Expelled, a Documentary by Ben Stein
A Scathing Review of Free Speech and Intelligent Design
Nov 5, 2008
“Science simply makes no use of the hypothesis of God.” – Daniel Dennett
The American society prides itself on being free, able to do and say and certainly think whatever one might wish. The idea of someone being targeted for their ideas is considered strictly anti-American. Surprisingly, throughout the movie Stein points out people whose careers have been abruptly ended, lives altered, due to the mere mention of intelligent design. One man interviewed was referred to by his boss as an “intellectual terrorist.” These individuals express astonishment over and over because, as professors and scientists, they did not endorse, support, or personally believe the theory of intelligent design. They only taught it beside Darwinism, as an alternative, and for that received quite a backlash from the academic community.
In a similar way, Ben Stein does not necessarily support intelligent design (ID) in this documentary, he only wonders why the evolutionists have gotten so upset about it. What’s the fuss about?
Are Darwinists Protecting Holes in Their Arguments?
The main theory Stein pursues in this film is that the Darwinists must be scared, to react so defensively toward another school of thought. Theirs is the prevailing theory in academia, and they obviously want it to stay that way. Stein interviews Michael Ruse, a leader in the current Darwin camp, and the results are surprising: not only is Ruse unable to provide specific answers, but once again there is only heated defensiveness in lieu of information.
Darwinism is then discussed at length: what theories are taught regarding the start of life? What information about the cell and its processes did Darwin have at the time? Stein asserts that under the light of current technology, Darwinism is outdated, and its arguments flimsy at best.
Isn’t Intelligent Design the Same as Creationism?
Stein also interviews the director of the Discovery Institute, the incredibly small group of people still devoted to ID. Stein spares no skepticism here, and asks Director Bruce Chapman some pointed questions about the difference between creationism and ID. Chapman claims it is not a religious argument, that the Institute employs people of several different religions and even some agnostics. Still, all the colleges found teaching ID were of considerable Bible base, and some were Christian affiliated even by name. Is this due to narrowness of the theory or the public’s perception of it?
Dr. Nelson of Biola University gave a clear contrast: creationism starts with the Bible and asks how science can fit in with the Genesis story. Intelligent design is the “study of patterns in nature that are best explained as a result of intelligence”
Stein’s point at the close of these two interviews seems to be that while the ID people are suggesting some pretty vague faith-based theories, the Darwinists are hardly any better, continually referring to a magical time when non-organic matter just randomly changed into organic, and decided to stay that way.
