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Bill Nye Boo’d In Texas For Saying The Moon Reflects The Sun



Apr 25, 2011 19 Comments ›› Angelia

Bill Nye, the harmless children’s edu-tainer known as “The Science Guy,” managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.

As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.

But don’t tell that to the good people of Waco, who were “visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence,” according to the Waco Tribune.

Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College’s Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.

But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.

At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled “We believe in God!” and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they’d always suspected.

This story originally appeared in the Waco Tribune, but the newspaper has mysteriously pulled its story from the online version, presumably to avoid further embarrassment.
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  • Tyler520

    hillbillies like that will insure Obama receives 4 more years in office

  • Bob

    Just tell the ignorant thumpers that the muslims worship the moon and watch their heads explode.

  • Tom in CO

    So many creationists in Texas. Not surprising.

  • wwtd

    Don’t be fooled. That may be a true statement, but BN revealed himself as a political moonbat a few years ago here in Seattle.

  • http://www.thecitizenscall.com John Q Citizen

    The statement is not biblically inconsistant.

  • David Ross

    I’m confused, are the above posts, with the exception of wwtd, in defense of Nye?
    If so then I would argue that the “hillbillies, creationist and ignorant thumpers” are not near as ignorant as those casting them in that light! Pun intended.
    B. Nye is an arrogant condescending SOB who was trying to poke holes in the Bible in a simple manner. I see there are some even on “our side” who would gladly lap up whatever he is dishing out. Genesis never covers whether the light was self emitting or illuminating, only that “God made two great lights…” to which the thought of the Bible going through explaining that it meant that “technically it’s not really a light in the 2011 definition of the term” is so ludicrous it’s laughable. Fact is, the Moon gave and gives light in darkness regardless whether or not it’s technically considered a reflector. Without the Moon there is no natural light at night. Moonlight, ever heard of it?
    As for the “ignorant thumpers”, I’ll proudly stand in their corner, because at least they can see when the water is being slowly turned up in an effort to boil the truly ignorant.

  • TerryTate

    A light can be many forms. Incandescent, luminescent, and even reflective.

    Everyone can get upset or not, but the fact is that Bill Nye is being disingenuous by saying the bible said light SOURCE. It said light, not the source of light.

    There is no point to his statement other than to try and create doubt in the bible. He tried to make a gotcha statement, but in the end he has just shown that he doesn’t really have a grasp on the English language. For that matter, what do the original Greek copies say? I mean if we are gonna get into a tit for tat moment.

  • http://www.thecitizenscall.com John Q Citizen

    I can’t speak for the others but my comment was certainly not in support of Mr. Nye. My point is that his statement does nothing to diminish biblical consistency.

  • Professor Bill

    I’m a chemistry professor and I don’t believe in the fairy tales of life coming from nonliving matter, ie evolutiontion and I don’t believe in global warming either. I’m also a member a Mensa, but I must be some sort of inbreed hillbilly, even though I live in the Central Valley of California, since I don’t believe in moonbat science.

  • Jim up north

    Why would anyone care what bill nye thinks? All I know is I would not want him around my kids unsupervised. I just get a feeling about certain people and have been mostly correct.

  • ji

    You need to take a astronomy course.
    The moon reflects light given off by the sun day or night.
    Ever been out at night when only the stars are shining and very brightly lighting things up.
    Bill Nye is right scientifically and biblically speaking.

  • http://deleted tedders

    What TerryTate said. The moon IS a source of light. Reflected light, duh.! Bill Nye is an ideologue just like Obama. He’s trying to force a point with the help of a compliant media. Waco is the wrong place to go out on a branch and dis the Bible. Tyler520 is absolutely wrong, Obama wont win Waco or Texas.

    Research the “Cambrian explosion” and tell me how that fits in to Darwins hypothesis.

    If we evolved from chimps, monkeys and apes, why are there still chimps, monkeys and apes around? If a common ancestor, why are human beings so drastically different now from this ancestor while chimpanzees have remained much the same? The fact is, we are not seeing any evolution presently going on in either chimpanzees or human beings. Much of what these supposed infallible intellectuals believe, just isn’t so.

  • David Ross

    John Q, you must have been posting at same time I was. I was referring to the post above “wwtd”. I see it in much the same way as the Waco folks do. Anytime a scientist brings up biblical references in the same discussion as global warming it should be suspect and scrutinized. Why else mention Genesis in that manner unless it was a veiled attempt to discredit it?

    JI, I understand reflective light and I’m quite sure the people in Waco do as well. I don’t believe they were denying the fact that the moon reflects light from the sun because ppl realize that if it produced its own light there would be no stages of the moon, it would be full all the time. They are not flat earthers despite the attempt to cast them as such.

  • Canoness

    Obviously, membership in Mensa does not require good grammar.

  • tsksas

    Yes, and by saying the moon reflected light, BN was obviously trying to corrupt the young minds and push his left wing liberal biased commie socialist agenda. How could I have missed this???

  • tsksas

    Agreed! I don’t allow my kids around black people, cause I just have a feeling about those types of folk.

  • tsksas

    Hillbillies like who? The hillbillies who think that a big rock pojects light, or the hillbillies who use their minds and education before speaking? Either way, it’s obvious that BN’s comment was meant to get Obama re-elected, it’s very plain isn’t it?? Hmmmm??

  • tsksas

    Flawed argument partner! Ever actually read about evolution? Prob not. If you did, you’d understand the BASICS of the science. First, evolution is slow change or hundreds of thousands of years, not lifetimes. Second, if you look at any branch of primates, you will see drastic changes in physiology. To say that chimps haven’t changed much just means you are only looking at the short term.

    Last, even the pope himself agrees that evolution is a tangible science. It is driven and controlled by God, but it’s real. There actually is proof of it.

    Please don’t speak about things for which you have no education on, that is the main problem with this country. Too many ignorant people making decisions based on limited education.

  • Wahhabo

    Bill Nye the baddass atheist guy!