Stein’s Intelligence Not Allowed

Burlington Free Press reports:

The choice of media personality Ben Stein as commencement speaker at the University of Vermont generated such a furor that Stein backed out, UVM President Dan Fogel confirmed Monday.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, one has to admit the irony in the situation. These types of situations are exactly what his documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, was addressing. It’s rather a credit to Stein’s graciousness in this debate that he chose to back out quietly, rather then pointing fingers in angry indignation.

[The University President] stressed that the issue is not one of academic freedom, or of Stein’s right to offer his controversial opinions on campus, but rather whether someone who holds views antithetical to scientific inquiry should be honored as commencement speaker.

As gracious an attempted explanation as this might be, one should note that it is a blatant misrepresentation of Stien’s views in the documentary. He makes it abundantly clear that his primary objective is to promote free scientific inquiry, even if it means including controversial ideas.

I suppose one’s response may be that the claims of ID are beyond controversial and are simply ludicrous. Well, any claim should be judged first on it’s theses and then on its proofs. The thesis of ID is essentially that there is a gap in our understanding of the natural world which is BEST explained by an intelligent creator. Notice that acclaimed evolutionary scientists, such as Dawkins,  maintain that extra-terrestrials are at least a more plausible candidate for being responsible for origins than God is (he expounds on this in “The God Delusion).

But WHY is one  thesis more plausible then the other? Or rather, why is one more ludicrous then the other?

Anyone? Anyone?

(reposted from www.brianjwalton.wordpress.com)