Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

Have you heard about Expelled? Here's the ugly truth behind this ridiculous documentary hosted by Ben "I'm an idiot" Stein.

What levels these guys go to do paint evolution as the Devil's work is simply amazing...and not in a good way.

Geoff said 1 day later

Lets hope nobody hears about it.
Marc said 1 day later

I'm not sure what they'll actually talk about in Expelled, but for one, I don't care to see a movie about people who got fired for talking about Intelligent Design in the classroom. It just doesn't interest me to pay $9 to see that. So he's probably not going to be too successful.

On another note, I don't see what the problem is with a school saying "Some people believe that some higher being aided in evolution." Maybe a couple more sentences on it, but leave it at that. While I believe in a higher being, I know there's not a lot of factual evidence to prove one exists. There's no reason to leave it from being mentioned, but there's also no reason for spending huge amounts of time on it, because we do need to be scientific about things. Evolution on the other hand, has a lot of evidence and interesting things related to it. But that's because evolution is a much simpler problem than the beginning of the universe.

The change that needs to happen is the intelligent design people need to stop whining and start putting together more facts. Once facts are tied together, maybe science will start respecting it for what they've come up with. Hands down, the science people are winning because you can't beat their argument and they've got good evidence.
Darcy said 1 day later

Marc--the problem I see with allowing such a statement being allowed in school is that it gives the ID-folks a leg up. They will see this as a win for their side and actively work towards getting more of their side into the classroom. Frankly most of their ideas do not belong in a public school system as they are clearly pushing a religious agenda. From my experience, most of their science is flawed, and they have a habit of practicing bad science--fitting data to their theory. Transitional fossils do not exist according to the ID people, and everytime another transitional form is found they immediately come out and say this can't possibly transitional.

Don't get me wrong, I think a religions of the world would be a good class to have in schools, to expose kids to other faiths in a non-proselytizing manner. Push most ID people about who is responsible for life on earth they will answer the Christian God. Why not any other God, why not one that predates the Bible? I, unlike my dear sweet husband, have no problem with people saying a higher power is responsible for the start of life on earth, it is when they start pushing a specific religious agenda that I object, and ultimately that is the case here.
Darcy said 1 day later

Oh and scuttlebutt about the movie from those that have seen it say the aim of the movie is to talk about people who claim that their careers were damaged because they spoke up about Intelligent Design in the workplace, ie, professors denied tenure. Most of the people denied tenure, were denied for reasons other than their adherence to ID. Also when they do talk to folks who are pure evolutionists, all they can do is ask them their views on religion. Many are atheists so of course you know what kind of answers you will get. These scientists were also interviewed under false pretenses--they were told it was a different topic for the documentary.

The one thing in the movie that really pisses me off is the equating of Darwinism(not my term) with Nazism. Yes, Charles Darwin is ultimately responsible for the theories of the Third Reich. Right...
Geoff said 1 day later

Not to pick on Marc here, but I would say a good majority of people would say something similar Marc has presented here...that this is an idea that should be at least mentioned to our children. There some other preposterous ideas out there too like "the moon landing was fake" and that "the holocaust never happened". Clearly, these ideas are false and shouldnt even be considered because there is no clear evidence to support it, and there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that contradicts it. Same goes for evolution vs ID. There is NO, none, zero, zilch evidence in support of ID (not even a smidgen), contrary to Evolution which is well supported by evidence and the scientific community.

This doesnt mean that it is absolute truth (nothing is), however there is no alternative that proves to be a better explanation that can be tested or replicated in a test environment. For this reason, ID has no place in a public setting, where everyone is free of and from religion and make believe.

Peoples problem is that they need an explanation for everything. They fear the unknown. Because science does not solve all of the universes deepest secrets, doesnt mean we can just start making stuff up and teaching our kids it.

Bill Maher said it best, keep your imaginary friend to yourself.
Marc said 1 day later

Yea, I didn't mean to include what most of these idiots are saying. When people like Huckabee state the Earth is 6,000 years old, and it's scientifically well known that couldn't be more false, we simply ignore those idiots. I think a religions of the world class would be great, and probably the best place to put things related to ID until they come up with something...anything...solid.
Geoff said 1 day later

Oh, and if anyone submits the "Banana theory" by the two morons Ray Comfort/Kirk Cameron as scientific evidence, I'll smack you. :)
GJ said 1 day later

Like this?
Steve said 2 days later

Dear Lord,

Please stop my brothers from posting the same boring religion vs science crap every other week. Let them realize that some believe, some don't, and that's not going to change. Please let them realize that each side has their extremists, and 99% of each side don't support those extremists arguing in their favor. Thank You.

Amen
GJ said 2 days later

You won't catch me doing the anti-religious thingy--I have a minister-type person that I'm having a lot of fun doing the metaphysical discussion thingy with. However, I will post about frauds here a lot, and religious fraud will get it just as much as non-religious fraud. Trouble is, religion is fraught with fraud. I don't mean that in a bad way...it's just that it's freaking fertile ground. Oh, and sorry about the alliteration.

Hard to see what one of my favorite pastimes happens to be--fraud analysis! :)

GJ said about 11 hours later

I heard the ending was ridiculously loud...was that it?

Geoff said about 11 hours later

Loud and obnoxiously cool. Remember this is a total action movie, this isn't Harry Potter.

If you're looking for a good action movie, Transformers is it. If you're looking for a story line, great plot, and Shyamalan ending, well this isn't for you. This has a very awesome Camaro chase....the new (2009) vs the old (69). Simply put, this movie rocks loud and hard.

GJ said about 13 hours later

Yeah, is Bumblebee supposed to be both versions of the Camaro? (if that's not spoiling too much)

Geoff said about 20 hours later

Yes and No :)

Geoff said 27 minutes later

I think one of the other obvious proponents of the hatred for this movie by Christians is the release date of the movie, Christmas. Note though that the movie did change the name "The Church" to "The Magesterium"...which no young child is likely going to reference to their [parent's] respective faith.

I think it is funny though that it isn't OK to have a purported anti-religion movie, The Golden Compass, but they have no qualms (of course) with releasing Narnia featuring a militant version of Jesus.

Abby said about 7 hours later

Actually, the Church IS called the Magesterium in the books- or at least in my copy.

But let's see... yup, that seems to be correct, though. God does not make any appearance in the book, though he is mentioned and described by other characters. And yup, the characters in the book don't know WHO the actualy Creator was, or if there ever was one. The only thing mentioned was that God wasn't the creator. In short, I don't see anything wrong with the summary. =)

GJ said 1 day later

Yeah, Narnia was written by the well-known Christian apologetic C.S. Lewis, but again, I don't have a problem with them either--after all, it is a work of fiction. If someone wants to put Bible allegories in their work of fiction, that's fine. If they want to instead write about the assault on the universal human church, that's fine too. People have got to be worried about real issues, not imagined ones like they find in the Golden Compass and the Harry Potter series.

Geoff said 1 day later

BTW, thanks guys for the Birthday Card...I always have a good laugh!

GJ said 2 days later

Glad to see you got it! Thanks to Mom and Dad for passing it on, as I forgot to give it to you when we arrived.

Geoff said 2 days later

No biggy, wii had more important things to tend to...