Bill Nye Boo'd In Texas For Saying The Moon Reflects The Sun

Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer known as "The Science Guy," managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco, Texas at a presentation, when he suggested that the moon does not emit light, but instead reflects the light of the sun.

As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.

But don't tell that to the good people of Waco, who were "visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence," according to the Waco Tribune.

Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College's Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.

But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up 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."

The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.

At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled "We believe in God!" and left with three children, thus ensuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they'd always suspected.

This story originally appeared in the Waco Tribune, but the newspaper has mysteriously pulled its story from the online version, presumably to avoid further embarrassment.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/06/040620...

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Comment by WinButler on December 15, 2015 at 10:22pm: It's just a reflektor.

Comment by Noel Parsons on December 16, 2015 at 12:37pm: Science degree or no degree, Bill Nye is correct and I'm from Texas. If the people who were offended had taken a moment to think about it, they would realize that as the earth turns on its axis and revolves around the sun, the side towards the sun is called daylight and the side not facing the sun is night or darkness. Hence, "the dark side of the moon." It reflects the sun's light, just as the earth does and a lunar eclipse occurs when the earth's orbit passes between the sun and the moon, completely blocking the moon from the sun's light. Of course, the different phases of the moon (new, 1st quarter, half-moon, 3rd quarter and full moon) occur each and every month, but NOT because the moon, itself, is using "moonshades" in different styles to block the same differing portions of the moon's light in the exact same intervals during each month. ;)

Comment by Reg The Fronkey Farmer on December 16, 2015 at 3:48pm: @Noel - "If the people who were offended"

Just a minor but important point - Bill Nye did not offended them. They decided to take offence at what he said.

Comment by Ashley on December 16, 2015 at 5:28pm: I attended his global warming lecture at MCC in 2006, and I don't think I'd forget a crazy lady walking out and yelling ;)

Comment by ALH on December 16, 2015 at 5:49pm: That's BOOED ("Boo'd," crikey. First I want to take all the guns away, THEN I want to take away everybody's apostrophe keys or, at least, those belonging to all the morons who think that apostrophes have something to do with making words and names plural in the English language).

Comment by SteveInCO on December 16, 2015 at 10:10pm: I nominate this topic for "most over-necroed topic on Think Atheist" It seems to erupt every few months.

Comment by Noel Parsons on December 18, 2015 at 7:33pm: @Reg The Fronkey Farmer - "Just a minor but important point - Bill Nye did not offended them. They decided to take offence at what he said."

Not so important; merely an interpretation. I did not phrase my comment to imply that Bill Nye offended them. I said they were offended, and I understood the article to mean that they took offense at his comments about the moon reflecting light from the sun.

Comment by Noel Parsons on December 18, 2015 at 7:38pm: @ALH - BOOED

Really, ALH. No need to go all Trump on people that aren't as anal about spelling and grammar, dear. I was merely using the same spelling used by the author in his article. I don't feel the need to correct everything I see in print or look down on others because they don't share the same values.

Comment by ALH on December 18, 2015 at 7:41pm: Since the Bible doesn't even say that either Sun or Moon actually generates light, the parents' reaction makes me believe that their stalking out was 100% theater and 0% genuine outrage, though why anyone would actually want to position him- or herself as a self-righteous ignoramus is mystifying. These people aren't so stupid that they don't know that much of the world doesn't agree with them.

Comment by ALH on December 18, 2015 at 8:15pm: I was commenting on the spelling (or MISspelling, to be more precise) in the headline of the article. I never even read your repeat of it.

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