I can’t believe no one has mentioned this yet. Stein was on Craig Ferguson’s show last week and he said (and I’m not making this up) that the film is:
[I’ve trimmed out some funny, but inessential, banter.]
Like most here, I haven’t seen the film, but the reviews I’ve read said nothing about this bizarre claim that some defenders of evolution believe it explains astronomy. Obviously, no one with an IQ above George Bush’s approval rating believes this.
I once assumed that, even if I disagreed with his politics, Stein had some principles, but now it’s clear that he and his partners in this project are merely despicable, lying scum.
Video of Craig Ferguson appearance here. Does anyone else get the sense that Ferguson was really champing at the bit to say something like “What are you talking about? Who expects ‘Darwinism’ to cover gravity?”, but was restrained by politeness (professional obligation and/or intrinsic)? Perhaps that’s just wishful thinking/projection on my part.
I guess since Creationism is a grotesque monster stitched together from scraps of disciplines ranging from biology to physics to astronomy, they assume that Evolution, as the other in their imaginary twin set of “both theories” must also encompass gravity, the origin of life, etc.
Interesting video, Sampiro. Note the part about 2:50 in, when Stein is describing the threat posed by other countries, that Kim Jong Il’s picture is superimposed over a North Korean flag. The flag, and the star in the middle, are upside-down.
I’m not defending Ben Stein; from what I’ve heard about this movie and the statements he’s made about religion and science I’ve lost all the respect I used to have for him. But our favorite rabid atheist says things like this about religion all the time, and I can’t remember any time it’s been called “hate speech”.
No, I don’t think it is. Of course, I’m not sure Stein’s is either. It doesn’t really fit the definition, and neither does Der Trihs’s. He isn’t attacking someone on the basis of their religion, he’s attacking religion.
To quoque. Just because Der Trihs is as big of a dick as Ben Stein, that doesn’t make what Ben Stein said any better. And plenty of people on this board, this atheist included, have called Der Trihs a dick.
John Derbyshire’s full editorial condemning Stein, “A Blood Libel on Our Civilization,” at National Review Online (a site I rarely agree with or refer people to), is well worth reading.
An excellent example of how Love of God and compassion and empathy leading you to a very glorious place is, of course, the Thirty Years’ War , in Europe