Expelled: Danger to progress and development

I've been hearing a lot about Expelled.

I do want to watch despite the terrible terrible reviews. It actually sounds like a mind-numbing bit of science genocide. But you know the phrase ... you have to see it to believe ... I'm a sadist at heart ... Any of these phrase will suit the occasion.

In the meantime I found an article about Expelled written by a biology professor, Kenneth R. Miller. Needless to say, as a man of science and an educator he sounds rightfully horrified at the insinuations evident in Expelled and the far reaching consequences due to this strange flick.

He points out the various deceptive tactics used to prove the theme of the movie.

... the editors of Scientific American asked Mark Mathis, the film's co-producer, why he and Stein didn't interview such people, like Francis Collins (head of the Human Genome Project), Francisco Ayala, or myself. Mathis cited me by name, saying "Ken Miller would have confused the film unnecessarily." In other words, showing a scientist who accepts both God and evolution would have confused their story line.

And the bit about likening Darwinism to all of science thereby creating an arbitary link to the Nazis? I must admit I cringed when I first about it; anyone who makes such a link is so deeply ignorant about historical events that it makes you want to throw an encyclopedia at them.

Well, Miller address this as well:

A concentration camp tour guide tells Stein that the Nazis were practicing "Darwinism," and that's that. Never mind those belt buckles proclaiming Gott mit uns (God is with us), the toxic anti-Semitism of Martin Luther, the ghettoes and murderous pogroms in Christian Europe centuries before Darwin's birth. No matter. It's all the fault of evolution.

All in all, well written commentary, Prof. Miller.