In the upcoming documentary "Expelled No Intelligence Allowed," opening April 18th and starring Ben Stein (you may know him best as the monotone-voiced teacher from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Wonder Years" as well as his commercials for the eyedrops Clear Eyes), the actor tackles one of today's most controversial subjects--evolution. Stein, an intelligent design advocate, publically denounces the theory of evolution or "Darwinism" saying that it is linked to genocide and was the inspiration for the Holocaust.
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Post a comment below by April 4th telling us your thoughts on intelligent design. Make sure you include your email address in the designated area (it won't be made public). The 30 best responses--based on the judgment of the Idol Chatter editors—will win either a pair of movie tickets or a poster (sorry, no choosing). If by some chance the movie is not playing in your area, the tickets will be valid for another movie of your choosing.
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Many of the comments about Intelligent Design are in fact expressions of extreme ignorance. If you do not understand algebra, that does not the equations are wrong. It means you do not understand algebra. If you do not understand science, that does not mean science is wrong. It means you do not understand science.
Different disciples have different modes of thought. Legal thinking is different from scientific thinking. Law and science are different from Faith. Faith has no place for proof, for facts, or for independent verifications of its beliefs. Most Faiths are self-contained systems based upon certain unquestionable beliefs. Because Faiths are self-contained, they reject all outside evidence that their beliefs are incorrect. (Not all religions are Faith based and not all believe that they have an exclusive on the Truth.)
In fact, when events prove their Faith to be wrong, many people will hold their disproved beliefs much more strongly. Some people of Faith have invested too much time and effort into their religious beliefs to abandon them when they are proven wrong. Far more important than time and effort is the psychological investment in the belief system. People who have been taught from childhood that the Bible is literally true and who were taught to thank Jesus whenever something good occurred cannot bear the idea of living without the idea. Some people who believe that they are saved, and hence that they are special, cannot live with the idea that there is no such thing as salvation, and that they are not special. If they depart from the "faith," what will they have? The context of their lives may be lost. Alienation of the Self is one of life’s most fearsome experiences. Thus, it is understandable that some people will go to extreme measures in order to deceive themselves so that they may hold onto their Faith.
Other people believe that their Faith is holding their personal demons in check. Being Gay is “evil,” for example, and thus, by having Faith in G-d, they can repress any Gay impulses. This phenomenon is so common that one of the most common indicators whether a teenager is Gay is if he considerably more religious that his classmates. He often says that he is saving himself for marriage. In reality, he is saving himself from having sex with girls. It is more socially acceptable to claim a holy motivation than to say, "I don't like Sally, I like her brother Steve." For young people, these are very practical considerations. The majority of Gay teens can stay in the closet. The existence of a few “stereotypical queers” makes it easier for the majority to pass, especially they’re jocks. Adapting a very religious orientation will explain why they’re not constantly after the skirts.
What happens when a Faith, upon which one’s lives depends, is found lacking? Any facts which disprove that the religion's beliefs must be attacked. After losing the battle to keep evolution out of the schools, the Creationists have devised the next best thing, the elevation of the Faith to equal scientific status as The Theory of Evolution. This campaign to have Intelligent Design declared equal with The Theory of Evolution serves some practical purposes. By casting themselves as persecuted, they avoid the fact that Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory. People behind Intelligent Design take it on faith that Intelligent Design is scientific. More importantly, it allows them to pretend that their beliefs are factually correct. “Jesus died for their sins” is no longer threatened if Creationism is science. Then the New Testament must be true. If the Bible is literally true, then they are saved and they are special. Thus, Faith based people, who deceived themselves into believing that they alone know The Truth, need to have the educational system recognize Creationism – Intelligent Design as a science.
Intelligent Design is not a scientific theory and merits no respect in the field of science.
As A middle school science teacher I teach my students about how to conduct a scientific investigation. I tell them that they need to develop a question followed by a hypothesis. They then need to design a test which will answer the question they began with and which will prove whether their hypothesis was correct. They also need to perform this test several times to make sure their first result wasn't a false negative test. If the hypothesis is true it should be true over and over.
How does this relate to evolution? Simply that no test exists to create life from non-living matter. Otherwise an investigation of the past through evidence and data is just that, an investigation. The results of which are subject to the presumptions, interpretations and dare I say it, even the desired outcomes. I recently watched an episode of NOVA in which two scientific teams were investigating a fossil found in Northern China. Both teams were using the scientific method to explain how the fossilized animal moved and fit into its environment yet they were coming to separate conclusions.
I recently also heard a lecturer at the National Science Teacher Associations national conference in Boston. This gentleman was studying the evidence for terrestrial planets, like earth, orbiting others stars. One of the first things that he stated was that new evidence shows that our presuppositions about how solar systems are organized were wrong. The lesson here is that most of science, as well as other academic disciplines, is in flux.
I have a History degree even though I am a science teacher. One of the major ideas I came away with from my history degree is that every event in history can be viewed from a myriad of perspectives resulting in an equal number of thesis regarding the truth. The discipline of science has shown itself to be no different. Anyone who states otherwise has an ulterior motive
Ok, so I don't really care if you believe evolution or creationism, you can believe what you want. However the claim that somehow darwins' theory led to genocide or the holocaust is frankly ridicolous. I can't imagine what kind of crazy twisted mental gymnastics you have to make to connect those two things. It's hard to belive that anybody who considers themself 'christian' or whatever would make such a slandarous claim. Frankly its amoral. If you really believe your religion thats fine, but you don't have to go around demonizing other peoples truths. Instead of making their point, they are just coming out looking like liars.
I believe science and scientists should involve the Intelligent Designer in thier endeavors
So-called "intelligent design" is a very stupid non-science non-theory religious nonsense scheme to undermine science education.
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