Desiring Machine

Although this news is a few years old I am just now coming across it. Apparently back in 2006 Bill Nye “The Science Guy” was booed on stage when he pointed out that the moon reflects light from the sun. His crime? Questioning the literalism of the book of Genesis.

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.

In 1632 Galileo was put under house arrest by the pope for supporting the theory that the earth revolves around the sun (the Copernican theory) against the established view that the earth was the center of the universe (the Ptolemaic theory). How things change, yet remain the same. At least Bill Nye doesn’t face persecution from the state for stating his beliefs facts. So I guess that is progress.