Bill Nye Got it Right on Creationism

[YOUTUBE]gHbYJfwFgOU[/YOUTUBE]​

Transcript Read in Case You Can't View the Video​

My Take​

Creationists need to sit down, cool off, and just listen to the whole statement without getting butt hurt. If there is anything that we have with absolute certainty is that part of the contribution of the degrading of the educational system comes from the teaching of "alternative sciences". There's a strong case to be had when we have children growing up believing that the world is 6,000 years old or that homosexual sapiens lived among dinosaurs. And that is all the more troublesome and in the end, the growth of educational success continues to stymied.

Education isn't meant to pander to a group of pseudo-intellectuals who refuse to let go of their bubbled ideas. Rather, especially in the realm where science is an ever-evolving study where it's required to have engineers, doctors of all kinds, and mathematicians and physicists, we all need to be on the same page especially if we want to compete with the rest of the world. If we invest more in learning about how things continue to evolve and made, and less on building "spiritual" ideas, we can retain our place in the world as having the world's best and brightest.

Sadly, I'll be challenged by people who allow their deep-seeded neurosis to get the best of them and not realizing this truth as well as fact in this ever growing world.

 

They are fighting the wrong fight, atheist like to skew the fight as if it is black and white. "Either you believe in God or you except the theory of evolution". Well guess what? I am a Christian who believes in God and evolution. And there are a lot of people like me. Theism and scientific mindedness are not mutually exclusive.

But I'm curious on why it is so important for some people to pick a fight with other peoples belief system? Why the hell do so many secular people, care what other peoples beliefs are?

Oh well, It is kinda flattering to think that my belief in God keeps people like Bill Nye up at night.

 

Fact vs. Belief

It's not a matter of people having personal beliefs as much as muddling the education system with falsehoods, instilling ideas like creationism into the science classrooms. That is completely incompatible with the means and ways of science and the study of it. Granted, there are people who are strong in their faiths, Francis Collins being an example, who do advocate the existence of God, but is also smart enough to realize that creationism and intelligent design is utter bullshit.

However, as I've stated in my take, educational plurality does contribute to the downgrading of our standing in the world, especially when we're talking about the best and brightest. We care much more about spirituality than giving ourselves the opportunity the further evolve and discover much of the world. You can't do that with 2000 year old supernatural ideas reserved for three year old children or people who are remotely to highly deluded.

It's about facts vs. beliefs. And quite frankly, as long as 46% of this country would rather indoctrinate their children into muddled ideas that have no bearing in science whatsoever, we'll continue to tread down that downward spiral as a nation. Freedom comes with a price if freedom to advocate superstition and ignorance becomes much more commonplace, then we would have bigger problems than the Middle East.

 

Do you believe that there are other beings in this universe that are more advanced than humans?

 

Ok.......well I guess there is nothing else to discuss.

 

It'd be foolish to think that human beings are alone in this expansive universe. But it's equally foolish to think there's a master creator that we have to grovel our knees to due to how we've learned so much from here and beyond.

 

Picking and choosing words and not look at the whole sentence comes off as...disingenuous.

 

I concur that we are not alone, however; this is not a fact but an educated guess, or belief. There is no proof that we are not alone in this universe. Of course you will find life were you find water, but intelligent people tend to also believe that there are other intelligent beings in this universe. We draw this conclusion out of the facts that we gather from science, but the conclusion itself is not a fact. Agree or Disagree?

 

I read your whole post, I just simply quoted that particular part, because it was the most succinct part of your argument. And your quote makes it quite clear you have no tolerance for any other position. It's cool, believe what you want. But why would I want to continue this discussion with that knowledge?

 

We can always draw conclusions based on logical assumptions, or a hypothesis if you will, and quite frankly the possibility of the existence of other lifeforms existing is not the same as believing that a supernatural entity created everything. That's a false equivalency.

In short, I agree with your statement, but it doesn't strengthen the need to think that there's a divine source out there.

Thump,

The argument regarding Creationism and ID being taught in the curriculum would be far more plausible if they didn't refer to it as science. I'd be fine with it being taught as long as its shown to be exactly as what it is: a Philosophy or world religion concept. Anyone who took basic science understands that for anything to attain any plausibility would have to undergo the scientific method. This is a FACT.

Creationism and ID fails in the second step of SM by incorporating meaningless numerical methods and establish the idea that there's factual evidence pointing to a supreme leader. Have you undermine this factual understanding due to your emotions riled up or is it something else altogether?

You can call me intolerant if you want. I am intolerant when it comes to sheer ignorance from those who have access to a book regarding how things are. But no, people like to take an alternate, half-assed, lazy route and try and find a compromise in their belief and what's being taught. Humans have a strong fascination for concepts like the supernatural since they are intangible. But if we're capable of denying things like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, why can't we do the same to institutionalized, human made fabrications like divinity?

Are we truly that satisfied with the status quo and afraid to venture further and erase that part? Or do you still wish to linger in (a false sense of) comfort?

 

To me devine is unadulterated truth, universal application, such as mathematics, the arabic numeric system, or the laws of physics that govern our universe, or something else that cannot be duplicated unequivocally. Engineers use the laws that govern our universe for innovation and problem solving. Calculus and trig are tools to the engineer as a wrench is a tool to the mechanic. It is obvious that someone from this planet invented the wrench, but who invented the tools used by engineers and scientists? The matter in this universe came from energy, but what was the ultimate source of energy? That is were belief comes in, my belief is that it is God that created that which is devine. I believe that God is made of energy. If energy cannot be created or destroyed, then this is not really a supernatural concept. Why should God be thought of as unnatural?? All powerful yes, supernatural no. I do not expect you to accept my belief, but you must have one of your own, and I am sure that we agree both are beliefs and not facts. If you would like to share your belief as to who created the laws of physics, and what is the ultimate source of energy in the universe, I am all ears, and I will not judge or disdain your opinions.

 

One thing that often troubles me is when people are to offer a question, it somehow leads to "who?" And generally, I'm the wrong person to ask that seeing that I never speak on metaphysical constructs like God. However, I do applaud you (if I'm assuming correctly) on your take of a Deistic nature of God and that, I find pretty compelling, as opposed to the theistic, personal god that people often construct.

Spinozaism or other variations of Deism comes off as something somewhat familiar, yet distant, but pleasing in the mind. As for what I believe? I believe in the good of the individual, and most importantly, of myself to do what is right and for others to follow suit. I'm a cynical realist in many respects, but I would love to build a sudden urge of optimism in order to better understand the purpose of meaning and of the individual.

But if you insist on philosophical discussion, then we can start with the three questions:

1. What is Good?
2. What is God?
3. Where's the epistemology in our unwavering means to find answers?

 

Who created the laws of physics? haha

Some piles of bullshit are better looking than others, but in the end as long as you keep yours outside of a classroom we don't have to fight over it.

Toodles.

 

If I get your drift, you are saying you have no beliefs other than that which is philosophical. I want to back up a bit, because I have never known God to be metioned in a science book, creationism or God to be taught in a science class. If this is happening, I do not agree with it. It is ok for religion to be taught in school but only as a source of knowledge in a religion class with science taught in a seperate class. Was creationism taught in your science class, along with the concept of God?? I can't see this happening in a college level course.

 

sips scotch

 

I've grown up in a private school system, notably the Archdioceses. Granted, we did have our religion classes, as well as science and other subject matter. But what was fascinating was they the school system, though it's under a Catholic schema, it remained secular in a sense that it separated religion and science. So to answer your question, no, because when I grew up, God was never mentioned in the science books or of anything.

However, given I live in the Bible Belt and back in 2007, newly elected Gov. Bobby Jindal basically signed something into law, along with the conservative bunch, to allow teachers to teach anything in the science classrooms. The result, perhaps by assumption, is that I've noticed a lot of college-entry students come to the university and there has been a major spike in organizations and ideas based on religious constructs. Maybe I am being a tad "paranoid", but I do see that there are more people who feverishly yearn for religious identity to be at the forefront.

Plus, there are college accredited private institutions such as Oral Roberts and Liberty University which are basically religious institutions that implemented coursework pertaining to the bastardizing "Creation Science". Public universities have been spared for the most part, so I could say it's a bit on the safe side for the time being.

 

I think living in louisiana has you a bit paranoid. Noone can use a "creation science" in any practical fashion. The only people who may be interested in that would be people of non scientific fields as something to study in addition to their curriculum. As long as this is a capitalistic society the main focus will be on functional areas of science as opposed to faith, because capitalism supports an environment condusive to innovation. They call it faith for a reason, the reason being that religious beliefs are not supported by science or every day reality. I am pro capitalism myself, however there is a role for government in capitalism but the ultra conservatives don't seem to get it, but that is another subject.

 

When it comes to money, it's anything that could grant waivers of any sort. But I doubt its paranoia since the law has been enacted.