Posts Tagged ‘religion’

expelled movie shows why it is dangerous to have lawyers run a country

March 22, 2008

so i heard about this documentary movie by ben stein (who as far as i can tell is not a scientist but a lawyer and speech writer) about the injustice that is done to the intelligent design and the creationist movement. i went out to seek out the web site of the movie and watched the preview 
 
watching this preview (and i have to admit i haven’t watched the movie and to be honest, i will not watch it because based on this preview this is just a blatant attempt to show how horrible those darwin believing scientists are and that it is all some sinister conspiracy of pro darwinists that keep our kids from knowing about intelligent design and creationism) i just couldn’t believe what i was seeing. ben stein seems to have gone to some good schools, but that seems to have not had a big impact. or maybe lawyers just are incapable of actual thinking?
my first issue with the movie and the preview was the subliminal connection it makes between darwin supporting scientists and hitler and the third reich (by directly saying that in the US stiller thought there was free speech unlike in hitler germany, and by showing pictures and movies of german concentration camps while talking about darwinism). this kind of debating certainly reminds me of lawyers in US courtrooms who a lot of times care less about the truth, but about winning a case and making arguments that have little to do with facts but to win sympathy points with jurors, but luckily it is not what wins factual scientific debates. 
this leads me to my second point, when stein make the argument about free speech. to him teaching intelligent design and/or creationism is a free speech issue. IT IS NOT. science has not free speech. education is not about free speech, it is about facts. i want kids to learn about the importance of free speech in politics and society. but when it comes to learning, to science, to history, or any other subject, i want kids to learn facts, proven facts. teaching kids that the holocaust did not happen is not free speech it is ignorance and dangerous.  teaching kids that 2 + 2 = 5 is not free speech it is ignorance and teaching it will hurt our kids who learn it since it puts them at a disadvantage compared to kids that learn 2 + 2 = 4 in a global market place. intelligent design is NOT science. there are no facts, there is nothing that can be proven to be true. it is only something one can believe in. but science is beyond believe, it is about knowing, about being certain. and when it comes to darwin scientists are certain. 

new NAS book on evolution trying to bridge gap with religion

January 6, 2008


Read this FREE online!


this new book by the national academy of science is first and foremost about teaching about evolution and i guess also about debunking the myth that if something is a theory it is nothing more than a thought by an odd scientist. but what is interesting (and sadly showcases the current impact that religion has on science) the book also tries to show how science and religion can live side by side (i guess this means that religion does not touch the realm of reality. maybe this combination of clearly explaining evolution and showing defining religions space might convert some of hard core evangelicals (although i have my doubts).