The Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham debate that happened was followed by a lot of build up and release by the likes of Time and NPR. I didn’t watch because science—evolution particularly—doesn’t interest me that much, and because Bill Nye isn’t an expert in evolutionary biology, while Ham has some credentials as a bachelor degree holder for environmental biology (which is hardly expert background).
This is like a landscaper and an electrician debating the best way to waterproof a basement. However, Bill Nye wears a bowtie so that’s one advantage for him. Ken Ham has some kind on non-American accent so there’s a point on his side. Since I hold bowties in higher preference than foreign accents I’m going to side with Nye.
I haven’t read any blog posts yet about the debate but I imagine some of them will praise it for being a “step in the right direction” or “bringing science into the mainstream.” Maybe so, but it’s more telling of a media-consuming culture that takes two non-experts in a field as experts just because one holds high celebrity status.
A friend suggested Radiolab for science-interest in general, and my pastor suggested Biologos. I sometimes check out Reasons and William Lane Craig, but as I don’t hold too strongly to any belief about evolution my enthusiasm level is pretty low; I’m going to meander to the party, not sprint head on into it.