Religion

Conclusively Challenged

Under the heading of “People you don’t expect to see stirring up trouble” is one Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

Bill is an affable guy. He’s fun, zany, and the kids love him. He’s like Mr. Wizard, only kind of cute and still alive. I’m pretty sure, though, that Mr. Wizard never pissed off a fundamentalist.

At a lecture in Texas last week, Bill served up a nice educational presentation on global warming, Mars, and the Bible. Whoops! His big mistake was pointing out that according to the Bible,“God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” When he informed the audience that the sun was, as opposed to being just one of two “great lights,” actually just one of billions of stars. And by the way, the moon isn’t a light at all but is actually lit up by the sun.

Bravely rejecting this crazy man’s rambling “theories” about “the universe,” a few people immediately gathered up their ignorance and left the room, with one woman saying, “We believe in a god!” Funny, but until now I never knew that a belief in a god automatically assumed a complete disbelief in reality.

I wish I could see video of the presentation to know what made Nye bring up the Bible in the first place. I can see how it might be relevant in discussing creationism, but come on. You don’t start pointing out the glaring inaccuracies of the Bible during a presentation in the middle of Texas without knowing you’re about to piss some people off. So I guess that means mission accomplished.

I’m too tired to come to a conclusion, and I lack all the facts, anyway. So instead, I’ll conclude with an interpretive dance that you can’t actually see.

Thank you.
(polite applause)

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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8 Comments

  1. I just KNEW there was a good reason I liked Bill Nye!

    Yep he's been on a number of interesting panels on Science stuff…Him and James Hanson at NASA are trying to get the *message* out (Gobal Warming – NOT the "Good News" *wink*)

  2. Check out Bill Nye's website at http://www.billnye.com/ and watch the animation of the loading screen for the flash content. It's a nice little "Get out now while you can, or you might accidentally learn something" message to creationists.

  3. I knew I always liked Bill Nye. I haven't seen him on TV for years. My kids always liked him.

  4. I'm such a geek. I have Bill Nye's autograph.

    …but he should know better than to mix science and God in Texas. That shit'll get you shot.

  5. Pingback: free advice

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