The moon is a rock

I read an article yesterday about something that happened to Bill Nye, The Science Guy a few years ago. Bill Nye was in Waco, Texas, giving a talk about science, and he dipped his toe into bible world, with mixed results. Nye was speaking about climate change and Mars exploration and the moon. He told the audience that the moon was a reflector of the sun’s light; it makes no light of its own.

Now, my son knew this in third grade. It seems that a few people in Bill Nye’s audience were not only unaware of this fact, they were outraged that he dared to speak about it. In the book of Genesis, there is a little passage about God creating (I’m paraphrasing) a big light for the day and a little light for the night. That little light is the moon. Bill Nye was booed, and one woman went even further. She stood up, grabbed her children and dragged them out of the auditorium, shouting “We believe in GOD!” Ma’am, you better because only a miracle is getting your kids into college.

There are a few other things in Genesis that give me pause, but this is my favorite. God made Adam, ripped his rib out and made Eve. Of course, men and women have the same number of ribs, and every artistic representation of Adam and Eve shows them with navels, but that’s more “moon nonsense.” And then there’s this: Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Supposedly, Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve propagate the species, right? Okay, with whom did Cain and Abel have sex in order to make babies? There are FOUR people on the planet, and only one of them has a uterus. Their mom. If you are a creationist, you must believe that we, the entire human race, are the product of incest. Ick.

Then there’s Jesus. Jesus did exist, and he was put to death. However, there is a pretty good possibility that prior to the 4^th century, Jesus was not divine. The following is from Live Science.com:

When Constantine became the first Christian leader of the Roman Empire in the 4^th century, his vast territory was populated by a hodgepodge of beliefs and religions.

Within his own young religion, there was also dissent, with one major question threatening to cleave the cult-as it was at the time-into warring factions: was Jesus divine, and how?

We have a fledgling religion, the first Christian leader of Rome and dissent about the divinity of Jesus. Thus, the Council of Nicea. More from Live Science:

That summer, 318 bishops from across the empire were invited to the Turkish town of Nicea, where Constantine had a vacation house, in an attempt to find common ground on what historians now refer to as the Arian Controversy. It was the first ever worldwide gathering of the Church.

The Christianity we know today is a result of what those men agreed upon over that sticky month, including the timing of the religion’s most important holiday, Easter, which celebrates Jesus rising from the dead.

The Arians saw Jesus as a remarkable leader, but “inferior to the Father and lacking divinity.” Another group of bishops believed Jesus was as divine as the Father. They came to a compromise.

In a savvy move that would put today’s shrewd politicians to shame, the compromise proffered by Constantine was vague, but blandly pleasing: Jesus and God were of the same “substance,” he suggested, without delving too much into the nature of that relationship. A majority of the bishops agreed on the compromise and voted to pass the language into doctrine.

The moon is a rock. Creationism is an interesting myth, but the human race did not begin with incest. Jesus was made the son of God by popular vote.

Christianity, for the rest of us, is a nice religion. Jesus, whatever you think he was, had a good message. The problem is he wasn’t necessarily divine. He also wasn’t white. Jesus was brown skinned, with dark eyes, facial hair and he didn’t dress very well. He did not look like Leif Garrett, the early years. Jesus didn’t like rich people a lot, telling one rich man to sell everything he owned and give the proceeds to the poor. So, again, whatever you believe Jesus was-a messiah, a prophet or a remarkable leader, understand this. He was NOT a white, conservative guy in a suit with a conceal carry permit.

And the moon is a flipping rock.

Thank you to Live Science and Think Atheist for information used in this article.

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