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The debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham on the question "Is Creation A Viable Model of Origins?" was held February 4, 2014, at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. Ham, founder and chief executive officer of the Young Earth creationist (YEC) ministry Answers in Genesis (AiG), challenged Nye, a science educator best known for hosting the 1990s television series ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'', to the debate after taking exception to a YouTube video featuring Nye lamenting the refusal of a large segment of the U.S. population to accept the theory of evolution. Tickets to the event sold out within minutes, and according to a Christian public relations firm an estimated 3 million people viewed the event live via video streams on the Internet. During the debate, Ham advocated the legitimacy of a YEC model of the universe's origins, while Nye cited observations from a variety of scientific fields to defend the scientific consensus that the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old. Many scientists were critical of Nye for accepting Ham's invitation, claiming his participation in the debate gave Ham's views undeserved legitimacy, but two humanist groups – the American Humanist Association and the Center for Inquiry praised Nye's decision. Scientists, both Christian and non-Christian, generally agreed that Nye won the debate, at least in terms of the science presented, although they debated how convincing the victory was. Ham later announced that the publicity generated by the debate had spurred fundraising for AiG's planned Ark Encounter theme park, allowing the ministry to begin construction. A related book by Bill Nye, ''Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation'', was released on November 4, 2014. ==Background== In August 23, 2012, the Internet forum Big Think posted a video entitled "Creationism is Not Appropriate for Children" on YouTube. The video featured Bill Nye, best known for hosting the children's educational television program ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' during the 1990s, lamenting that a significant portion of the U.S. population does not believe in evolution, asserting that this disbelief has a detrimental impact on science education in the U.S., and encouraging parents who have doubts about evolution not to teach them to their children "because we need them." In a follow-up interview with the Associated Press, Nye said, "If we raise a generation of students who don't believe in the process of science, who think everything that we've come to know about nature and the universe can be dismissed by a few sentences translated into English from some ancient text, you're not going to continue to innovate."〔 By September 2012, the Associated Press reported that Nye's video had been viewed 4.6 million times and garnered 186,000 comments.〔 Days after the Nye video was posted, the YEC ministry Answers in Genesis (AiG) posted a video response featuring AiG scientists David Menton and Georgia Purdom. AiG founder and executive director Ken Ham also objected to the claims in Nye's video in a post on his blog, ''Answers with Ken Ham''.〔 Soon after, Ham began trying to convince Nye to visit AiG's Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, which presents a YEC viewpoint that the Earth was created by God approximately 6,000 years ago and dinosaurs and humans once co-existed, in contrast to the scientific consensus that the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old and the existence of dinosaurs and humans is separated by about 60 million years. On January 2, 2014, Ham announced on his Facebook page that Nye had accepted his invitation to a debate at the museum.〔 AiG agreed to pay Nye's travel expenses, and the date – February 4, 2014 – was close to one of Nye's previously-scheduled speaking engagements at Kentucky's Murray State University.〔 In an AiG press release, Ham commented that "having the opportunity to hold a cordial but spirited debate with such a well-known personality who is admired by so many young people will help bring the creation-evolution issue to the attention of many more people, including youngsters."〔 Of Ham and AiG, Nye said, "This guy and his beliefs are in their midst, and we can't have this way of thinking for our science students, to have people like this organization try to insinuate themselves in our schools is not appropriate and a formula for a darker future."〔 Nye told the Associated Press that he didn't mind holding the debate at the Creation Museum: "It either makes me anxious, or it's an opportunity to influence that many more people and, frankly, have that much more fun."〔 Many in the scientific community were critical of Nye's decision to participate in the event, claiming it lent undue credibility to the creationist worldview. The Biologos Foundation, an organization promoting the compatibility of science and religion, released a statement advocating evolutionary creation, maintaining the position "that you don't have to choose. You don't have to give up Christian faith in order to accept the best, most compelling science. We expect that we'll agree with most of what Bill Nye will say about the science of evolution. Fossils, genetics, and other disciplines give compelling evidence that all life on earth is related and developed over a very long time through natural processes. But we're also brothers and sisters in Christ with Ken Ham. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died for our sins and rose from the dead, and that the Bible is the authoritative word of God." Others expressed concern that Nye's relative lack of familiarity with evolution – his formal training is in mechanical engineering – and inexperience in debates might lead some to conclude that Ham won the debate.〔 "I am by no means an expert on most of this," Nye later admitted, but added, "In this situation, our skeptical arguments are not the stuff of Ph.Ds. It's elementary science and common sense." In preparation for the event, Nye had lunch with scientists who specialize in evolutionary theory and traveled to Oakland, California, to meet with the staff of National Center for Science Education (NCSE), an advocacy group for teaching evolution.〔 In an op-ed for CNN, Nye answered critics, saying, "In short, I decided to participate in the debate because I felt it would draw attention to the importance of science education here in the United States." He later conceded that he had underestimated the debate's impact, saying he expected it to draw attention comparable to his scholarly presentations at college campuses.〔 Leaders of two humanist groups – the American Humanist Association (AHA) and the Center for Inquiry – praised Nye's decision to participate in the debate. AHA director of development and communications Maggie Ardiente told the ''Washington Post'', "I am looking at statistics and they tell me people like Ken Ham and other creationists are being very effective and that is a serious problem. We can't just ignore that. We have to challenge people like Ken Ham so I support the debate 100 percent."〔 Debbie Goddard, the Center for Inquiry's director of outreach, concurred: "If we don't let () ideas see the light of day we can't develop the tools to address them. And we don't just need the tools of facts and evidence, but also of understanding their views and compassion for them if we want to be effective at changing their minds."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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