Saturday, March 29, 2008

Conference Call with Ben Stein

This was crazy! I heard it all go down because Brock had his phone on speaker phone. I'll let Brock explain it:

yesterday i had a conference call with ben stein and the producers of "expelled: no intelligence allowed". we were all to call in and listen to the answers to questions that we emailed to them. i asked a question about something that happened at a recent screening of the film in minneapolis. they spent about 15 minutes responding with explanations. apparently richard dawkins and pz meyers, who are atheists/darwinists who are in the film, snuck into a pre screening. it was private and not intended for just anyone to attend. pz was asked to leave the film but dawkins was allowed to stay. anyway, we heard the full story of what happened there as well as other stories of the attacks that have come from these men. after a while the producers decided to move to another question. at that moment we heard a voice say, "lets not move on...lets keep talking about this". we were like, who the heck is this? and he said,"this is pz meyers...the guy you are talking about". we were all in shock. apparently pz meyers overheard the password and was able to hack into the conference call. he was listening the entire time. he then began to attack the producers calling them liars and it got really heated. i couldnt believe what i was hearing. after a while they convinced him to hang up because this was the wrong time and place to have a shoutfest. he finally hung up the phone and the call continued. it was recorded and will soon be up on www.getexpelled.com. if you read about this in the news you may hear a story that is partially true. i heard it all. i even recorded most of it. im telling you that ben stein and the producers handled this conflict like champs. they were patient and calm and very tactful and wise. these guys are not out to get anybody. they have made a very provocative film that exposes the lack of freedom of speech and freedom of inquiry . they are opening up dialogue about darwinism and proving that it is not a fact that everyone believes in. in fact it is not a fact at all. there is no evidence for it.
there is much controversy about this film. there are many lies and smear tactics being implored to discredit this film. dont listen to it. hear for yourself the truth. see for yourself on april 18 when this film comes to theaters. go see expelled: no intelligence allowed


One thing that is shocking me is how emotional these people are. PZ Myers was very heated and saying everyone was lying. Even on the film, most of the Darwinists sound very hostile. I simply pictured scientists as being a little more factual and less defensive. You will see when you watch the film.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings, AUNY,

A recording of PZ's participation in the conference call is already available online. Perhaps you should listen to it again as your characterization of the "heated" nature of the exchange doesn't seem to square with the recording. Certainly, there is no shouting.

http://skepchick.org/blog/?p=1190

PZ interrupted to dispute the claim that no substantive criticism of the film had been made by citing both his own and Dawkins' substantive criticisms of the film. I can certainly understand why such information would be unwelcome by those who had, for reasons we can easily imagine, arranged to prevent such distractions from their otherwise unsupportable claims.

John 3:20 has something to say about this.

As ever, Jesse

Barbara said...

this is really crazy!

Anonymous said...

This films' main thesis, that anyone in the science community who believes in God, or is a Darwin dissenter is being "expelled" is false at its core.

In a New York Times interview, Walter Ruloff (producer of Expelled) said that researchers, who had studied cellular mechanisms, made findings suggestive of an intelligent designer. "But they are afraid to report them".
Mr. Ruloff also cited Dr. Francis S. Collins, a geneticist who directs the National Human Genome Research Institute and whose book, “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief”, explains how he came to embrace his Christian faith. Mr. Ruloff said that Dr. Collins separates his religious beliefs from his scientific work only because “he is toeing the party line”.

That’s “just ludicrous,” Dr. Collins said
in a telephone interview. While many of his scientific colleagues are not religious and some are “a bit puzzled” by his faith, he said, “they are generally very respectful.” He said that if the problem Mr. Ruloff describes existed, he is certain he would know about it.

Similarly, Dr. Ken Miller is a professed Christian who wrote "Finding Darwin's God" (which I suggest you read). Dr. Miller has not been "expelled" in any fashion for his belief in God.

The movie tries to make the case that "Big Science" is nothing but a huge atheist conspiracy out to silence believers, but only presents a very one-sided look at some of the Discovery Institute's "martyrs".

Carolyn Crocker "expelled"? - No.
Her annual teaching contract was not renewed. Was she "fired" for daring to bring God into research? - No. She was hired to teach Cell Biology, and she decided to ignore the schools' curriculum and substitute her own curriculum.

Guillermo Gonzalez "expelled"? - No.
He was not granted tenure. The film doesn't bring up the fact that in all his years at ISU he had only brought in only a miniscule amount of grant money. Nor does it bring up the fact that in all his years at ISU he failed to mentor a single student through to their PhD. Nor does it mention that in his career at ISU, his previous excellent record of publication had dropped precipitously.

Richard von Sternberg "expelled"? - No.
Sternberg continues to work for NIH in the same capacity. Of course the movie doesn't bring up his underhanded tactics in getting Meyers work published.

This movie attempts to influence it's viewers with dishonesty, half-truths, and by a completely one-sided presentation of the facts.

If a scientists' research is not accepted by the scientific community, it isn't because the scientist either believes or doesn't believe in God or Darwin, it is usually because they are producing bad science.

Benjamin Franklin

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