Written by Emily Longman
On February 4, 2104, creationist Ken Ham and evolutionist Bill Nye met at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY for a formal debate. The question: “Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?” Lasting for two and a half hours, the debate included presentations, rebuttals and even a Q&A session addressing questions from the studio audience. In addition to the 900 ticket holders who were in attendance, the debate was reportedly watched by an estimated 750,000 people who streamed it live.
Concordia’s Campus Ministry hosted a live-stream event on campus, which was fairly well attended: about 40 to 50 students were joined by several professors to watch the debate. The viewing party was followed by a discussion led by Professor John Rhoads and Dr. Andrew Steinmann.
CUC student Jason Becker was there and shared some of his impressions from the debate. He believed neither Nye nor Ham won the debate.
“Both sides made some good points, and both sides made some awful points, frankly…there wasn’t a good answer to the initial question.”
Good answer or not, Nye and Ham both used their allotted time to its full advantage, prompting moderator Tom Foreman to cut them off mid-sentence more than once. Both debaters were well spoken and well prepared. Ham even anticipated the content of Nye’s presentation and had a separate slide show prepared for his rebuttal, though many viewers, including Becker, noted that regardless of straying from the question at hand, “Bill Nye probably used his points better in the debate part” as opposed to the Q&A session at the end.
Unlike Becker, Cole Thannisch, a Christian college student in Nashville, TN, saw a clear winner to the debate – and surprisingly, it was not Ken Ham. In fact, he boldly declared, “I personally think Ken Ham is a moronic and irrational buffoon.” Thannisch wholeheartedly agreed with Bill Nye’s argument, claiming that evolution is in fact a feasible model of the genesis of the universe in which we live. However, unlike Nye, he does give an explanation as to the “mystery” of how the first cells came to be, exclaiming, “What’s wrong with believing in God and evolution at the same time???”
Though it may not have ended with a definitive answer as to whether or not creationism is plausible, the debate certainly stirred up more constructive discussion about the conflict rather than impassioned, irrational attacks on the opposing side. Becker and Thannisch both acknowledged this as a positive product of an otherwise frustrating and inconclusive debate.
People are still talking about the debate, with the hashtag “creation debate” being used up to 35 times an hour on Twitter. Other forms of social media have also been the platform for discussion as users of sites such as Facebook shared their impressions and opinions of the debate’s success and the points it addressed.
Ultimately, many conceded that the arguments of both sides require an element of faith, as none of us were there at the time the universe began. And so the “mystery” continues…or at least the debate.
If you want to chime into this hot topic but missed the debate, it is still available to be streamed at http://debatelive.org/
