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Feb. 4th 2014: Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham on Evolution and Creationism



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Nyangoro

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EDIT: Though the live event is over, both links below (to both the site and the direct YouTube link) link to the full, processed debate.

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham | Answers in Genesis

This has been causing a sort of minor stir lately.

For those of you who haven't heard, much-loved supporter of science education (and TV personality) Bill Nye has agreed to debate Ken Ham, the outspoken founder of the Creation Museum and a key figure in the Intellectual Design movement. The topic: "Is Creation a Viable Model of Origins?" The time is February 4th, 2014 at 7:00 pm EST.

[video=youtube;-uZWI0PLmm8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uZWI0PLmm8[/video]

A live stream on YouTube is planned for the already sold-out event and can be found on the website and the link below:

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham - HD - YouTube

As I'm sure you can imagine, in certain communities, this has been perceived as something of a big deal.

Personally, I don't think Bill Nye should have accepted the debate (and I do believe he was the one invited, though I could be wrong). Even ignoring the fact that the venue is Ham's Creation Museum, I really feel like pursuing a formal debate gives the wrong impression. A formal debate gives both sides credibility, which we probably shouldn't be doing. Not to mention the fact that you probably aren't going to change anyone's mind in this way. The better way is through education, which Bill Nye is known for. I just worry that Nye will get caught up in the myriad non-issues that this topic brings with it, which may end up doing far more harm than he intended. The fact that Nye isn't known for being a debater doesn't give him an advantage either.

Still, I can understand his frustration. He feels like people in America aren't accepting the theory of evolution fast enough. Some statistics report that 1/3 of the population doesn't believe evolution is real. That has to be frustrating to a man who has dedicated his life to science and has so much unbridled passion for it. Even so, I'm really not thinking that this debate will do much and that it has a greater opportunity to do harm to Nye's goals than good.

You never know though. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out if nothing else.
 
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Reagan Rayden

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You know, I would really love to hope that this might change the views of Christians in general if a decent argument is made against or for the other, but I doubt this debate will do anything for either side.
 

Pinwheel

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Oh my goodness, I forgot all about this. I can't thank you enough for posting this here, Nyan. When I first heard about this I was incredibly excited, I have no clue how this slipped my mind. I'm really interested in seeing how this turns out.
 

Pinwheel

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I'm already getting disgusted with Ken and we're hardly very far into this.
 

Nyangoro

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He's a master spokesperson who's great at manipulating perception and (mis)information to his favor. This was expected, honestly, and one of the main reasons that people didn't really want Nye to accept the invitation.
 

Pinwheel

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"God invented marriage."

IS HE REALLY GOING HERE? I've never seen Ken Ham's stuff before but now I see why people didn't want these two to debate. This guy is a tool. He's brought morals into it over and over and it's absolutely diddlying irrelevant.
 

Nyangoro

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Yeah, he's made quite a few... "interesting" statements throughout his speech.

For example, he purports that "historical" science cannot be determined, then says:

"We are teaching kids the correct way to think."

The morality thing is just a standard appeal to emotion that really has nothing to do with anything.
 

Pinwheel

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"We are teaching kids the correct way to think."

ooooooooooooooo did this statement make me angry. Just before that he stated he wanted children to be taught to think critically. That isn't thinking critically.
 

Dreaded_Desire62

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ooooooooooooooo did this statement make me angry. Just before that he stated he wanted children to be taught to think critically. That isn't thinking critically.
Ken Ham just seems to contradict himself a lot. I wish he would just leave the bible out of it and just rely on outside sources to back up his claims.
 

Pinwheel

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He was bad at the start, but he got way too fucking full of himself by the end. He wouldn't even answer the hypothetical question, he just rambled on more about how supposedly we can never figure out the how old anything is.

And I figured that he would at least have the common decency to not be a complete dolt and keep saying that creationism is true because it's in The Bible and supposedly things line up with that. What a load of horse-shit. I feel so bad for Bill for having to put up with this guy's crap.
 

Dreaded_Desire62

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He was bad at the start, but he got way too diddlying full of himself by the end. He wouldn't even answer the hypothetical question, he just rambled on more about how supposedly we can never figure out the how old anything is.

And I figured that he would at least have the common decency to not be a complete dolt and keep saying that creationism is true because it's in The Bible and supposedly things line up with that. What a load of horse-shit. I feel so bad for Bill for having to put up with this guy's crap.
Yep, Ken Ham probably dashed all credibility he ever had.
 

ROXAS_32

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only caught the tail end of this but will watch it again, Probably tomorrow being that they already canceled my classes. I consider myself to be Christian and even i cringed at Ken dancing around questions and giving the same answer over and over again. If this is how the whole debate goes it will be a tough watch...
 

Dreaded_Desire62

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only caught the tail end of this but will watch it again, Probably tomorrow being that they already canceled my classes. I consider myself to be Christian and even i cringed at Ken dancing around questions and giving the same answer over and over again. If this is how the whole debate goes it will be a tough watch...
You're not the only one that cringes with Ken Ham. I don't know why he has a following.
 
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