Bill Nye's sketchy science

Each week, The World and Everything in It features a “Culture Friday” segment, in which Executive Producer Nick Eicher discusses the latest cultural news with John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Here is a summary of this week’s conversation.

A video in which Bill Nye, the “Science Guy” from the 1990s PBS educational show, argues in favor of abortion-on-demand has received about a million views on YouTube. In the video, Nye claims the pro-life position is based on a false religious view that every act of sexual intercourse between a man and a woman results in a pregnancy.

“This was one of the worst cases for abortion that I have ever seen,” said John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He and I talked this week about Nye’s viral video and how pro-life Christians should respond.

“Does Bill Nye really think that pro-lifers believe that every time men and women have sex they have a baby?” Stonestreet asked. “He fails to make a basic distinction between the loss of life and the taking of life, as if because millions die every year, we shouldn’t prosecute a murder.”

Stonestreet said the video presented an opportunity for Christians to talk with their friends and neighbors about their pro-life views. In the footage, Nye acknowledges that “respect for people” drives the “deeply held beliefs” of pro-lifers.

“I think everybody should show their neighbors this video and walk through the basic facts,” Stonestreet said. “Yes, this is a respect for people. The question is, who are the people that are involved? … These are really easy ways that everyday prolifers can engage their neighbors on this issue.”

Meanwhile, Stonestreet said he did get some encouragement from Nye’s video: “If this is the best that the pro-choice folks have, they’re really in trouble.”

Listen to “Culture Friday” on The World and Everything in It.