Recently, Congressman Paul Broun, M.D. of Georgia used those very words in a talk he gave at the 2012 Sportsman’s Banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, GA.  While giving his personal testimony, he uttered the words that ignited a firestorm of controversy.  “All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, the Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell … lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.”  It would be good to keep in mind the context in which these words were given – a Baptist church, with a predominantly Christian audience; not a public venue or political event – yet that simple statement has offended those with opposing views.

Broun asserted that, “a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth.  I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old; I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says” (emphasis YOM).  This 40-second comment out of a 47-minute talk has drawn a barrage of fire from the “other” side.

CNN in their “belief BLOG” said, “Scientists say that the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old and that the universe dates back 13.7 billion years.”  The Science Guy, Bill Nye, also felt obliged to opine on the comment.  In an email to the Huffington Post, Nye said, “Since the economic future of the United States depends on our tradition of technological innovation, Representative Broun's views are not in the national interest … the Earth is simply not 9,000 years old … He is, by any measure, unqualified to make decisions about science, space, and technology.”  Unqualified? Really?  Paul Broun has a B.S in chemistry from the University of Georgia and a medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia.  These schools are not exactly bastions of creationism!  Furthermore, what Nye forgets (or is unwilling to recognize) is that science, space, and technology have advanced in spite of evolutionary thinking.  In fact, many of the early scientists upon whose shoulders modern science stands were creationists!

On October 11, 2011, on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, CNN once again returned to the subject.  This time, they invited two science experts for comment: Bill Nye and Jason Lisle of the Institute for Creation Research.  As one might guess, more time was allotted to the evolutionist Bill Nye who, in commenting on creationism, said, “It’s very much like saying the earth is flat; it’s not flat.  You can show that; you can prove that to yourself.  The claim that it’s 9000 years is not off a million years; it’s off by a factor of a million. It is extraordinarily wrong.”  The reporter, Lisa Sylvester, goes on to quote Nye as saying, “The earth is four and a half billion years old … we know that because of something called radiometric dating that determines the age of meteorites and asteroids.  We can also look at fossils and the layering of the earth, and dinosaurs are believed to have roamed the earth 225 million years ago.”  “Still many in the country brush aside the empirical evidence.” the reporter lamented.  She cited a Gallop pole finding that 46% of Americans believe in creationism, 32% believe in “God-guided” evolution, and only 15% believe in atheistic evolution.

In his 35-second allotment of airtime, Jason Lisle offered a provocative question for the audience to ponder.  “The idea that the universe is just sort of a big cosmic accident – well, if that’s the case, then why would it obey laws, like E=MC²?  That’s kind of convenient, isn’t it?  I mean, if it’s just a big cosmic accident, why would it obey nice, neat mathematical laws that the human mind can understand?  It doesn’t make sense for it to be just a big explosion. It makes sense that it was created by the mind of God.”  Dr. Lisle actually offered arguments against Nye’s views.  On YOM's Facebook post, Lisle said, “They cut about 95% of what I said in the interview - including specific examples from science that confirm creation. I also refuted radiometric dating as an infallible method, pointing out that it gives wrong answers on rocks of known age. And I gave specific examples that confirm a young earth, c-14 in diamonds, etc. I gave concise, sound-bite answers, so they could have used many more,” but those comments were not aired.  You can watch the entire news clip here.

Is evolution a lie?