Neil deGrasse Tyson Sends Right-Wing Flagship Newspaper Into Tizzy Over Evolution and Climate Change

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/belief/neil-degrasse-tyson-sends-right-wing-flagship-newspaper-tizzy-over-evolution-and-global



The Washington Times' Rusty Humphries says he loves science, but only if that science includes his creator of choice. Moreover, his love for science doesn't extend to accepted scientific theory, the television show "Cosmos," and its host Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Humphries took to ​the paper​ to espouse his support for "theistic-based science,"—you know, the kind that eschews and supplants evidence and research with “God did that!”

Humphries complains:

“In the first episode, the first half of the show was cool. It dealt with how BIG the universe is. It’s hard to argue with that! But then, it was confidently declared that all this wonderment above us began with a big bang. All matter, trillions upon trillions upon trillions of planets and stars, were formed from a point no bigger than a single atom.”

Tyson did confidently declare that the universe started with the Big Bang because the evidence pointing to the existence of the event is overwhelming. And Tyson's not alone; you'd be hard pressed to find any real physicists who refute the theory. Yes, there are a few outliers out there still looking at other models to explain the origins of the universe, but the Big Bang is still the prevailing paradigm accepted by over 99% of the community.

Humphries continues his willful ignorance:

“[…] Using physicists' own definition of the scientific method, when was the last time you observed an explosion creating order, much less something so perfect?”


This is a typical creationist "logic" trap, demanding eyewitness accounts of events that could not have been witnessed. Humphries' protest is very much like arguing that you can't prove guilt for a murder that had no witnesses.

[Scuba]

1. Perfect? What kind of intelligent designer runs a toxic waste line through a recreation area?

[rock]

2. Maybe God is cross-eyed?

Just a guess.

[Gothmog]

3. I love Cosmos

The fact that the religious nut cases are upset amuses me

[Arugula Latte]

4. So the origin for which there is overwhelming evidence makes no sense

but believing a magical invisible dude did it is airtight logic. Got it.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

5. Hey, Humphries: counter with actual science or STFU.

This isn't a political debate where weasel words are employed to whatever effect one desires. Science is the best truth we know, and its hypotheses are, by design, repeatable by anyone with the requisite equipment and knowledge. It's hard to give a shit what some columnist for the Stoneage Petrochemical Tribune wants to believe.