Thehighly publicized debate scheduled for Tuesday in Northern Kentucky between Creation Museum president Ken Ham and science educator/television personality Bill Nye has sparked critics from both sides. Some scientists argue that Nye should not engage the topic of creationism; others say Ham needs the the press to raise money for the development of a Bible-themed amusement park.Ham took a few moments recently to discuss the creationism vs. evolution debate.Will Tuesday's debate have a winner?"I'm not out to change Bill Nye's heart in regards to how he views God or the Bible. I'm out to use the best arguments I can to show that I can be consistent, I can defend the Christian faith, that I can use evidence to defend the Christian faith. And then as a Christian I leave it to God to change his heart."It's really a clash of two philosophical world views because we have two different starting points, and unless we're prepared to question our starting points, of course, we're not going to even get to the basis of the argument."A recent Pew Research Centerpoll shows 60 percent of Americans believe "humans have evolved over time," while around 33 percent believe "humans existed in present form since the beginning." Is it difficult to argue from a minority point of view? "The majority belief has never been what is used as a test of time, and it shouldn't be. Because if we go back and look at history there are many times the majority believes something and then they found it was wrong. So we can't use, 'Because the majority says something, that therefore it's true.'"Secondly we do live in a world where there has been an intense evolutionary indoctrination through the public school system, with generations of students—even from churches—who have been taught evolution is fact and have not been able to critically analyze evolution."You're also trying to raise money to finish building an amusement park—millions of dollars. Will this debate draw attention towards those efforts?"We have never looked on this debate as having anything to do with raising money. In fact the cost of running a debate like that are quite enormous and we're just trusting over time we'll be able to pay off all those costs."It exposes us to more people and we would hope out of that more people would come to the Creation Museum, but that's not the purpose of the debate. The purpose of the debate is to really get information out there."Devin will cover the debate Tuesday for WFPL. Stay tuned for more.
