When I was in middle school, my favorite part of science class was watching Bill Nye the science guy make the subject fun through his fast, creative, interesting videos. I was not alone. All of my peers shared similar sentiments and looked forward to breaking the monotony of the science book and lectures. Fifteen years later, Nye is in the headlines for something other than his videos however.
In a recent interview, Nye publicly expressed that denying evolution in favor of belief in divine creation as an explanation for the origin of our universe is not wise or reasonable. Taking a step further, he said that parents need not push these beliefs that are unfounded in science on their children for fear that we will not have intelligent, scientifically literate, competent, men and women in the future to make decisions, innovate our world, and lead our country. Clearly, Nye feels he is more than a scientist, but a visionary for our future and a parental advisor as well.
While I have been frustrated with oversimplified responses by Christians in mocking evolutionary claims in the past, there is reasonable and logical ground for those believing in a Creator as the origin of our universe to stand on. While I will leave detailed responses to Nye’s statement to scientists’ and cultural commentators, Iwould like to mention a few things to chew on in response to statements such as these.
- Proponents of evolutionary biology to explain our origins have yet to give a legitimate response to how this process started. Numerous attempts have been made to explain this glaring hole in their argument, but none has yet to explain how something can come out of nothing.
- Even if you can somehow get past this intellectual roadblock, you still have to deal with the claims of macroevolution. In my college physical anthropology class, my professor winsomely argued that organisms change over time, making slight modifications. I agreed with him. This is microevolution and isn’t a topic of much controversy. Without warning, however, he then said that not only do their characteristics change over time, they also change into completely different types of organisms. That’s a mighty large jump and one that in my estimation leaves you flailing in the air.
- Folks who believe these things still have to deal with the Jesus factor. There is legitimate historical and credible evidence that he not only existed but also resurrected from the dead. When death can’t hold someone we should take notice because they are no normal man. By the way, Jesus happened to believe God created the world like in the biblical narrative.
- Telling parents not to teach their kids what they believe is silly. Nobody does this unless they are a bad parent.
- If what Nye claims is true, then everything in this world came from nothing, is moving in no set direction, has no purpose, and ultimately is random. Holding that assumption, no absolute truth can exist or be grounded in anything, so any claim to holding absolute truth that is true for everyone is merely a human construct. If your worldview can’t uphold absolute truth claims, it’s inconsistent to make them and then tell others they must believe them to be intelligent.
- The arrogant posture of those who mock the idea of a Creator should be softened. Pitting science vs. faith and claiming science can produce substantial evidence fails on many levels, especially if it takes as much or more faith to uphold your explanation of evolutionary theory. Nye and others with the same worldview think a discussion questioning macroevolutionary biology is not legitimate since the verdict, according to them, is already in. Unfortunately for their argument, there are gaping holes and inconsistencies in their worldview and evidence. It takes as much, if not more faith, to believe in the religious convictions of science loving atheists.
