
In just over two weeks, Bill Nye (the Science Guy) is scheduled to travel to Kentucky to debate evolution with Ken Ham, founder and CEO of the Creationism Museum. There are a lot of scientists (and anti-creationist advocates) who are up-in-arms over Nye’s decision to engage the trolls.
Dan Arel over at the Richard Dawkins Institute writes:
When you accept a debate, you are accepting there is something worth debating….
Creationism vs. evolution however is not worth debating. Why? Simple, there is nothing to debate. Evolution is a scientific fact, backed by mountains of evidence, peer-reviewed papers you could stack to the moon and an incredible scientific community consensus. Creationism is a debunked mythology that is based solely in faith. It has zero peer-reviewed papers to back up its claims, it has absolutely no scientific consensus and is not even considered science due to the fact it cannot be tested…
Ham is a snake oil salesmen and Nye just offered him up an infomercial to sell his product. Ham can repeat his mantra over and over; “teach the controversy”.
Arel is absolutely right: debating Creationism with a scientist dignifies Creationism, elevating it to the level of rational debate. However, Arel is wrong for concluding that for this reason Nye should not participate in the “debate”.
Here’s why: not having the debate is against the scientific faith.
Continue reading “The Scientific Faith: Why Bill Nye is right to debate Creationism”