Over 10,000 churches, schools, colleges and other groups have got in touch with the Creation Museum to say they will be hosting a free live stream of tonight's highly anticipated debate between Bill Nye "the Science Guy" and Ken Ham.

The creation vs evolution debate is taking place at the Kentucky-based museum's 900-seater Legacy Hall and will be live broadcast at www.debatelive.org

Nye and Ham will be debating the question: "Is creation a viable model of origins in today's modern scientific era?"

It has become one of the hottest debates of the year, with 70 members of the media, including ABC, NBC and Al Jazeera, being among the audience.

Tickets sold out in two minutes when they first went on sale, leaving many disappointed.

But churches and community groups have stepped in to host screenings of the debate in their buildings.

While 10,000 have confirmed their participation, it's likely the actual number of venues hosting the live stream is much higher.

Liberty University in Virginia, which conferred an honorary doctorate on Ham, will show a live stream of the debate at seven campus locations, including a 1,500-seat auditorium.

In addition to group leaders, the museum has heard from tens of thousands of individuals who have shared via www.debatelive.org that they will be watching.

The debate kicks of at 19:00 ET and and will be moderated by CNN correspondent Tom Foreman.

Organisers estimate that the total number of people tuning into the debate will exceed a million.

Immediately at the conclusion of the debate, Bill Nye and Ken Ham will be interviewed by Piers Morgan at the Creation Museum for the 9:45pm broadcast of "Piers Morgan Live" on CNN.

Following that, Bill Nye will be interviewed by MSNBC.

The debate is also being made fully accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, with a live stream at www.debateliveASL.org assisted by nationally-certified ASL interpreters.

The websites of the Creation Museum and its parent ministry, Answers in Genesis, have seen an 80% increase in their traffic, totalling around two million visits in January.