The Discovery Institute's Continued Persecution of Darwin

Once again Darwin is being blamed for things he had nothing to do with. And typically the culprit is the Discovery Institute, this time John West. FamilyNet will be airing a documentary featuring West waxing less than Poetic called "What Hath Darwin Wrought?" It also stars a couple of other Discovery Institute shills.

First things first, FamilyNet? Of course we continually hear about how the Discovery Institute and Intelligent Design have nothing to do with religion. So of course their documentary is featured on a broadcast television network owned by ComStar Media Fund. It was founded in 1979 as the National Christian Network, and took the name FamilyNet in 1988 under the ownership of Jerry Falwell. The channel was acquired by InTouch Ministries in October 2007 from the Southern Baptist Convention. In December of 2009, FamilyNet was acquired by Robert A. Schuller's ComStar Media Fund.

So let's get this straight:

• National Christian Network
• Jerry Falwell
• Southern Baptist Convention
• InTouch Ministries
• Robert A. Schuller (Televangelist, in case you didn't know)

So the Discovery Institute is still playing to crowds of people already primed to accept their ideas and they still insist that they have nothing to do with religion or a religious perspective.

So "What has Darwin Wrought?" Well according to West

"If you're concerned about the devaluation of life -- for example, if you're concerned about the new atheists who claim that science somehow proves that God doesn't exist -- you need to be concerned about Darwin because a lot of those ideas came from him," West contends. "Darwin was a nice man personally, but his ideas were not so nice -- and they're not accurate, in fact. But they have tremendous repercussions for each and every one of us today."

So is West ever right? Nothing he has produced has shown me he knows anything about the subject he spouts off about. And this article calls him a scholar! In my opinion he does not deserve to be considered a scholar.

• So What about Darwin's work devalued life? Nothing!
• What does Darwin have to do with "New Atheists"? Nothing!
• What has been proven inaccurate about Darwin's work? Nothing! Oh yes there were things he didn't know and some details he didn't get complete, but his core ideas have been well supported and continue to be well supported by the evidence even today!

In other words this is nothing but a typical marketing film. marketed to religious folks, by folks who are trying to demonize Darwin in an effort to discredit the science of evolution. Of course since the Discovery Institute hasn't been able to discredit the science itself, they attack one man who has done little but explain the world around us.

Yes, that is ALL Darwin did. The questions he offered answers to had been asked for decades, even centuries. His observations, and those of the many who came after him, have done nothing but explain natural events that happen on a daily basis. The problem is West and his cronies don't like the explanation. They prefer one that puts God ahead of anything else (Stated pretty clearly in the Wedge Document). And they spend marketing money to attack a man who is safely dead!

Wells, who claims his prayers as a member of the Unification Church lead him to spend his life destroying Darwinism. We have yet another connection to religion. And we have also another unsupported attack on a man who did nothing wrong. A man who offered an explanation of what is actually going on. And it's being offered by a man who has a huge chip on his shoulder, who belongs to an organization who cannot attack the evidence or the science so they market and sell -- primarily to religious audiences. Pretty ridiculous, if you ask me. Anyone who buys into this is already primed against science anyway. Bet the reception by anyone outside of the targeted FamilyNet audience gives it the same credence as 2008's "Expelled:" mockumentary?