Nye stepped onto the stage in front of a hostile audience.[3] It wasn't Nye's first time debating. Since his show on PBS ended in 1998, he has been making speaking tours at colleges and universities.[3] He has also appeared on several cable television programs. It was Ham's home turf. Ham is the head of the museum as well as the Christian outreach organization called Answers in Genesis.[4] He argued the Bible was the ultimate authority on natural history. During the debate, Ham talked about his model of the universe's origins. Nye cited observations from a variety of scientific fields to defend the majority scientific consensus that the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old.[5]
Science versus creationism
Bill Nye said that "Creation is bad for science." Ken Ham then referred to several scientists who were young earth creationists.[6] Ham asked Nye how he could explain the laws of logic and physics in a naturalistic worldview. Ham asked Nye for an example of something that could only have been invented from an evolutionary worldview. He also showed the difference between what's called historical science and observational science. Ham gave an example of biological adaptation. He brought up Tiktaalik as an example of a scientific prediction.[a][6] He added, "Mr. Ham and his worldview does not have this capability".[6] Ham claimed the mainstream scientific community has made creationists afraid to speak out.[6] He went on to say they need "scientific freedom" to speak.[6]
Dating
Nye offered several objections to Ham's young-earth position. He stated that ice cores and tree rings show that a young earth view is wrong.[8] Nye also offered radiometric and carbon-14 dating to show that a young earth view is wrong. Ham disagreed; he called radioactive dating "assumptions".
[9] He said the only authority was the word of God, the Bible.[9] Ham stated he saw two kinds of science. One called "observational science" which is science that can be observed.[10] The second he termed “historical science" meaning fossil records and similar artifacts.[10] Ham stated "I assert that the word 'science' has been hijacked by secularists in teaching evolution to force the religion of naturalism on generations of kids".[10]
A related book by Bill Nye, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, was just released.[3] Ken Ham released a book after the debate titled Inside the Nye Ham debate: is Creation a viable model: revealing truths from the worldview clash of the century.[14]
↑ 13.013.1"Ham on Nye: Our Take". Biologos Foundation. February 5, 2014. Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2014. Emily Ruppel, Deborah Haarsma, Jim Stump, John Walton, Dennis Venema, and Ted Davis.