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Expelled – Ben Stein’s Brilliant And Subversive Documentary

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Here is an uncommon review by Mayer – who has the courage not to bow to Darwinian orthodoxy.
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Expelled – Ben Stein’s Brilliant And Subversive Documentary

By William Mayer
April 19, 2008 – San Francisco, CA – PipeLineNews.org – Darwin…Darwin…Darwin…you can almost hear Ben Stein muttering to himself as this subversive little documentary, “Expelled – No Intelligence Allowed,” unfolds. Having opened only yesterday it has already left the piggies that feed at the trough of big science foaming at the mouth and staggering about in near apoplexia.

So outraged are the fascisti intelligentsia by Stein’s work that as the film’s website makes clear, “…the National Center For Science Education has taken the extraordinary and unprecedented step of building a website devoted solely to discrediting the…film…” an overtly political act.

Science subordinating itself to politics?

How can this be and why was it deemed necessary?

Well primarily because Ben has seen fit to present the not-so-pretty face of what the field of evolutionary biology has become and how an obviously left-leaning bunch of fanatical atheists are suppressing – at all levels – inquiry into an interesting if not promising avenue of exploration called intelligent design.

But isn’t intelligent design merely a code phrase for creationism?

No, not at all.

Intelligent design [ID] is a hypothesis, a way of attempting a better explanation regarding the origin of the species than Charles Darwin’s now 150 year-old theory. ID rests heavily upon an idea called irreducible complexity, a term originated by biochemist Michael Behe and explained in his 1996 book “Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution,” which posits that biological systems are far too complex to have simply “evolved,” from the inanimate components percolating in some primordial pool of mud.

Behe argues that the odds are impossibly high of such a thing happening by chance, ruled out mathematically because of the sheer number of mutations required, which would have to occur, in exactly the right order, at exactly the right time to construct the DNA for even such a simple organism as a bacterial flagellum.

But this is a movie review, not a scientific treatise.

The central topic of Expelled is not about the science of intelligent design, though that is certainly laid out, but rather it is about a more universal concerns, liberty and freedom, especially intellectual freedom and its intentional suppression in this particular case.

To establish that fact Stein interviews on camera a half-dozen or so highly credentialed professional scientists who have been forced out of academia, lost their jobs and blackballed, one for the simple act of having allowed to be published in the periodical he was responsible for editing, a single article which mentions the verboten term, intelligent design.

For this and similar sins against scientific orthodoxy these folks are either fired, fail to be granted tenure, see their grants dry up or are simply harassed out of their positions. The anxiety quotient is so high over potential loss of employment and retribution that many scientists who have first-hand knowledge of this phenomenon refused to be seen on camera, for fear of reprisal, and were interviewed in the dark.

Stein does an extraordinarily good job exploring the dark side of the Darwinian theory of evolution, how explaining life as a mere series of complex chemical reactions cheapens it to the point where Hitlerian theories such as Eugenics and master race ideology become justifiable.

See full article: Expelled – Ben Stein’s Brilliant And Subversive Documentary

Comments
"The National Center For Science Education has taken the extraordinary and unprecedented step of building a website devoted solely to discrediting the…film…” Yeah, but Hoax of Dodos was also a website solely devoted to discrediting Flock of Dodos. I'm just saying. It doesn't seem that shocking.vashti
April 21, 2008
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Also, everyone in the theater (about 3/4 full) applauded at the end of the film.Frost122585
April 19, 2008
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I saw an interesting fact online that opening night expelled exceeded expectations at the box office. It was #14 in number of theaters being showed in but it was #8 in tickets showed. It did quite well. And just getting back from it I can tell you all that it is one POWERFUL film. One of the most powerful films I have ever seen.Frost122585
April 19, 2008
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I don't know where to post this news but I think this "Expelled" thread would be appropriate. Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez has been offered and apparently has accepted a position to head up the astronomy program at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. See here : http://www.whotv.com/global/story.asp?s=8196390 ISU's loss is Grove City College's gain. For those who don't know Grove City College, it is arguably one of the top Christian colleges in the country. Wikipedia has what I believe a good article ( well sourced and well referenced ) on them. See here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grove_City_College The thing about Grove City College is it is one of the few private colleges that REFUSES to accept Federal money of any kind. Yet, inspite of this, they are able to keep tuition fees down ( including board and lodgings) to less than $18,000 a year. According to Wikipedia, Grove City acquired an observatory from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in February 2008 that will be utilized for astronomy classes as well as faculty and student research. The observatory's telescope will be operated more than 60 miles away remotely from the college's main campus. The purchase of the property, three buildings and equipment inside will pave the way for the addition of an astronomy minor on campus. Through this observatory, the college's physics department plans to work with area public schools as well as other colleges and universities on educational and research projects and draw prospective students who are looking for strong physics programs and astronomy coursework. Guillermo Gonzalez should thrive in an environment like this where his scientific work and personal views are respected and accepted. {DLH Thanks, I started a new thread with this info.}SeekAndFind
April 19, 2008
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