The Creationist Won

Creation Museum founder Ken Ham claims he has raised the money he needs to build his “Ark Encounter” theme park, thanks in no small part to the publicity generated from his debate with Bill Nye last month:

Ham’s Ark project was in danger of collapsing without investor support of $29 million in municipal (or, as Slate described them, “junk”) bonds by February 6. The debate took place on February 4, which is great timing (Ham does not mention the possibility of raising funds for his Ark project in his column on why he decided to debate Nye). Now the project, which was announced in 2010 and will receive “generous tax incentives” from the state of Kentucky, is going forward. Ham told the AP that his widely-publicized debate “helped encourage more of our ministry friends to get involved in the past few weeks.” It will cost $73 million and take several years to build.

Jerry Coyne, who predicted this exact scenario, rips into the Science Guy:

Nye said he was “heartbroken and sickened for the Commonwealth of Kentucky” after learning that the project would move forward. He said the ark would eventually draw more attention to the beliefs of Ham’s ministry, which preaches that the Bible’s creation story is a true account, and as a result, “voters and taxpayers in Kentucky will eventually see that this is not in their best interest.”

Well, he’s heartbroken and sickened because of his own actions. By agreeing to show up and debate Ham—something I suspect Nye did (at least in part) to keep himself in the media spotlight—he’s allowed Ham to further his project. The result, even if you think Nye gained a transitory victory in the debate, is that Ham will build yet another popular tourist attraction, one designed to promulgate lies to kids. Nye, of course, devoted his career as The Science Guy to precisely the opposite: teaching and exciting kids about science. In other words, Nye scuppered himself.

The Dish covered the Nye/Ham debate here.