Bill Nye Loses Debate with Ken Ham - Never Stood a Chance

It was a highly anticipated event, and it happened last night: Bill Nye v Ken Ham. The question? Is creationism a viable world view? And why does it matter?

It matters because of an accusation leveled by Bill Nye toward creationists in a Youtube video in which he suggested biblical creationism was bad for children and that schools should rather embrace science.

To the truly learned out there among us this is known as a false dichotomy; an either/or proposition which doesn't exist in reality. Ken Ham tried to explain this to Nye but, alas, it fell on deaf ears. And many of the tens of thousands of us watching the debate via the PPSIMMONS blog feed agreed that Ken's biggest mistake was not speaking up! Perhaps then the delusion bubble in which the evolutionists wrap themselves may have been breached.

I digress.

The common theme coming from Nye's side of the room was: "Science and Ken Ham's view of the universe are incompatible. It is not possible to be a young earth creationist while embracing the thought processes which go into inventing and manufacturing modern devices which we enjoy and which help keep us alive." (paraphrase mine).

He repeated it over and over and over and over. And what was Ken's answer? Quite amazing actually. And this, in this analyst's humble opinion, was the slam dunk. The debate, insomuch as the goal was concerned, was over. It was like listening to someone say there is no way a woman could ever climb Everest while video footage of Junko Tabei, leading her all-woman expedition to Mount Everest, was playing in the background.

Ham had to repeat it for Nye, over and over and over again. There are many examples, famous examples, of young earth creationists contributing to the technological advancement of modern society. I won't give you all of the examples but one that I am most personally acquainted with - Dr Raymond V. Damadian - Inventor of the MRI.

My son recently suffered a mild concussion. He was therefore given the experience of having the MRI procedure performed on him.

Dr Raymond V. Damadian would probably be too humble to accept the title "super-scientist" but the many people whose lives have been saved by the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanning technology he developed might think otherwise. Hailed as one of the greatest diagnostic breakthroughs ever, this technique, using advanced principles of physics and computing, lets doctors visualize many organs and their diseased parts without the risks of exploratory surgery or the radiation associated with traditional scanning methods.

Ham actually showed video footage of Dr Damadian confessing that he is a young earth creationist. That was it, the debate was over. The evidence was conclusive because the premise of Nye's original salvo which started the war of words was in the title of his video, which was, "Bill Nye: Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children"

Yet, here we have an example of a "super scientist" who has actually saved lives and yet also believes the universe is only six thousand years old. The debate was over at this point. Ken Ham was the clear winner.

But it doesn't end there.

Nye went on and on and on with the same accusation; an accusation which was already soundly refuted. So Ham had more examples, none that were actually needed however since Everest had already been climbed by a woman in spite of the protestations against their ability to do such a feat. There is a long list of young earth creationists who have done similar exploits to Dr Raymond V. Damadian. You can see a partial list here.

At the end of it all it seemed obvious that Bill Nye had no interest in acknowledging the realities placed in front of him. He kept going over the same old tired talking points, like "Baghdad Bob", Saddam Hussein's press secretary, on camera denying that US troops had entered the city while in the background American tanks could be seen claiming their victory.

And while we hope that Nye and Ham will continue the conversation off camera, perhaps in a coffee shop somewhere, we cannot allow the accusation that creationism is bad for children to stand.

And we also hope that Bill Nye will take the time to watch the debate from the audience point of view so that he can actually hear Ken Ham's answers, which he obviously did not hear the first time.