Inspired by the minor motion picture! You’ve gagged through the movie, now gag through the book! Yes, if you couldn’t get enough of the movie that is coming soon to a $1 bargain bin near you, now you can read about even more made-up stories of “Darwin-doubter” persecution!

Crackpot creatard Kevin Wirth hopes to cash in on the Ben Stein blandwagon. He’s publishing a book by one of the “hundreds” of alleged expellees, Jerry Bergman. As we saw yesterday, Bergman wasn’t “expelled” for being a creationist. He was fired for lying about his credentials.

Kevin has given his book the rather salacious title Slaughter of the Dissidents. Let’s see what Kevin says on the book’s web page:

By now you’ve probably heard about that infamous movie so many people are talking about called EXPELLED, starring Ben Stein.… I urge you to hurry up and go check it out while it’s still playing for a limited engagement at your local theatre.

It’s a limited engagement, because the auditoriums are empty! Despite a strong opening weekend (due to subsidized tickets), word of mouth killed this turd deader than Kevin’s chances of actually understanding evolution.

Slaughter of the Dissidents picks up where that movie “Expelled” leaves off.… On another front, perhaps you’ve heard about the Evolution Academic Freedom Bill making the rounds in various states these days?… The purpose of this bill is to protect the rights of students and educators to dissent with aspects of evolution without fear of reprisal. Yep, it’s become so bad we need to pass a law to protect these people! Actually, our existing laws should be sufficient, but the courts have seen fit not to uphold the rights of victims of this type of discrimination.

That’s because there are very few, if any, victims at all. The courts have found in almost all cases that no discrimination occurred.

As you read it you’ll discover that one of the most precious things we own is at risk, right here in America. What is that? In a word,

FREEDOM

Freedom to disagree without losing your job or being denied an earned degree. Freedom to tell people you dare to question any aspect of evolution on scientific grounds - without referencing any religious text.

Really, Kevin? And just what would those scientific grounds be? You never present any. Instead, you just whine that people who pretend to have some and never show it are victims.

Now How Much Would You Pay?

And speaking of religion, it looks like we live in an era where freedom OF religion has been twisted to mean freedom FROM religion.

Actually, Kevin, freedom of religion has always included freedom from religion. But that sure is a bizarre thing to bring up right now, isn’t it Kevin? I thought your whole argument for your creationism these days was that it wasn’t religious. Now you suddenly need to bring up religious freedom? Why does that cut so close to home when you’re talking about doubting evolution?

And the reaction of those who seek to harm Darwin skeptics for their crime of doubt is palpable, almost visceral.… The modern evolutionary elitist thugs leave no stone unturned in the wake of their rabid assault againt [sic] the freedoms of Darwin skeptics.

Kevin’s putrid purple prose is pathetic. People with such overwhelming persecution complexes are usually confined to mental institutions. When’s the last time you were evaluated, Kevin?

The root of this issue is freedom (not the self-serving sanctity of science as the opponents of Darwin skeptics argue…)

No Kevin. You’re wrong on both counts. It’s not about the “self-serving sanctity of science” (whatever that means). It’s that creationists like you are pretending that there is reasonable doubt about evolution, so you can sneak your disguised religion—”intelligent design” creationism—into the public schools, in violation of the First Amendment. You are the enemy of freedom here. You are trying to infringe upon our most precious freedom. The freedom of (and from) religion.

The author of this book, Dr. Jerry Bergman, has been the victim of this type of discrimination himself.

No. As we discussed yesterday, he hasn’t.

There is no one better qualified than Jerry to bring you this book.

No. Somebody who actually was the victim of this type of discrimination is better qualified than Jerry to bring us this book. Tell you what, Kevin. You go find that person, if he exists, and then we’ll read your book.

But Wait! There’s More!

Next, Kevin gives us some highlights of this book. OK, if we must. Let’s slog through them:

Which sitting jurist actually ruled on one of these cases before he was appointed to the Supreme Cour? [sic]

I don’t know, but I hope your book is better proofread than this ad.

When is it OK to teach ID or creationism at most universities?

In comparative mythology classes.

What are the landmines you absolutely must avoid if you are an educator?

Teaching creationism! (duh!)

What is the most common (but incorrect) assumption made by most Darwin Doubting educators that often leads to their termination?

Believing that there is legitimate scientific doubt about evolution.

What are the various situations that have spelled doom for the careers of hundreds of educators and scientists?

Wasting time talking about creationism instead of doing legitimate research and getting published in peer-reviewed journals.

Is it really true that there are no peer-reviewed articles published in reputable science journals written by Darwin skeptics?

No. Anti-evolutionists have been published, but they confine their articles to matters not directly linked to evolution. There have been no creationism articles published in legitimate peer-reviewed journals.

What academic institutions have had incidents where educators were let go, or were pressured to change their curricula, or were thwarted in some way from getting a degree or were marked down on their grades?

I don’t know. There sure weren’t any in Expelled.

But You Won’t Pay $300! You Won’t Pay $200! In Fact, You Won’t Even Pay $100!

As is typical in internet marketing, there’s no price listed at the end of the ad. In fact, you can’t even buy the book. He says it’s being released on May 30th. Instead, he tries to get you onto his mailing list, where he can ply you with spam after spam, extolling the virtues of the book, until he’s managed to expel every one of your brain cells and you buy the book. In exchange for getting spammed, Kevin promises to send you a free chapter of the book.

I’m taking a bullet for you people here. I gave him my email address, so I could get the free chapter. We’ll look at that tomorrow.

Our old buddy, crackpot creatard Kevin Wirth is publishing a book! But don’t worry. He didn’t write it. He’s only the publisher. I don’t need the type of book Kevin could write. I already have several books of quotations.

The book that Kevin is bringing to market is written by some clown named Dr. Jerry Bergman, and it’s called Slaughter of the Dissidents: The Shocking Truth about Killing the Careers of Darwin Doubters. I’m sure it’s a good book. We can rely on Kevin to bring us nothing but the highest caliber of ideas. Kevin is, after all, the guy who told us that Ben Stein is the modern Rosa Parks.

Before checking out Kevin’s book, let’s find out some more about the clown who wrote it. Jerry Bergman’s Wikipedia entry says:

Dr. Bergman is an adjunct associate professor at Medical University of Ohio and also teaches biochemistry, biology, chemistry and physics at Northwest State Community College in Ohio. He has taught at the college level for 35 years including seven years at Bowling Green State University, 6 years at the University of Toledo, and 20 years at Northwest State.

It then goes on to list a buttload of legitimate degrees this guy has. The one blemish is that his Ph.D. comes from the (now defunct) unaccredited Columbia Pacific University. This is the same esteemed pillar of higher learning that gave a Ph.D. to pop-quack John Gray (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, his Degree is from Neptune). In Bergman’s case, it really doesn’t matter how good the Ph.D. is. He has enough other credentials that we can agree that the guy is a good scholar, even if we disagree with his opinions. In fact, he apparently has a good track record of getting published. Wikipedia says:

He now has over 700 publications in a variety of scientific and popular journals….

That statement doesn’t tell us which publications, the subject matter, and how many were peer-reviewed, but I’m happy to concede that a large chunk of that 700 could be real science.

OK then. The guy seems legitimate. He’s not some drooling ignoramus that Kevin Wirth pulled out of the audience at The 700 Club. Let’s see what else Wikipedia says:

Bergman’s opinions on creationism are often published by Answers In Genesis.

We’ve seen this pattern before. Otherwise-intelligent people are blinded by their religion. Well, if you’re going to be a creationist, you might as well go whole hog. Don’t be one of those wimpy Discovery Institute (“OK, we’ll give you microevolution but not macro!”) Old-Earth Creationists! No siree! You want to be the worst of the worst: An Answers in Genesis (“T-Rex ate coconuts in the Garden of Eden!”) Young-Earth Creationist! Accept no substitutes! (Except for logic. You’ll need to use substitute logic. And evidence. You’ll need to substitute fake evidence for real evidence. And persecution. You won’t really get persecuted, so you’ll just have to pretend you are.)

In the 1990s he was also known for his Usenet postings to the talk.origins newsgroup. Many of his views are highly controversial, such as implying a causal relationship between Darwinism, Nazism, and the Holocaust.

Oh. He’s a Steinist.

Bergman was involved in a tenure controversy early in his career. Wikipedia says that he was originally hired by Bowling Green State University. He did not receive his Ph.D. on the expected timetable, so his employment at BGSU became tenuous. Ultimately:

In 1978 Bergman was denied tenure. Bergman believed this was due to his involvement in the creation movement and his religious beliefs and subsequently filed with both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on the grounds that he had been discriminated against on the basis of religion, with both agencies ultimately ruling that he was not let go due to his religious beliefs, but because his peers voted to terminate him.

Like the typical creationist who won’t let go of his beliefs even when presented with clear evidence to the contrary, he wouldn’t accept the ruling:

Bergman filed suit against Bowling Green State University in federal district court in 1980, alleging that his due process rights had been violated and that he had been denied tenure on the basis of his religious views.… The case was dismissed in 1985. Bergman appealed but the appeal was turned down in 1987. The court ruled that the reason he was let go was because of ethics, namely that he claimed to have credentials in psychology when, in fact, he “had no psychological credentials.”

Bergman apparently is still convinced that he was discriminated against, or else he wouldn’t have written this book that Kevin Wirth is shilling. Isn’t it interesting that somebody with over 700 publications to his credit couldn’t find a legitimate publisher for his book? The fact that he had to stoop to using the services of somebody as unqualified in logic as Kevin Wirth suggests that Bergman’s book is, like his discrimination lawsuits, wholly without merit.

Tomorrow: Kevin Wirth tries to sell us some tripe.

Sane Blog says it best:

As reported in this CNN article, the pope has reaffirmed the catholic position on birth control. It is difficult to imagine a single policy which has been responsible for ensuring more poverty of women, disease and the blocking of development in Africa and other impoverished nations of the world. The catholic church does not love preventing suffering - the catholic church actually loves suffering.

Douglas Adams died seven years ago today. I thought it would be fitting to direct you to Richard Dawkin’s eulogy of Adams.

Go read this post at Violent Acres. It’s hysterical!

Church services always started off quiet enough with the organ playing and parishioners quietly whispering greetings and shaking hands. But among the kids, there was a kind of electricity in the air. Half of the time, we could barely contain ourselves. We knew that if things went well, it was likely we’d see some crazy ass shit.

(via Pharyngula)

This week’s Cectic illustrates common fundie logic:

That’s not a literal quote, but it’s the logical extension of the latest wild claims of the Discovery Institute. In a recent hallucination on their propaganda website, the Discovery Institute screamed this headline:

Methodists Nail Darwinian Nazi Record, Repent U.S. Past, Warn About 21st Century Eugenics

That caught my attention. Have the Methodists succumbed to DI propaganda? Let’s take a look. The insane ramblings of the DI begin with:

The quadrennial international convention of the Methodist Church, meeting in Fort Worth, today adopted an historic and detailed resolution deploring the legacy of Darwinian eugenics that saw its 20th century extreme expression in the theories of Adolf Hitler.

That sure sounds like the Methodists are laying some of the blame for the Holocaust on Darwin. We’ll check into that claim in a minute. Let’s see what else the DI says:

Yes, that would be the Nazi ideology that the Darwinists of today—and major media—pretend sprang on the world fresh from the head of Hitler…

No. That’s exactly the opposite of what we’ve been saying. I know the DI monitors all the major biology blogs, so they definitely know that we’ve said that what Hitler was doing was selective breeding. This is a technique that is almost as old as civilization. Since they’ve definitely read this fact in numerous blogs, the only conclusion we can come to is that the DI is deliberately lying. Making up facts is how the DI does “science”, so why should the way they argue be any different? Discovery Institute: No Facts Allowed!

The Methodists’ resolution—adopted by a vote of 836 to 28—apologizes for the denomination’s own failure to resist the eugenics movement in this country in the 20th century. They were not alone…. But no other mainline Protestant denomination has yet had the courage to admit to the racism of Darwinist eugenics and the supine attitude that leading American religious leaders, as well as the scientific establishment, adopted towards it.

It is true that many people bought into the eugenics movement in the early 20th century, and many scientists were among them. However, eugenics is not “Darwinism”. Darwin discovered how species evolve. He did not “discover” that killing six million Jews would produce a Master Race.

The Methodists’ Apology

Let’s turn now to what the Methodists have actually written in their resolution, “An Apology for Support of Eugenics”:

The study of eugenics did not begin with Hitler or his German scientists, but rather was first promoted by Sir Francis Galton, in England. Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, who expanded on Darwin’s theories and applied them to the human population.

That’s funny. This is the same document that the Discovery Institute read, but I don’t see anything about Charles Darwin creating eugenics. Sir Francis Galton took Darwin’s theories and misapplied them to human society. Darwin is not responsible for the actions of his cousin, and the Methodists are not claiming that he is.

Galton’s successor at the helm of the Eugenics Society was Major Leonard Darwin (1850- 1943), a son of Charles Darwin. Leonard Darwin, who ran the Eugenics Society until 1928, made the transition from positive to negative eugenics, and promoted plans for lowering the birthrate of the unfit.

Again, this is another one of Darwin’s relatives. That family was really into this stuff. But once again, don’t blame Chuck for his wayward son.

There’s a lot more to the Methodist document (and I encourage you to read it), but that’s pretty much all they had to say about Charles Darwin. Nowhere are they blaming Darwin for either eugenics or the Holocaust. Has the Discovery Institute no shame?

The Hindenberg caught fire and crashed 71 years ago today. That event has nothing to do with this blog. I just thought the above picture was funny.