet, so it is no surprise that humans the world over, worship so many god myths
"In the beginning", it wasn't really a beginning at all, because some dude with a capital d was already there making stuff and saying it was good? So what was before "the beginning?" It's the same question the god people pose what was before the big bang. None of us have an answer. It's just the way it is, we can't understand it...
Science already has a working theory for how the universe was created with predictions that have been verified, such as cosmic back ground radiation, and the discovery of the Higgs Boson, all predicted by the theory and found to exist. Religion predicts nothing correctly, and its predictions have been debunked continually by evidence. The world is round, not flat, Humans evolved and were not designed, the earth circles the sun, not the sun circling the earth. the prediction of an afterlife also has no evidence and most certainly is incorrect as well.
Science has a working understanding of how the universe was created, and is starting to understand what was here before it, what lays beyond it, and also about other dimensions and other dimensional universes.
WHAT? This is why the World has gone insane. Bill Nyes words shouldn't even be discussed, because everyone should be regarding this as truth. Creationism did not happen. This is not bad mouthing religion at all because the moral of the story is what is important not the details of the story being factually true. Their could be a god you can't prove or dissprove their existence, but you can prove science. Religion has been used as a tool for people to gain and stay in power and to hide the truth from the masses. Evolution isn't a theory it happened, its proven. Creationism did not happen, the end. All of us need to be wary of how people use religion to their advantage and try to make us act against our own well being just because a book says so.
Amen brother. :o)
Society is moving forward, better step up or you'll be left behind Bible Belt.
Ten out of the bottom eleven states according to the United States Census Bureau that have the least amount of college graduates are located in the Bible Belt. These under educated people are trying to get our tax dollars to fund their fairy tales in school.
I fear for our children's future if this ludicrousness continues.
On the up side we will always need people to work in the service industries. You know the jobs that require phrases like "Welcome to WalMart" and the ever popular "Would you like fries with that ?".
part of the problem, is that you feel you need an answer. Take away the asking of the why, and you take away religion.
Not only do the religious feel a need to have an answer to questions of 'why', they have the audacity to claim to know the answers. Silly people.
Out of curiosity, when you are out looking around "with wonder upon the world around you," does that include looking at this:
http://filariasis-elephantiasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Loa-loa-filariasis.jpg
or this: http://www.secretstodefeatingdisease.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/anencephaly.jpg
or this: http://pregnan-cy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Common-Birth-Defects3.jpg
or this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Child_with_Smallpox_Bangladesh.jpg/230px-Child_with_Smallpox_Bangladesh.jpg
and honestly saying "wow, what fascinating and wondrous parts of god's great plan..."
Or do you just mean for us to go look at rainbows and kittens and fluffy wuffy wabbits as evidence of a loving god?
@b4bigbang
"And yet another atheist playing fast and loose with Logic!
And to think that I used to worry that I wouldn't be up to the task of conversing with such enlightened, intelligent atheists.
Thank you cnn atheists – your challenges to my faith have only served to increase it!"
This is the reason I don't normally debate with creationists. The debate invariably degenerates into "it's magic". As if that somehow settles the argument. Sam Harris said it best:
"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to show that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show its importance?"
Arguing with the willfully ignorant is, by definition, an exercise in futility. If they weren't so potentially dangerous, they could safely be ignored. But that is not the case.
Taliban insurgents recently beheaded 17 people. Their crime?
Dancing.
At a wedding.
The secular nature of our government is the only thing keeping that from happening here. There are those so conditioned by their beliefs, that they would cheerfully commit horrible atrocities if they believed it to be the will of their god. If our own version of the Taliban – Dominionists and the like – should ever gain power over our government, I believe such a scenario is entirely possible. Probable even.
@louiszwu:
a) I share your opinion regarding the Dominionists.
b) I am a follower of the Way [what the world has labeled as 'Christianity], but not a young Earth creationist.
c) There has been more than one time period of modern history when a totally secular state did mass killings and tortures, demonstrating that Man does not need a religious excuse to commit crimes against humanity.
d) Regarding your statement "Arguing with the willfully ignorant is, by definition, an exercise in futility. If they weren't so potentially dangerous, they could safely be ignored. But that is not the case." you do realize that the atheist mantra posted on these boards repeatedly, "there is no God" is a fallacy of Logic called the 'Argument from IGNORANCE' [emphasis mine]?
I will add some wise words from Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker.
"The problem with the religious solution [for mysteries such as consciousness and moral judgments] was stated by Mencken when he wrote, 'Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.' For anyone with a persistent intellectual curiosity, religious explanations are not worth knowing because they pile equally baffling enigmas on top of the original ones. What gave God a mind, free will, knowledge, certainty about right and wrong? How does he infuse them into a universe that seems to run just fine according to physical laws? How does he get ghostly souls to interact with hard matter? And most perplexing of all, if the world unfolds according to a wise and merciful plan, why does it contain so much suffering? As the Yiddish expression says, If God lived on earth, people would break his window."
This quote from "candyapple" precisely highlights the issue:
". I think that we all came from one man and one woman (God created), and I think that the human race has evolved from this paring."
That is not evolution. For this person to claim they believe in God AND evolution, is just plain wrong. Evolution does show that all humans cam from one man and one woman. This person is wholly ignorant of the actual process of evolution.
Shame on CNN for publishing that comment as if it were a rational rebuke to Mr. Nye's commentary.
Edit: "Evolution does NOT show..."
RJF that must have been a DOH moment. I was like what a minute i think he forgot a not in there.
Yeah, I was confused by the inclusion of that one, too, since that view is impossible to maintain...short of drawing the false line of "micro/macro-evolution and thinking humans have "micro-evolved, which is a made up concept anyway. But you cannot hold to modern evolutionary theory and think that god made us in our present form. It is simply not possible. You can believe in god and that god started or even "guided" the process, but not that he started with us AS humans.
How do you know that the commenter doesn't think that God created Adam and Eve through evolution? There's no counter evidence that a progenitor of one man and one woman didn't exist. I mean, it's just as reasonable to believe that the human family came from an original pair, just like all life started from a single cell. And yes, one CAN believe in God and evolution.
@Christy,
Now the problem with the Adam and eve story here is – it is just written in one religious textbook. Why should I accept your view and not the one of my religion. Why shouldn't I believe that man arose from the ocean during Sagar Manthan???? What is the authenticity of your Adam and Eve story?
With a quality education young people could decide if religion is needed. With brain washing, we will never know.
when everyone passes from this life – then everyone will be a creationist.
No, when we pass from this life we'll be worm bait.
Besides the dinosaurs and other fossils in our evolutionary process:
You might be part Neaderthal and for $99 actually find out:
As per National Geographic's Genographic project:
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/
" DNA studies suggest that all humans today descend from a group of African ancestors who about 60,000 years ago began a remarkable journey. Follow the journey from them to you as written in your genes”.
"Adam" is the common male ancestor of every living man. He lived in Africa some 60,000 years ago, which means that all humans lived in Africa at least at that time.
Unlike his Biblical namesake, this Adam was not the only man alive in his era. Rather, he is unique because his descendents are the only ones to survive.
It is important to note that Adam does not literally represent the first human. He is the coalescence point of all the genetic diversity."
For your $99 and a DNA swab:
"Included in the markers we will test for is a subset that scientists have recently determined to be from our hominin cousins, Neanderthals and the newly discovered Denisovans, who split from our lineage around 500,000 years ago. As modern humans were first migrating out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago, Neanderthals and Denisovans were still alive and well in Eurasia. It seems that our ancestors met, leaving a small genetic trace of these ancient relatives in our DNA. With Geno 2.0, you will learn if you have any Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA in your genome."
If the religious wish to adhere to Genesis as it is written in the Bible then that is fine. If they wish to believe that God does what he wants when he wants and can change the very physical properties of matter not to mention space and time I have no problem with that.
What I, and many others, take exception to is when Creationists start 'cherry picking' and bast.ardizing science facts, especially old and superseded science facts to bolster their position. Especially when they have been shown on numerous occasions that the facts they are using are outdated and more to the point totally wrong in light of modern discoveries.
I'm an engineer and a man of science and I'm thankful for religion, it makes it really easy to figure out where all the crazies are and what they are doing, if it wasn't for religion can you imagine what this kind of people would be doing? sacrificing people, eating human hearts, burning witches and all the stuff they used to do before and still do in many countries ... I could care less if they get educated or not, keeps my salary high and my degree in demand, so yeah please keep it up and educate your children in creationism and that science is evil and all that.
If I say I am the Queen of Denmark, it doesn't make it so.
Um. All those actions you describe are part of religious ceremonies.
O Man of Science, pray, teach us from whence matter and energy doth arise? We await thy wisdom.
Yeah, because religious people can't be scientists as well.Sir Isaac Newton*cough*Gregor Mendel*cough*Galileo*cough*
Christy many of those people were religious during a time when you would get ostracized, if not thrown into jail, murdered etc if you claimed to be an atheist. Hell, Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for life because he argued against geocentrism...
93% of the national academy if sciences in atheist/agnostic. Yes, scientists can be religious, but an overwhelming majority are not.
@Martin
I am a doctor, a woman of science. And I am doing pretty well without religion. Now as goes the witches, most of the incidents (witch hunts of the Christians, the witch hunts in my own land) were driven by religious bigots, and not atheists.
The human sacrifices you talk of, all done in the name of God – read the Bible, you will find some pretty disgusting stuff in there.
had science been that evil, you would not have been using this computer, or going to hospitals for treatment, or hoping to find a cure for killer diseases. Going by religion – no, let's just call all illness a curse of god and let's treat them with magic!