Bill O’Reilly: Only Religion Can Explain The Ocean Tides

Doug Mataconis · · 30 comments

As is his wont, last night Bill O’Reilly decided to opine on the combined topics of religion and science:

O’REILLY: I’ll tell you why [religion’s] not a scam, in my opinion: tide goes in, tide goes out. Never a miscommunication. You can’t explain that. SILVERMAN: Tide goes in, tide goes out? O’REILLY: See, the water, the tide comes in and it goes out, Mr. Silverman. It always comes in, and always goes out. You can’t explain that.

Umm, Bill:

Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. Most places in the ocean usually experience two high tides and two low tides each day (semidiurnal tide), but some locations experience only one high and one low tide each day (diurnal tide). The times and amplitude of the tides at the coast are influenced by the alignment of the Sun and Moon, by the pattern of tides in the deep ocean (see figure 4) and by the shape of the coastline and near-shore bathymetry.

I know, you don’t go to Fox News for a serious theological or scientific debate, but still you’d think that even O’Reilly is smart enough not to pretend to be this stupid.

H/T: HuffPo