I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
It appears that New Mexico has a local tie to the Ben Stein anti-Darwinism documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, currently in theaters.
The Santa Fe New Mexican today profiled a pastor in Santa Fe who helped produce the hour-and-a-half long film, the Rev. Logan Craft.
Craft, 47, told writer Tom Sharpe that the thesis of the film is that proponents of Darwin’s theory are censoring "intelligent design," which holds that a higher power created the universe.
And they have someone of Ben Stein’s intelligence to sell the idea.
Ben Stein, for those of us of a particular generation, is frozen in time as the monotone teacher in the cult film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. For those slightly younger, he’s the host of Win Ben Stein’s Money. And for those of us who wake up early enough on Sunday morning to catch CBS Sunday Morning, he is an occasional commentator.
What you may not know is that he graduated valedictorian from Yale Law School and was a speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford. So he’s no slouch when it comes to intelligence.
Craft told Sharpe that he saw the reaction the film is getting from some corners — some people have excoriated the work — as similar to the reaction conservatives have to one of Michael Moore’s films. Craft said he just hopes the film makes people think.
Good luck. That may be difficult on this issue. Not because the discussion over how we humans and everything else got here is uninteresting and barren of intriguing arguments and insights from people on both sides. Far from it. It’s because the issue has become so politicized that nuanced arguments get lost in the din of people shouting at each other and those on both sides of the argument see it as a wedge issue (read weapon) to club their ‘enemies’ with.
Here’s to hoping we as a nation have a serious debate about serious issues. But that takes hard work, and research, and a willingness to listen. So, for now, I’m skeptical that most people debating this issue will take the time to have a serious exchange of ideas.
