Darwin Defenders Get Ben Stein Expelled from University of Vermont’s Commencement Address

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Ben Stein “has withdrawn from an engagement to speak at the University of Vermont’s spring commencement after his invitation drew complaints about his views on biological evolution.” The article reports: “According to the Burlington Free Press, the vast majority of protesters were not affiliated with the University of Vermont; only ‘about a half dozen’ objections came from the campus.” So why did protests about Stein start pouring in from outside the University of Vermont (UVM)? The answer seems clear: Stein’s invitation to speak at UVM was first raised to the Darwinist community in a post by PZ Myers titled, “University of Vermont makes an embarrassing decision.” Given the large following of PZ’s blog, Read More ›

Ben Stein and Expelled Suit Up for the Summer Session

[Note: For a comprehensive defense of Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, please see: NCSE Exposed at NCSEExposed.org]Even as school is letting out for the summer, Premise Media is working in conjunction with the distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures, to bring Ben Stein back for the summer. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is being made available from June 15th to August 30th for special group screenings at your preferred theater. And over at Post-Darwinist, Denyse O’Leary has an update on the film’s Canadian launch coming up on June 27th. Considering the problems that dogged the production of Expelled (claims that key Darwinists were tricked into taking part, the ejection of “raving atheist” PZ Myers from a showing, accusations of copyright violation Read More ›

Yoko Ono Copyright Suit Expelled from Federal Court

Update: Download the US District Court ruling here. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has more on the story.According to the Associated Press: Yoko Ono has lost her Manhattan legal battle to block the use of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” in a film challenging the theory of evolution. EMI still has a state level suit in New York against Premise Media for the inclusion of Imagine in Expelled, and no word yet when that might be resolved one way or the other. Premise now looks north with plans to launch Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed nationwide in Canada later this month. [Note: For a more comprehensive defense of Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, please see: NCSE Exposed at NCSEExposed.org]

MSNBC’s Alan Boyle and Sean B. Carroll Argue Scientists Should Keep “Quiet” about Support for Intelligent Design (Part 2)

[Note: For a more comprehensive defense of Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, please see: NCSE Exposed at NCSEExposed.org] In Part 1 I explained how Alan Boyle and Sean B. Carroll unashamedly agree that scientists should keep “quiet” about their support intelligent design (ID). In this final response, I will discuss how the scientific evidence cited by Boyle does little to demonstrate the power of the neo-Darwinian mechanism. In Alan Boyle’s attack upon Expelled, he uses biologist Sean B. Carroll as his big gun scientist to attack intelligent design, touting Carroll’s book Making of the Fittest. In that book, Carroll argues that “[t]he argument for design by some external intelligence is eviscerated.” Last year I wrote a response to Read More ›

John Derbyshire on “Expelled,” or How to Review a Movie without Really Trying

[Note: For a more comprehensive defense of Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, please see: NCSE Exposed at NCSEExposed.org] I have always admired G. K. Chesterton’s dictum that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly, but I never appreciated the full scope of its application until reading John Derbyshire’s recent review of Ben Stein’s “Expelled” at National Review Online. “What on earth has happened to Ben Stein?” asks Derbyshire. “He and I go a long way back.” Are the two close? Are they old pals who have been through a lot together? “No,” he says, “I’ve never met the guy.” But wait. How can this be? How can Derbyshire have forged this bond of friendship with Read More ›