Review: Expelled
Julie and I went to see Ben Stein’s Expelled tonight, and we both loved it. Expelled is perhaps the most entertaining film on science ever made. It was also very well balanced and thought provoking. Most interesting and entertaining of all was Richard Dawkins‘ (author of The God Delusion
The movie starts by investigating the reason as to why some scientists and professors were fired for mentioning or publishing even references to intelligent design and shows Stein asking why they might consider intelligent design as science. He addresses the point of intelligent design as religion and shows that, while it need not be divorced from religion, it need not be married to religion either; the two can coexist. Several of his intelligent design interviewees are open to religion but not themselves religious.
He then heads to the Darwinists to get their take. They pretty well confess to outright attacking religion so as to remove it from academia (and possibly society). Comments range from religious being “stupid” and “ignorant” to “dangerous”. All flat out deny any possibility of intelligent design as a possibility, yet none can offer any sensible answer to “How did life begin?” without either sounding utterly ridiculous or starting with some form of life already in existence. The supposed explanatory film of Darwinian evolution even uses “something” as the method by which life came to be. Yes indeed; that’s some very scientific terminology.
I can see why the Darwinists would be upset by this movie. It doesn’t try to prove intelligent design only show that it should be allowed into the debate; yet it uncovers some extreme silliness and massive persecution in the scientific community. I wonder how a thinking person could seriously consider elitist Darwinism as an end-all answer.
A friend of mine is currently reading The God Delusion and commented that while Dawkins’ arguments are very sound on a case-by-case level, the whole book almost laughs at Dawkins in the questions that remain un-addressed in the overall themes of the cases. You might imagine that Dawkins, in an attempt to prove forests didn’t exist, walked toward a tree and, going tree by tree, showed that each tree did not prove he was in the forest while all the while forest animals stood looking at him strangely.
Of course, it gets worse. Stein is able to show the connection between Darwinism and an extreme to which it can lead: Naziism. Many of the Darwinists find this an appalling connection, but history shows this to be a case, though certainly not the only case. The connection is easy enough to deduce for anyone willing to actually think on it for a few moments, so I won’t belabor the point.
Finally, I must applaud Professor Provine of Cornell University for his forthcoming statements regarding Darwinism and nihilism. (He didn’t call it that, but nihilism is none-the-less what he described.) The descent to Darwinism and natural selection usually ends with the loss of religious faith, at least in those interviewed. It allows for rationalizing the murder of crippled, handicapped, poor, elderly and unwanted children (abortion). In the end, once one has lost religion, the only real option left (despite what some fools would tell you) is nihilism. And at the end of nihilism, the only real question, in the ideas of Nitzsche, is whether or not suicide is okay. After all, you are only alive to die, right? If such is the case, what does it matter if you kill? That’s the idea of Nitzsche’s “superman“. For anyone familiar with Doestoevsky’s Crime and Punishment
But back to the movie–I think Ben Stein has created a wonderful and important film on the need to continue to question and seek truth. The established science community is suppressing what has always made science great: the quest for answers and truth. Ben Stein sees that as a suppression of freedom and a potential to lead our society in the direction of Naziism again. Intelligent design has just as much validity to be taught as Darwinism, and together may help us understand our world and our beliefs better. I pray that the message is heard.
Tags: Christianity, Darwinism, documentary, Education, evolution, freedom, Intelligent Design, movie, nihilism, politics, religion, review, science, thought, worldview