Tag: Expelled
Ben Stein Promotes Academic Freedom in Florida
The Tallahassee Democrat has just posted an updated article about the Florida Academic Freedom Act press conference earlier today: Actor and social activist Ben Stein visited Florida’s capitol today, urging lawmakers to pass an “academic freedom” bill that would protect teachers and students from questioning evolution under newly adopted science curriculum standards. Stein also joined John Stemberger, head of the Florida Family Policy Council, and Casey Luskin, a lawyer from the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, in defending a private screening of Stein’s new film that has been arranged tonight for legislators. They showed a brief preview of the film, in which Stein recounts his meetings with teachers and scientists who have been shunned for questioning evolutionary theory. You can read the Read More ›
Expelled and the Argument against Denying the Discussion
CT Movies reviewer Brett McCracken has seen Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and his thoughtful review is available online. It’s worth noting that McCracken, in his own words, “came into this film very, very skeptical . . . But I was pleasantly surprised with Expelled on a number of levels.” McCracken seems to get the point of the film, that it’s an argument against censorship. Indeed, the film hits a nerve in its critique of the contemporary American academy. As a graduate student immersed in academia and all its idiosyncrasies, I can attest to the pervasive and disturbingly hypocritical sense of close-mindedness that stifles the spirit of progressive discourse. It goes beyond the scientific communities in higher education and touches many Read More ›
The World According to Ben Stein
Minnesota Public Radio just posted online an hourlong program featuring actor, comedian, speechwriter, economist and historian Ben Stein. It’s a delightfully funny interview. Stein is at his best when allowed to tell funny stories that are always quite insightful. One of the best such anecdotes is about his recent stint on VH1’s America’s Most Smartest Model and his opinion that there’s an education crisis today and it’s not the fault of teachers, but rather the fault of students themselves (about 10 minutes in). It’s a wide ranging discussion, including Q&A at the end, and only briefly touches on Stein’s involvement in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (about 46:00 minutes in). If an hour seems overly long, it isn’t You’ll quickly get Read More ›
Re-examining the Darwin-Hitler Link
Editor’s Note: This special post comes to us courtesy of CSC Fellow Dr. Richard Weikart, author of From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany. In the heated struggle over the teaching of evolution in the state of Florida, some have suggested that Darwinism is dangerous. They claim it has produced odious ideologies, most prominently, Nazism. Michael Ruse has castigated those trying to connect Darwinism and Nazism in his op-ed piece for the Tallahassee Democrat, “Darwin and Hitler: A Not-Very-Intelligent Link” (February 6). Ruse, a philosopher by profession, claims that the anti-evolutionists are “not very good historians.” However, he commits some serious historical gaffes himself, undermining his claim to be setting the record straight.
Ben Stein Likens Darwinism to Imperialism
It’s clear that with Expelled coming to theaters in April that we will probably hear more from Ben Stein about what he thinks of Darwin and modern evolutionary theory. In his latest writing on the subject over at News Blaze, Stein says that Darwin created “a scientific theory that rationalized Imperialism.” Darwin offered the most compelling argument yet for Imperialism. It was neither good nor bad, neither Liberal nor Conservative, but simply a fact of nature. In dominating Africa and Asia, Britain was simply acting in accordance with the dictates of life itself. He was the ultimate pitchman for Imperialism. Now, we know that Imperialism had a short life span. Imperialism was a system that took no account of the Read More ›