"Expelled" from reality

Ben Stein, a former speechwriter for the only president to resign from office for being a two-bit criminal, has a new movie out, and it doesn't involve a lovable slacker badass named Beuller. The plot in a nutshell is composed of the following points: Evolution is a lie because some scientists who disagree with it have been fired from their jobs (although not necessarily for their objections); free speech should be the dominating factor in the scientific method; and, of course, morality is a sufficient measure of scientific viability.

The last point is not subtly demonstrated when Stein postulates that Adolph Hitler used Darwin's theories to justify the Holocaust, and therefore evolution doesn't exist. He doesn't seem to realize that coupling images of mass murder with evolutionary theories only serves to unfairly demonize atheists and scientists while absolutely failing to prove anything about creationism. In short, "Expelled" is a disgusting piece of propaganda that should be a case study in logical fallacy.

For instance, even if Hitler distorted Darwin's theories to mastermind the most gruesome genocide in world history, how does that prove anything about the scientific viability of Darwin? Using that reasoning, I could say that a Christian performing a violent act in the name of God proves that God doesn't exist. Are we to believe that a society striving for concrete answers to our existence should automatically discount years of scientific discovery simply because somebody has used those discoveries for evil? That's the best argument the creationists could think up to challenge evolution?

Interesting. Allow me to consider that obscene argument while I push this guy off a 10-story building. Oh dear, it appears he has fallen to his death. Well, because my action was violent and reprehensible, I guess gravity doesn't really exist. My actions were so morally repugnant that we should just assume the hand of God threw him to the ground. Isaac Newton be damned!

Stein needs to realize that morally unjustifiable actions are not a good gauge for scientific inquiry. Let me rephrase that: The connection simply doesn't exist. At all. Just because some misguided person uses a scientific theory as justification for his actions doesn't reveal anything about the viability of that theory. Is Stein so dense that he doesn't understand such a simple concept as the scientific method?

After all, lest we forget that Adolph Hitler was a Roman Catholic and often used God to justify the slaughter of Jews. He was not an atheist; he was a man of faith, as were most of his followers. Using Stein's logic I should conclude that God is a lie and atheism is absolute truth simply based on Hitler's actions. Of course, I personally don't believe I should empower Hitler to posthumously dictate my beliefs in anything. As a Jew, I'm sure Stein would agree with that sentiment; unfortunately, he's trapped in a head-in-ass situation that is common among many insane religious zealots.