Creationism vs Evolution: The Battle Continues

(Yes, it has been a while since I blogged.  My apologies.  Life gets busy and blogging is one of the things I allow myself to stop when things get busy.  Hopefully this one gets some discussion going.)

Perhaps you have already seen it – Bill Nye the Science Guy did a youtube video entitled “Creationism is Not Appropriate for Children”.  As of October 1, 2012, that video has been viewed over 4.5 million times.  If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t seen it recently, I’ll try to insert it below (if it doesn’t work just, search youtube for Bill Nye and I’m sure you will find it.)

Bill’s video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHbYJfwFgOU

Now before I give you my comments on Bill’s video, please think about the following:

Did you find the video offensive?  (yes, no, not really, I’m not sure)

Did you agree with anything he said?  (a little, a lot, all of it, none of it, I’m not sure)

Do you think he clearly communicated what he was trying to say? (yes, no, I’m not sure)

In response to Bill Nye’s video, Ken Ham created his own video defending creationism.  His youtube video is titled “Ken Ham Responds to Bill Nye ‘The Humanist Guy’”.  If you haven’t seen it, or haven’t seen it recently, I’ll try to insert it below (if it doesn’t work just, search youtube for Ken Ham and I’m sure you will find it.)

Ken’s video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxX11c1cSWU&feature=related

So what do you think about Ken’s response?  Was it appropriate? 

Did you agree with anything he said? (a little, a lot, all of it, none of it, I’m not sure)

Do you think he clearly communicated what he was trying to say? (yes, no, I’m not sure)

Now that you’ve had a chance to reflect on these two videos, I’ll give you my perspective.

I loved watching Bill Nye’s science show on PBS.  He made some great shows about science targeted at young people, and he made science interesting and fun.  Many of my fellow engineers have commented on how they become more interested in science because of Bill Nye.  So I was a little disappointed to see that Bill Nye has strayed into the politics of science rather than sticking to what he does best, which is teaching kids about science.  It seems obvious to me that Bill Nye lacks the ability to clearly communicate a political message.  The video is disjointed, and he seems to be struggling to articulate what he wants to say.  I’m surprised he didn’t take the time to re-make the video so his message was clearer, or prepare a script in advance so he had time to think things through and make sure he communicated what he wanted to say.  However, if you watch the video a few times, and understand that Bill’s lifelong passion has been to get kids interested in science, I think you can screen out the noise and hear his real message – we need to do a better job at encouraging our kids to study science.  His message is directed in particular at those Christians who might be refusing to allow their kids to study science, and who might be actively discrediting the colleges and universities where science is taught.  For some reason, he has equated a belief in creationism to be a denial of all science.  This clearly isn’t the case.  Many fellow Christians have careers in various sciences and some are leaders in their particular fields.  But, I agree with Bill’s underlying message that many bright, young minds are not entering science based careers because of the creationism / evolution debate.  And this impairs not only science as a whole, but the lack of Christians in some scientific fields is not something we should want to see.  One message that Bill constantly repeated in his PBS videos was that kids should explore science on their own – don’t just take Bill’s word for it, head down to the local library and read some books, go to the local science museum, study science in school.  Discovering scientific wonders is a great joy and something every child should have the opportunity to experience.

So what about Ken Ham’s response?  I can summarize my opinion about it in one word – typical.  It seems to me that the typical response to any real or perceived attack on creationism is a response in kind.  Ken Ham questions Bill Nye’s credentials (he’s an engineer, not a research science so he doesn’t really understand science), he summarizes Bill’s worldview as being a humanist, and suggests that Bill Nye has a secret, or not so secret agenda to get our kids to stop believing in God.  He belittles Bill Nye by jokingly suggesting that he used evolutionary principles when he worked at Boeing and just expected the various parts of an airplane to randomly come together into an airplane.  While it was meant as a joke, it wasn’t very funny.  Ken goes on to say that “creationists are very happy to teach their children about evolution”.  Really?  Maybe I’ve missed the memo but from my observation, many creationists go out of their way and incur a significant financial expense to send their kids to Christian schools so their kids are not taught about evolution, or if evolution is a necessary part of a curriculum it is presented in such a way that it is not given any credence.  Ken emphasizes that creationists teach their kids to think critically.  To evaluate the merits of both creationism and evolution, and then decide for themselves which one is right. 

Ken Ham accuses Bill Nye and the scientific community of brainwashing our children and not allowing them to think critically.  Bill Nye accuses creationists of brainwashing their children and not allowing them to think critically.  Wait a minute – aren’t they saying the same thing?  Don’t they have the same goal in mind – get more kids interested in studying science?

And yet, the fight goes on.  Once again, neither side is really listening to or trying to understand the other.  They are both guilty of making assumptions about the other, ridiculing and attacking each other’s credentials, and claiming the other side has a hidden agenda.  This does nothing to resolve anything and just allows each side to build bigger walls between us.

The bottom line is that there is only one truth.  God as He is revealed to us in the Bible is the same God that is revealed to us in science.  There cannot be a contradiction.  When a scientific theory and observations about how the universe works seem to contradict what we understand from scripture, we need to look at both and find common ground.  Simply telling the other side that they are wrong is not appropriate.  (For more about this topic see my earlier post http://lifechurchstratford.blogspot.ca/2010/06/false-dichotomy.html )

So what would I have done differently?  I think a better response from Ken Ham to Bill Nye would have been something that including the following:

• an offer to work together on promoting careers in science to all kids regardless of their background
• an acknowledgement of the wonderful work that Bill Nye has done in his career as a science educator (including some testimonies from Christians who were influenced by Bill’s TV shows to study science)
• an invitation to Bill to meet to discuss a more full understanding of creationism and their concerns about how science is taught
• a willingness to disagree on Who created the universe and Why the universe was created, with an understanding that this disagreement does not need to hinder the advancement of science in any way

I’ve had the benefit of formal training and years of experience in negotiations.  One of the fundamentals that is taught and that has been shown to work effectively is to find the common ground.  Take time to understand the desired outcome from your perspective as well as the perspective from the other side.  Often, as in this case, you will find you have much more in common than you realize, and you can focus most of your energy on achieving your common goals, while respectfully working on your differences – or agreeing to disagree on them.  Wouldn’t it be great if Ken and Bill did a video together, each emphasizing the importance of getting our kids to study science?  Imagine how powerful that message would be to both audiences.

I’m very curious to hear your thoughts on these two videos.  Please leave a comment or two.

Thanks,

Jac