Ben Stein, perennial curmudgeon and trickle-down economic warrior, has a new movie out called “Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed” about how “big science and Darwinism” don't let important ideas like intelligent design into our classrooms.
The big buzz on Internet blogs is that evolution advocates Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers went to the screening of Expelled, and the movie's producer spotted Dr. Myers, and had a security guard insist that he leave. The much more famous Dr. Dawkins was not recognized, and got to see the screening. Dr. Myers was delighted at the irony that he was expelled from Expelled, a movie about how scientists don’t give the other side a fair shake.
The premise of the movie, that science does not allow contradictory ideas to be examined, is so absurd that some scrutiny is in order.
The entire foundation of science is the examination of all ideas and hypotheses, designing experiments to test those hypotheses, and then evaluating the data in light of the hypotheses. The reason that intelligent design is not a scientific discipline is because it has no relationship to science whatsoever. No experiments are done, and no hypotheses are forthcoming. It is declared by Fiat. You know, like religion.
The hypothesis of plate tectonics was dismissed as absurd by geologists when first proposed. However, as more data was accumulated, it became clear to all scientists that the continental land masses move across a surface of molten magma. If intelligent design were actually a hypothesis, like plate tectonics, then the hypothesis would provide an experimental path for testing itself. Orbiting satellites and deep-sea submersibles have clearly shown how continental crust is produced at mid ocean ridges and moves outwards from those zones. How precisely do intelligent design proponents propose to test their hypothesis?
I'm still waiting.
Hopefully, intelligent design proponents are working diligently on new hypotheses to test. For example, does God have a “red phone” and can we call him in an emergency? What’s his number?
Look folks, believe what you want, but keep your religious ideas out of kid’s classrooms. We all know that kids are very impressionable, and that if you can get them “churched up” early enough, many of them will be religious proponents for life. But that has nothing to do with science, human knowledge, or what needs to be taught in science classes. Unless Sunday schools are going to give evolution equal time, then science classes don’t need to teach the bible, or intelligent design.
Dr. John Moffett is an active research neuroscientist in the Washington, DC area, who has published over 45 scientific articles on the nervous and immune systems. Dr. Moffett is also the author and webmaster of the political opinion website www.Factinista.org, and is a Managing Editor at OpEdNews.com.
Some conservative friends mentioned this movie to me, posted the 10 minute trailer. They hold this guy Ben Stein as some sort of new Moses whose "intellegence" is beyond comprehension (and apparently beyond criticism, hehehe). I was mean enough to point out he was TV comic character actor for several years because he got nowhere with his political writing after Nixon fell.
Nor did i improve our relationship by pointing out the following :
> The idea that these ppl are being discriminated against is just silly and meant to dramatize the issue for the faithfull, so they can feel "persecuted" and martyrized for something (... envy for us Liberals hehehe).
> Its not that we have a problem with religious teachings... We have a problem with promoting YOUR religious beliefs over OTHERS. Why not teach the creation stories of Native Americans, every week a new tribe? Then go on to every single religion, major or minor in the world. At this point in the discussion, the sound of crickets can usually be heard ;)
> Last I knew, the many religious schools in America have not been closed -down by the government, their teachers haven't been thrown into concentration camps yet..... If you feel so strongly about it, send yer kids to one (...religious school, not concentration camp lol ;). Have them attend Sunday School and Confirmation Class. And stop trying to push yer brand of religion on to my kids!
My experience in Sunday School and Confirmation class as a child and teen was a good one (although it was sometimes a drag at the time, it helped lead to some increased enlightened thought in later years), and i would recommend this course for parents. Every kid should so be forced into giving up time they could be playing video games to go to Church: But expect 20 or so years to pass before they thank you for it ;)
by
Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (11 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 171 comments)
on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 8:59:40 AM
Yes, it is an odd mindset to think that 85% of the population is "persecuted" by the other 15%. Considering that an atheist could never be elected president in this country it seems obvious that it is the “non-believers” who don’t get a fair shake, and are treated as second class citizens. This despite the fact that the constitution clearly states that there shall be no religious test to hold office.
by
John R Moffett (80 articles, 14 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 610 comments)
on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 9:23:31 AM
2 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
