JEFFERSON CITY – Ben Stein, the monotone-voiced actor and political essayist with a quirky conservative bent, came to the Missouri Capitol this month to plug his new documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

At the same time, he used the opportunity to endorse two controversial bills now pending before the Missouri legislature that would encourage high school and university instructors to promote religious perspectives in science classes.

The premise of the film — and the basis of the legislation — is the claim that serious scientists are systematically disparaged, discredited and blacklisted if they dare to mention the possibility that the infinite complexity of organisms might indicate design by a higher power.

Stein introduced a special screening of the film in the Capitol rotunda. He said the movie was inspired by skepticism that a single evolutionary theory, based on a modest amount of evidence, could explain the entire universe.

“We’re not saying teach creationism,” Stein said. “We just think you should be able to question Darwinism.”

The film, which opens in theaters this month, questions gaps in the theory of evolution. In the film, scientists who say the existence of God is not science are derided as closed-minded.

Charles Darwin’s theories of species changing through random mutation and natural selection are depicted as the intellectual underpinnings of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.

And a favorite target of social conservatives — Planned Parenthood — is painted as a purveyor of contraception as a way to reduce less desirable traits among the humans.

The movie is being marketed heavily through churches and national conservative groups.

About 125 people attended the screening, including Gov. Matt Blunt.

Stein, wearing canvas sneakers, slacks and a rumpled dark-blue sport coat, told the crowd that the theory of evolution was based on a modest amount of evidence. Yet it is now used as the basis for overarching ideas that try to explain the entire universe.

Stein, a former speechwriter for Richard Nixon who regularly provides commentary on CBS Sunday Morning, is unabashedly conservative. He joked that he might be the only pro-life member of the Hollywood writers’ guild.

But he insisted that his motivation is intellectual honesty, not an attempt to teach religion in schools. Darwin, he said, never tried to explain where life began and said “nothing about extrapolating bird beaks to quantum physics, thermodynamics and gravity.”

“How did political correctness trump free speech?” Stein asked.

To some in the Jewish community, however, Stein’s position represents a dangerous mixing of religion and education. Such a combination can represent a threat to any minority religious tradition. And it has the potential to dumb down education by offering the same simple answer to any question that can’t currently be answered — God must have done it.

Lenny Frankel, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said Stein’s complaint was not a free speech issue. Rather, he said, it represented the science community expressing its collective opinion that the ideas of an intelligent designer are religious conclusions, not the result of scientific analysis.

“The recognized science community does not accept the concept of intelligent design, so it is inappropriate to be teaching it in school science classes,” Frankel said. “Scientists believe they do have explanations for changes going back millions if not billions of years.”

Mainstream scientists have criticized Stein’s documentary, saying it attempts to create the impression of a controversy within the scientific community over the theory of evolution. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that evolution is the unifying concept in biology and connections between species can be shown at the cellular level.

Many scientists also contend that science does not necessarily conflict with the belief that God created the world. The conflict, they say, is with fundamentalists who hold a literal interpretation of scripture and believe that God created the earth in six 24-hour periods.

During his visit to the Capitol, Stein acknowledged that many scientists are people of faith and may believe that God created the earth and set natural processes in motion. The problem, he said, is that the science community has become dominated by atheists who refuse to acknowledge even the possibility of a divine role in the creation of life.

Stein urged lawmakers to pass Rep. Jane Cunningham’s legislation, which would require state colleges and universities to promote political and religious perspectives and “competing ideas and alternative claims of truth.” He also plugged Rep. Wayne Cooper’s bill, which would require public schools to encourage students and their teachers to critique theories of evolution.

“All (Cunningham’s) bill does is protect teachers,” Stein said. “No one can be told to keep his mouth shut.” Republicans Cooper of Camdenton and Cunningham of Chesterfield, attended the screening.

Stein called Darwin a genius and lauded his insight into changes that species undergo over time. But extrapolating such insights into an overarching theory of how life began while refusing even to allow discussion of alternatives is folly, he said.

“It leads to social Darwinism, which leads to the belief that some people are superior to others,” Stein said. “That thinking led to the Nazi regime that killed 6 million of my fellow Jews.”

Frankel said the concept of intelligent design still had no place in public schools and universities.

“I consider myself a religious person and I do have faith,” Frankel said. “But that is a topic for synagogues, churches and homes to educate our children about.”