Bill Nye slams creationism
By 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.
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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.
Filed under: Creationism • Science
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chrisrobnorcott
Reading the comments on this topic, I see nothing but a bunch of know-it-alls and bullies. It almost makes me effects couple of minutes in my day, almost...
August 27, 2012 at 6:50 pm |
"It almost makes me effects couple of minutes in my day, almost..." Can you rephrase this?
Wow! Read your last sentence a couple of times while keeping a straight face.
cook0032
I am a 27 year old believer in science. I watched Nye's show in school as a kid. I'm glad he created this video. May the scientific method prevail.
t3chn0ph0b3
Nice sentiment, but understanding scientific priciples doesn't require belief, only a bit of reading and math.
...a believer? Welcome to a life of religion.
I believe that we will be able to create life through our understanding of science. If I believe this is possible in the future, then maybe it also happened in the past. The question then would become, what life form was the first to create other life
Sim34
God would be another "life form", would he not? Something had to create him then.
Aritificial Life Student
Look up artificial life on wiki for a good intro to computational artificial life.
As an aside, why does there have to be a beginning. The Big Bang theory is only a theory after all, and the Steady State theory gets no air-play nowadays, so to speak. Yes, I am aware of all the arguments about Big Bang vs Steady State, but those arguments are not as cut and dry as the ones for Evolution.
After all, no one has done experiments that involve sending a probe thousands of light-years into galactic space and have a laser beam back... yet.
633music
If people studied the evidence, they would be certain evolution is not a viable answer as to how life came about.
One one
Right, a much more viable answer is that god did it using magic.
And scientists are spending all their time doing WHAT, then, exactly?
Intelligent design? Ever given 15 seconds' thot to the human knee? You or I or your 8-year-old kid could do better than that so-called "intelligent designer".
Moby Schtick
Ummm... no sh!t, Sherlock. Evolution doesn't claim to answer the question of abiogenesis, dumbazz.
You sound like someone who is really in tune with "the evidence". I'm sure you have a lot of really intelligent things to say on the subject....
There are a few unanswered questions about the science, but what "evidence" points away from evolution?
Dzerres
Geez, what evidence have we missed Einstein? Does creationism explain dinosaurs? Nope. Why would God create dinosaur bones and bury them in the ground or fossilize them? How about all those early human-like creatures that continue to be discovered. Bones like Lucy. Who is that anyway? Is that Eve? Please. Believe in ID or creationism makes you jump through all kinds of mental hoops to try to bind thing together and it never words. The Theory of Evolution is a fact, the process is still being discovered and debated.
Typical uneducated Christian. If you had bothered to ever look into what the theory of evolution actually says you would know it has nothing to do with "how life came about" Perhaps if you took the time to actually investigate it, instead of just listening to your bible buddies, you might be able to make a useful statement
Religious scientist
Guess who wrote this?
"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved."
A tack-on by Darwin to appease religious people at the recommendation of his friend. It is not included in the 1st edition.
Well, Charles Darwin wrote most of it, except the part about the creator.
Charles Darwin was a product of his times and a deeply religious man. He delayed publication because he feared the repercussions yet he published what he knew was the truth.
And he suffered the repercussions for his intellectual honesty at the hands of people who could not contemplate new ideas.
It's not 1650 any more people. The wars of the reformation are over. Get with the times.
The first edition of The Origin did not have the word "creator" in that paragraph, but Darwin tried to appease both the public and his very religious wife with the subsequent editions. This is well docu.mented.
Last time I watched a science special on the "Big Bang" it pretty much went down like the story in Genisis; in fact, almost an exact copy. Along with all these science shows they have proof that time can be warped and experinced differently under certain conditions. High gravity and speed affect how time passes for you. During this "Big Bang" I'm willing to bet there was a lot of energy affecting both gravity and speed. I wonder how this could have affected time as we percieve it. Could 6 days to one be billions of years to another? Its funny how vast and complex this universe is and some guy who's science isn't really that far above stone knives and sheep skins is so sure he has it figured out that he makes a public video, or worse yet, posts total dribble on public boards. All you athiests say there is no God, prove to me he exists. Well right back at you, prove to me he doesn't. Create life, a world, a universe in a lab someplace, go ahead, shut us all up, I dare you.
You idiot!! We can't prove a negative. Prove that magic pink unicorns don't exist and we'll follow your tests to prove your god doesn't. Just because you are gullible does not mean everyone needs to be!
"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." —Stephen F. Roberts, database architect
The main thing to keep in mind is that no one will ever know if their is a god/energy/force likely ever, and anyone who tells you they spoke to god or god spoke to them is losing their marbles. Anyone can say that, because everyone loves attention. Organized religious is a complete sham, and organized religions such as Christianity push a creationist agenda which is completely ridiculous in light of all of the great discovery of our universe and its inhabitants by hundreds of thousands of scientists overtime. 90% of accredited scientists are non-believers in the christian/muslim/jewish/and other views of god, wonder why...
Your whole concept of the big bang and evolution (two different unrelated things, by the way) reeks of a total lack of understanding, but explaining it to you would be like trying to describe the color red to a blind man; you're just that fucking dense. And, by the way, it's "drivel", not "dribble". Maybe you could at least try to get that right in the future.
Either way sir, you can't deny evolution doesn't exist. In order to say the book of genisis is true, you would have to say dinosaurs didn't exist, the ice age never happened, and we're the same as cromagnum man, and when clearly we're not. I will not deny that there is a higher being, but it did not happen in 6 days the way the bible says only 10,000 years ago, I see it as the Bible was written to give answers to man who had questions as to were he came from, and at the time science couldn't explain it.
Hid from the wise
He began with the smallest organism and created more complex life until he created Adam after 6 days. Adam became a living soul. The soul is what differentiates us from all other creatures. Otherwise we would be purely an animal. The Serpent was the last creature created before Adam and he was an upright being who looked very much like Adam (read the curse in Genesis). He was created to serve Adam and Eve. Satan was cast out of heaven and entered the Serpent. He seduced eve and was cursed to crawl on his belly. ( A snake)By this seduction Satan was able to enter the blood stream of man. Witness his son Cain and the nature of Cain. Cain is not listed in the genealogies of Adam. The Serpent is the missing link between all creatures and man.
What "soul?" Where is it?
I love a good fairy tale. 🙂
could have sworn your bible says that man was giving a soul by god, not that man became a soul.
Less than 2% of modern man is incapable of knowing that which is self evident since the beginning of recorded history. It is that deep understanding that there is more to life then what meets the eye. Not to worry however as those who truly cannot understand they are spirit and flesh will be cutt some slack by God in the final judgement. Consider yourself blessed by the inability to comprehend that which is available to anyone that would ask Christ into their lives.
The shocking lack of interest in science displayed by most Americans is to blame for this "debate". Its just so much easier and neater to believe what your parents believed. So much easier to believe a big happy guy in the sky snapped his fingers and created the universe, than to give it any actual thought. Don't be afraid to be amazed by the natural world.
TruthPRevails
There is a big difference between that which cannot be seen and that which does not exist.
So no answer, then? Just, "But Moby, waahhh... a lot of people believe in some sort of "spirit world!!"
Testable hypothesis, you know... testable.
monomial
animals have souls
Yep, sounds like crap that was force fed to me as a child and I had no way of objecting it until I got out of the bible belt.
Man, what an imagination! Where did you come up with this bullshit?
Wrong, as a believer I must reconcile science and faith not only to myself but to the mockers of Christ. It is the non believer that has never experienced God who has it easy. Materialism is easy it deals what can be seen, measured and predictable by various man made methods. You simply believe in what man has found with mans primitive tools. I say primative because we have fully evaluated the simple cell yet do not know any more about the origin of life than we did before a sheepherder told us.
Svenghooli
Yeah, you might as well believe in Zues, and Hercules because they were all made up too. How great this world would have been without religion....
Fred: Can you test for your god even though we can't see it? We can't see gravity but we can test for it...the same can't be said for your god and until it can be there is no reason to believe.
In genesis it says that Adam and Eve had 2 sons. Cain and Abel. Cain kills abel and is banished to the land of Goth. Cain goes to Goth where he takes a wife. Where did she come from?
If you want to know HOW God created life, study biology. If you want to know WHY God created life, study theology.
You'd think accurate theology would get both right. Why can a person believe anything they want about god but must use the correct chemistry and math?
What, and just ignore all the contradictions? There is a more simple, more parsimonious, more elegant, more intellectually honest answer, and I think you know what it is.
Very, very well said.
If you want to know WHETHER God created life, don't drink this guy's Kool-Aid.
Religion has nothing to do with evolution. No matter how wacky most religions are, it does not make the silly idea of evolution make any sense.
That's true... but reading a book and studying the evidence might.
If you study the evidence you would be certain that evolution is not a viable option. Just super silly.
Care to put forth an argument WHY evolution is "silly?"
633: Then stop reading creationism books for your evidence. There are FACTS and EVIDENCE to back evolution, there are none to back your favorite incest story (aka Adam and Eve).
Not that I believe you'll read any of them, but I would like to recommend The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene and The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. The first two are really heavy reads. The last one is dumbed down and easier to digest. If you want something simpler, try The Magic of Reality. My daughter loves it, but I also know many adults who find it enjoyable too.
Actually, biology would make no sense at all without evolution.
tepeters
The greatest threat we face as a people, as a nation is self imposed ignorance. God is a metaphor for apects of reality we do not know and/or over whihc we have no control.That is what it always has been since man evolved his sentient brain. But no0t being settled with that he creates religion in order to know the unknowable and control the uncontrollable with what he thinks is efficacious ritual, the right prayers, and sacrifices. A telling adapted text can be found in the Egyptian pyramids 'Men need symbols to inspire them, when they do not have them, they invent gods. So choose symbols that represent what is right and true.'
Bill's Brother
Yeah, he even comes up with concepts such as "science" and tells himself he needs no God, because with science, he is God. Now he comes up with all kinds of ideas, most of which don't last long before another idea takes its place, and shows it to be wrong. As time goes on, he pats himself on the back, and tells himself he's "smart". He feels confident, and he's "evolving" into a smarter, and better being. It's all self delusion as bad or worse than religion. In fact, it's all religion.
Real science is open minded to all things, including the metaphysical. While it can't address the metaphysical, it allows for the possibility. It's only the nimrods, the pseudo scientists like Nye that insist that evolution is true, because it's his religion. The truth is that evolutionary theory in it's most naturalistic form is a religion.
Jeffreyp
Some of the most "real" things in life are things we cannot see – Love, passion and the myriad of human feelings...gravity, magnetism, neutrinos, electrons, etc. We all live in and accept a 3 dimensional world, but what about a 4th dimension? What about near death experiences where people see things only possible by being outside of their physical bodies?
Another thing Bill Nye doesn't realize there are old earth creationists that don't believe the earth is 7-10k years old. There is strong evidence for gaps in the Genesis genealogies and makes calculating an accurate timeline for creation a futile task and the view of young earth creationists wrong.. There are also scientists who hold both views. I would suggest reading up some of the papers from Dr. Hugh Ross as a good starting point.
Old earthers still think the world was made by magic. You are included in that.
BrandonR
If you're going to accept evolution than even a child can see what's next: why do you still need a god to explain these things? Evolution is beautiful in its simplicity and self-guidedness.
All of you creationists who have given ground to the old earth theory are sad. It's usually because you believe that radio metric dating is infallible. It's been shown recently that isotope decay is not constant, and can be altered in nature. That throws everything off for the naturalist who uses that club to pound everyone else down. You don't hear them talk about the unreliability of radiometric dating, because if you found out, the debate would be over.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/sun-082310.html
Those creationists are in a severe minority and Ross is a loon from both perspectives.
Farting Preacher
And the Earth was made in 7 days *farts* Halleujah!
Love posts like this, everyone becomes a know-it-all.
Fer sher!
What happens if we end up being some alien experiment? Is God alien? The ideal of evolution of some kind makes far more sense because of what we know of other creatures. The Earth has taken a long time to evolve and for anyone to suggest Man and Woman were created in 24 hours is ridiculous considering even today it takes about 9 months just to grow a baby.
Gravity confuses the crap out of me. I don't see how it works. Magetism amazes me. But we can talk about the 'theory' of gravity and the 'theory' of magnetism without upsetting the Creationists. No one starts hollering about godless heathens just because we don't say 'God's Gravity' or 'Magnetism created by God'. Why can't we talk about continental drift, genetic drift, natural selection, adaptation or survival of the fittest without upsetting theocracy?
Anyone who dared speak of the germ theory used to get you burned at the stake for we all knew in 1620 that it was really demons that caused people to get sick and we would burn a witch or two just to be safe.
the other guy
A modern day heretic, the religious can not slaughter you nowadays for blasphemy, but there are some........
I have given up on trying to talk sense into some folks, let them belief what they like and walk thru this life with their stories and fairytales. Just do not expect the rest of us to buckle under the weight of preaching or badgering. I feel sorry for the children who will fall farther and farther behind as this world moves forward, and they stay mired in a past that leaves no room for free thinking or new ideas.
Who do you consider the "preachers" and the "badgering" bunch? After all, it's Nye who seems to be preaching and badgering from the pseudo science pulpit.
God, I hope you're not my brother!
Actually, evolution itself will eventually eliminate the slow-witted creationist folks. Unfortunately, it will take some time, but Darwinism will prevail. Meanwhile we'll just have to put up with their bullshit and hope they don't influence government policy.
Way to Go Bill. Thanks for telling it like it is BOOOOOOOOOOY!!!!!
JustTheFax
Believe what you want to believe, everyone else, be damned.
edmundburkeson
Does this mean that The Science Guy is now The Faith Guy since he is making statements of faith and not science? Or is he just an atheist masquerading as a scientist?
Which of Nye's statements is of faith?
Nothing that Nye said depends on faith. Evolution has hundreds of THOUSANDS of independently-corroborated evidence supporting it. That's not faith. Creationism on the other hand has literally no evidence and requires nothing BUT faith to believe in.
Bill Nye is making statements based off of scientific research. Meaning that a lot of people didn't have faith in the established answer and decided to figure it out. Faith as you understand it is a confidence in certain ideas regardless of known facts. Quite the opposite.
*Farts* Thank you Jesus!
mydogbill
In the last days there will come mockers, mocking and chasing after their own lusts
The end of the world has been "coming" for thousands of years. Nothing new.
There have always been mockers, mocking and chasing after their own lusts. It's called being a part of the animal kingdom.
Are you one of the false prophets ?
*snicker*...he said "peter".
Boisepoet
I mock you and fart in your general direction!
I suppose you believe in Santa Claus too, right?
rampantmisdirection
In the end day's there will be a mocker, mocking mockily those who need the mocking. And he will ride upon a pale horse and he shall be called death, bob to his friend's, but Death by those who don't know him well, and hell shall follow him, heeling nicely llike a good dog for fear of mockery. In fact, hell shall heel his steel horse while whistling Bon Jovi Songs, the hounds of hell shall heel his horse as he rides though town, gayly mocking those who need mocking. And they shall call him the mocker, or Death, or Bob... as the case may be... Bob the gay death mocker.. and he shall be so good at mocking that he will really annoy people, but only the evil people shall be annoyed. Then really ignorant people who blindly follow writings in a book that they don't even know the origins of shall curse him for being a mocker, curse him while spitting half chewed McDonalds from their puffed cheeks as their husbands impatiently tap their feet under bathroom stalls...
BEWARE the mocker is coming,,, it has been foretold oooogity booooogity..
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