Thursday, November 29, 2007

"Expelled" for a good reason


I just saw the "supertrailer" for "Expelled" (Ben Stein's soon-to-be-released documentary) and a followup presentation by Todd Norquist.  I did not find this impressive in the least.  Mr Norquist was a very engaging, entertaining speaker, but not convincing at all.  That he garnered applause as his presentation ended was a function of the bias and fundamentalist leaning of the audience rather than of the quality of his comments.

In his comments and the slide presentation (each slide was labeled "Discovery Institute", which is Mr. Norquist's employer) there was an implication that scientists who accept the general notions underlying evolutionary theory are related in some sympathetic way with German National Socialism and the Stalinist purges in Russia and the Ukraine.  As a Christian with a scientific approach to studying the natural world I find such innuendoes very insulting.