F*ck It We'll Do It... Taped!

About a month ago, everyone's favorite professional irritant, Bill O'Reilly, decided to take it upon himself to defend the victimized Christians from the hateful attacks (read as: billboards) of the American Atheists. In this "discussion" Billy resorts to his typical shouting, cutting off, and insulting his guest. The real meat of this particular interview came at the end, when Bill proves the existence of a deity with a rather confusing source of evidence: the tide. (I suspect Mr. O'Reilly may be a Juggalo once the cameras stop rolling)

And now, quick educational intermission:

The Earth and the Moon both have sizable masses, but the Earth's is much greater. As the Moon revolves around the Earth, the drastically smaller but significant force of gravity of the Moon causes a pull on the water of Earth's seas. Skipping some of the more boring and technical details, this is the essence of the tides. While not empirically proven false, there is no evidence to support the theory that tides are a result of God's displacement of water during his daily baths.

So, now we have established that there is, in fact, a scientific explanation behind the phenomena of the tides. Now, let's play O'Reilly's Advocate here: couldn't it be that a divine power crafted the laws of science that govern the phenomena known as the tides? I suppose for the more religious and strong-faithed people out there, this is an entirely plausible explanation. While I personally do not hold such beliefs, I find it much more rational to approach the relgious-science debate from a perspective that incorporates, rather than refutes, scientific facts. Whether this is the belief of our humble subject was not made clear within that interview. Perhaps he clarified later his opinions... Well, how convenient, he taped a nice little message addressing this question! Clearly he did some research and will come off better this time... I mean it's taped, right?!

Oh... Notice how he still interrupts the person he asks the question to even when he's alone? Anyway, he still seems to think that the tides are divine as is the moon and the existence of life. Well, I didn't want to have to dissect the infallible arguments of Sir Dr. Billiam O'Reilly PhD MD Esquire again, but it appears I must.

1. How Did The Moon Get Here?

Well to quote Wikipedia (yeah, I know, it's not academic... at least it has sources unlike Bill):

"The prevailing hypothesis today is that the Earth–Moon system formed as a result of a giant impact: a Mars-sized body hit the nearly formed proto-Earth, blasting material into orbit around the proto-Earth, which accreted to form the Moon."

This isn't the only theory, but it is fairly widely held and there's real science giving it credence.

2. Why Do We Have A Moon And Mars Doesn't?

Umm... because Mars does? Two, in fact. Phobos and Deimos. Not to get moon-envy or anything, but if Moons are an expression of God's love, we might need to work on getting another. Especially with Saturn and the sixty-two moons orbiting it.

3. Where Did Life Come From?

According to one plausible theory, the planet Earth and the planet Theia collide, sending a very large number of moonlets into orbit around the young Earth. These moonlets eventually coalesce to form the Moon.^[1] The gravitational pull of the new Moon stabilises the Earth's fluctuating axis of rotation and sets up the conditions in which life formed.

So that's one of many theories that could potentially explain the phenomena of life on Earth.

In summation, Bill you are wrong. Nearly everything you claimed as evidence is easily disproved with the most basic of research tools. Your cheap attempts to narrowly define the world as you perceive it by your own belief structure (science be damned!) and demonize the "pinheads" who dare to offer an opposing viewpoint are offensive and, more to the point, the same behavior which you condemned Mr. Silverman of at the very beginning.

And now, an inexplicable image of Billzilla: