Next ArticleSkepticism Examiner Just shoot me...
April 22, 8:54 PM ยท 13 comments
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Good thing he didn't tell them about the Earth around the Sun thing.Bill Nye "The Science Guy" was booed in Waco, Texas for suggesting the Moon did not generate its own light, but reflected light from the sun.
Trouble started when the children's entertainer 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," and pointed out that the lesser light was actually a reflector.
At this point, several people in the audience stormed out, including woman with three small children who shouted, "We believe in God!" and left.
Nye was taking part in McLennan Community College's Distinguished Lecture Series, giving talks on global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption, but it was the moon thing that got them.
According to Morgan Matthew, "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."
This is the link:
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/06/04062006wacbillnye.html
(Update: Here is what someone posted, claiming it's the original text of th article. The post is from 2009, but the story from 2006? First I'd heard of it.)
Here's the text:
"The Science Guy is entertaining and provocative at MCC lecture
Thursday, April 06, 2006
By Tim Woods
Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer
Audience members who expected to see Bill Nye "The Science Guy" conduct
experiments and wow their children received quite a surprise Wednesday when Nye
spoke at McLennan Community College.
Nye instead addressed such topics as Mars exploration, global warming and
energy consumption, particularly oil and gas. He even ruffled a few religious
feathers along the way.
The scientist with a background in stand-up and sketch comedy kept spectators
interested, entertained and at ease with his funny, sometimes hilarious,
delivery.
Speaking as part of MCC's Distinguished Lecturer Series, Nye spoke to two
audiences, one at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., of about 600 each. He
said the first audience, though littered with young children listening to some
rather adult scientific topics, "very supportive."
The second group also was rapt from the beginning, greeting the scientist with
a raucous standing ovation upon his introduction.
"You haven't heard the presentation yet!" Nye told them.
Opening with a discussion of Mars and his hopes for further discovery on the
neighboring planet, Nye encouraged the audience to take interest in discovery
and "change the world," a mantra he repeated throughout.
Nye indicated that the presence of water in Mars' atmosphere - evidenced by the
planet's ability to form frost - leads him to believe that there is a strong
possibility that the planet once supported life.
The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized
literal interpretation of the biblical verse 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."
He pointed out that the sun, the "greater light," is but one of countless stars
and that the "lesser light" is the moon, which really is not a light at all,
rather a reflector of light.
A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by
what some perceived as irreverence.
"We believe in a God!" exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three
young children.
Nye also was critical of what he said was governmental agencies' lack of
action, even lack of understanding, in protecting the Earth from global warming
and wasted resources.
Nye's educational science show won 28 Emmy awards during its television run
from 1992-98.
It seemed most in attendance were pleased to hear Nye speak, and some were even
awed by the presence of a childhood icon.
"How cool is that, to be face to face with the man, Bill Nye?" said Jared
McClure, who worked sound and video for the event. "And he's funny, too."
