Creationism... To Debate or Not to Debate...

Ever since Bill Nye decided to publicly debate Ken Ham, I have been cringing. Everybody knows, you NEVER NEVER DEBATE A CREATIONIST. There have been many classic points to support this position, many are some that I still hold. Yet there has been some doubt lingering in the back of my mind (can you imagine?!?) and I think it is important to try and understand why a clearly intelligent guy like Nye would choose to do this. He does not need the publicity, or money. So why?

Typically there are a few ideas we need to understand. Debating creationists often gives the false impression that there is actually something to debate. Nope. Creationism in any form is demonstrably wrong, inherently contradictory, and based on a priori assumptions. By bringing attention to Ken Ham and his ilk, Nye not only raised large sums of money for Ham's Creation Museum, which sets out to accomplish the opposite of what Bill intends, but it has the added complication of a rigged match.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/02/ken_ham_bill_nye_debate_science_and_fact_versus_fiction_and_fantasy.html

Scientists have to play by the rules, limited by logic, rationality, and the confines of evidence based reason... Creationists can and do simply make it up as they go along, using faith as a cop-out at every turn.

Going into the debate, I was highly skeptical. Now that the dust has settled, however, I see good ol' Phil Plait, astronomer and science advocate, was the one pointing out something we all missed!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/02/05/creationism_debate_should_we_engage_anti_science.html

"But I’ve thought about it, and here’s the important thing to remember: Roughly half the population of America does believe in some form of creationism or another. Half. Given that creationism is provably wrong, and science has enjoyed huge overwhelming success over the years, something is clearly broken in our country."

And he is correct. There is something wrong with the way we deliver science to the public, and since the debate itself caused more controversy than we have ever seen coming out of the Discovery Institute, the organization trying to put creationism in the classrooms, perhaps this is an opportunity to illuminate some of the crazy. I would even go so far as to say that by choosing Ken Ham, Bill Bye has embarrassed those with 'faith-based science' all over the country. Pat Robertson of the 700 Club said "Let's be real, let's not make a joke of ourselves."  Perhaps a bit late, Pat.

Biologist Jerry Coyne, initially was strongly against the debate occurring, came out afterwards stating that Nye had clearly won the discussion. In his article, he cites a poll at Christian Today website, 92% of viewers said that Bill Nye won. 92%!!

 http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116478/bill-nye-ken-ham-debate-creationism-and-evolution-science-wins

So let us re-think how we approach creationism. Perhaps the apathy I have so chillingly spoke of before has likewise been  offered to ignore creationism. Perhaps we should ask those to honestly defend their position. There is a possibility that the majority of Christians will stand up against this insanity, if only to avoid the embarrassment.