Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate facts for kids

The debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham was a big event held on February 4, 2014. It was all about the question: "Is Creation A Viable Model of Origins?" This means, can we explain how the world began using ideas from the Bible, or only through science?

The debate took place at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. Ken Ham is the founder of Answers in Genesis (AiG). This group believes in Young Earth creationism, which means they think the Earth is only a few thousand years old. Bill Nye is a well-known science educator. Many people know him from his 1990s TV show, Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The debate happened after Ken Ham saw a YouTube video where Bill Nye shared his worries. Nye was concerned that many people in the US did not accept the theory of evolution. Tickets for the debate sold out very quickly. Over three million people watched the event on TV. Debates like this one have been happening since Charles Darwin published his famous book, On the Origin of Species, in 1859.

The Debate

Bill Nye walked onto the stage in front of an audience that mostly disagreed with him. This wasn't Nye's first time debating. After his TV show ended in 1998, he often gave talks at colleges and universities. He also appeared on many TV shows.

For Ken Ham, this was his home turf. He leads the Creation Museum and the Christian group Answers in Genesis. Ham argued that the Bible is the most important guide for understanding natural history. During the debate, Ham explained his ideas about how the universe began. Bill Nye used facts from different scientific fields. He argued that most scientists agree the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old.

Science Versus Creationism

Bill Nye said that "Creation is bad for science." Ken Ham then mentioned several scientists who believed in a young Earth. Ham asked Nye how he could explain the rules of logic and physics using only natural ideas. He also asked Nye to give an example of something that could only have come from evolution.

Ham also talked about the difference between "historical science" and "observational science." He gave an example of how living things adapt. Nye brought up Tiktaalik, a fossil fish, as an example of a scientific prediction. He said that Ken Ham's way of thinking didn't allow for such predictions. Ham claimed that the main scientific community makes creationists afraid to speak up. He said they needed "scientific freedom" to share their views.

Dating the Earth

Bill Nye brought up several reasons why he disagreed with Ham's young-Earth idea. He said that ice cores and tree rings show that the Earth is very old. Nye also mentioned radiometric dating and carbon-14 dating. These methods also show that the Earth is much older than a few thousand years.

Ken Ham disagreed with these dating methods. He called them "assumptions." He said that the only true authority was the word of God in the Bible. Ham explained his idea of two kinds of science. One is "observational science," which means things we can see and test right now. The second is "historical science," which deals with things like fossils that happened long ago. Ham stated that the word "science" has been "hijacked" by people who don't believe in God. He felt they were using it to make kids believe in naturalism (only natural explanations) instead of God.

The Results

Many scientists were critical of Bill Nye for agreeing to the debate. They thought his participation made Ken Ham's views seem more important than they were. However, two groups that support humanism—the American Humanist Association and the Center for Inquiry—praised Nye's choice.

Scientists from both sides generally agreed that Bill Nye won the debate. But they didn't all agree on how big his win was. Ken Ham later announced that the debate brought a lot of attention to his group. This helped them raise money for their planned Ark Encounter theme park. The money allowed them to start building it.

After the debate, Bill Nye released a book called Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation. Ken Ham also released a book titled Inside the Nye Ham debate: is Creation a viable model: revealing truths from the worldview clash of the century.

Images for kids

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  Bill Nye

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  Ken Ham

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  Legacy Hall, the site of the debate

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  Biologist Jerry Coyne wrote that Nye won the debate.