Hi everyone. I attended the opening day, matinee showing of Expelled – No Intelligence Allowed earlier today. This is the documentary with actor/economist Ben Stein showing the "war" between science and religion currently taking place in America. Ben Stein uses a method similar to a Lee Strobel book, where he asks a question, and then finds an expert to discuss the topic. He also uses hilarious clips of such famous Darwinist supporters as Michael Shermer, Richard Dawkins, and Minnesota's own PZ Myers saying stupid things about how well Darwinism is supported by scientific evidence, and how Intelligent Design (ID) supporters would never be attacked for having views that see life on Earth as having been intelligently designed (Stein interviews many people who have lost their jobs / tenure because of holding a point of view supporting ID.
So what is the importance of this issue? Is it only a small academic disagreement taking place at universities? No, Expelled shows that truth, American freedom, people's jobs, and the protection of the lives of those who may be viewed as genetically inferior, all are at stake in this "war". I'm not kidding, the movie does a very good job of showing the importance of the issues that are involved in this fight. The movie has a number of scenes of the Berlin Wall to emphasize the magnitude of this battle. This is all done with humor, and surprising seriousness at several points in the movie. For example, Ben Stein visits a German concentration camp, where 15,000 people with disabilities were exterminated. The reason for this killing by the Nazis? Not only was this the elimination of political enemies, but also the elimination of people who were draining resources (like jobs, food, etc.) from the German nation. And all of this was done by the scientists not only in Germany but also America who were basing their eugenic beliefs in significant part upon Darwinism. This part of the movie was horrifying and most powerful at the same time.
To show the silliness of the mainstream Darwinist positions, I will use two quick examples: first, Ben Stein asks scientist Michael Russo how life started on Earth. Russo explains that a leading view is that chemicals went on top of some crystals, and were able to become living from this. Ben Stein mercilessly keeps asking the question, but how did this start life? Russo repeatedly responds, I already explained it to you. Stein then incredulously says, piggy-backing on crystals is how life started? The scenes from other movies of people praying to crystals, I think adds to the silliness of what Russo said. Another funny scene is the final interview Ben Stein has with Richard Dawkins (famous atheist/biologist, author of The God Delusion). Dawkins starts by saying that a belief in God is along the same line as believing in fairies or angels. Stein then asks Dawkins how life started on Earth, and Dawkins said that he had no idea, and that no one had any idea of how life started. Stein then pressed him, and Dawkins admitted that it appears that life is designed, and perhaps a very intelligent alien race planted 'seeds' on Earth to get life started. It seems this point shows the ridiculousness of academia in America – a scientist can hold a silly view such as thinking that life was planted on Earth by Aliens, and receive full support from their colleagues. While if anyone dares to suggest that God was responsible for planting life on Earth will result in a full out attack from the Darwinist army.
I give the movie an enthusiastic 'thumbs up'. Because it is a documentary, it is important for people to get out and see the movie, so that it has a greater impact on our culture. You will not be bored. It is an important and entertaining movie for those who love free-thinking and religious freedom. I hope you will check it out.
