Bill Nye on creationism critique: I'm not attacking religion

(CBS News) Bill Nye says he isn't attacking religion in his recent video comment on evolution versus creationism.

Known by many people as "Bill Nye the Science Guy" from his popular TV show, Nye's BigThink.com video called "Creationism is Not Appropriate for Children" says adults who deny evolution and teach a literal biblical view are hurting America's future.

The video has been viewed more than 1.2 million times in just five days.

On "CBS This Morning," Nye said, "You can believe what you want religiously. Religion is one thing, but science, provable science is something else. My concern is you don't want people growing up not believing in radioactivity, not believing in geology and deep time. You don't want people in the United States growing up without the expectation that we can land spacecraft on Mars. You want people to believe in science, this process, this great idea that humans had to discover more about the universe and our place in it, our place in space. And I really want to emphasize, I'm not attacking anybody's religion, but science, if you go to a museum and you see fossil dinosaur bones, they came from somewhere, and we have by diligent investigation have determined that the earth is 4.54 billion years old. The sun is a star, like all the other stars you see in the sky, and we are made of the same stuff. This is wonderful! This is fantastic discoveries that fill me with reverence, make me excited.

He continued, "But I encourage everybody who's a voter this year to evaluate the candidates based on their stand on science. Rick Santorum made a reference to sonograms a few minutes ago. Well, you wouldn't have sonograms without science, and furthermore, if you ask any physician, they will tell you, he or she will tell you, that science came, the modern medicine largely came from the space program."

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A June 2012 Gallup poll found 46 percent of Americans believe God created man, 32 percent believe humans evolved with God's guidance and 15 percent believe in evolution alone.

Asked why he's passionate about his stance on evolution, Nye said, "It's for the betterment of the United States, the United States economy and our future. What makes the United States great, the reason people wanted to live in the United States, move here still, is because of our ability to innovate. This goes back to Ben Franklin and Thomas Alva Edison and George Washington Carver, let alone landing on the moon, Neil Armstrong. All these people believed in science. This morning, talking about Hurricane Isaac, and we're watching satellite maps made with spacecraft orbiting the earth, and this all comes from science. If you have this idea that the earth is only 6,000 years old, you are denying, if you will, everything that you can touch and see. You're not paying attention to what's happening in the universe around you. As I say, this is bad for kids."

For more with Nye, watch the video in the player above.