Bill Gates is one of the forces behind the Big History Project, a free online course spearheaded by historian David Christian that takes high school students through the history of the universe:

By sharing “the big picture” and challenging students to explore the relationship between key events over time, big history ultimately helps young people develop key critical thinking skills and the ability to better synthesize and apply complex information. These are skills vital not only to more advanced, discipline-specific work in the sciences and humanities, but also to help students understand and evaluate individual and collective impact — and potential.

I haven’t gone into the curriculum in depth, but it sounds like a great way to educate students. And the more free, quality resources that there out there, the better.

So guess who’s upset about this project?

Creationist Ken Ham.

And guess why…?

… “Big History” starts at what David Christian considers the beginning: 13.7 billion years ago. Of course, this totally contradicts the biblical timeline. When we calculate the ages mentioned in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 as well as the time that has passed from Christ until today, we find that the universe is only about 6,000 years old. There’s quite a difference between 13,700,000,000 years and 6,000 years! Of course, “Big History” doesn’t consider that biblical timeline…

Yes, he’s angry that a course in history accurately teaches history. Because, in his mind, all good history professors should only be referencing one textbook. And they don’t even need to read it past the first chapter.

The Big History Project doesn’t actually take a position on God’s existence. It does, however, promote scientifically-accepted knowledge of the natural world.

The Bible isn’t a history book — certainly not when it comes to the origins of our universe — so it’s ignored in this curriculum, just as it should be.

Ken Ham can continue pushing his propaganda to schools that don’t care about teaching students accurate things, but the rest of us want and deserve better.



