Consciencebound

Thanks to Netflix.com, I was finally able to finally watch the documentary by Ben Stein called  Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed with their watch online feature(which is getting better each month by the way).  If you have not seen this movie you should see it if for no other reason than for the value of understanding what is being said by some “Intelligent Design” proponents.  I have heard many many religious people that I know ask me if I have seen Expelled and it was apparent that they thought the movie was great and so I wanted to take the time to watch it and interact with it.  Although my own personal religious views have changed dramatically over the years, I still try to remain as open as possible to differing positions and do not want to close myself off to the possibility that I am wrong.

My appeal would be to religious people who believe in what Stein is arguing for to take some time to listen to critiques of this movie and try to be as honest as possible in determining who actually has a stronger case which is built on the facts as we know them.    If Stein is correct then so be it, but if his arguments (and the arguments of the Intelligent Design Movement) can be shown to be fallacious and weak then it should give a person serious pause who believes them.

Expelled makes that claim that there are people loosing their jobs over the simple fact that they want to “teach the controversy” in their classrooms.  Ben Stein makes it seem as if we are dealing with  honest truth seeking individuals who are getting unfairly censored because they dare to speak out against “big science” who is committed to evolution.  He also attempts to make the case that belief in evolution NECESSARILY leads one to the extermination of who one might wrongly think are “inferior races” like Adolf Hitler did with the Jews.  These are pretty serious claims to be made.  The question is, are they valid points that should be listened to or not?

My honest opinion of this film is that it is a ridiculous example of emotionally based propaganda (ironically enough).  The amount of time spent in this film making the connection between Nazis and their horrible practices and the belief in Evolution was enough to make me want to turn it off and not even bother with it.  Stein barely even presents a positive case for the Intelligent Design viewpoint and trys (unsuccessfully in my opinion) to show why evolution is an untenable position.  He makes claims in this film which are shown to be patently false which I think undermines his credibility significantly. The problem with this film is that it is painting Intelligent Design believers into a corner that they will soon realize that are stuck in and in my opinion it will cause many people to actually loose their faith as a result which they might not otherwise have done.  What do I mean by this exactly?

I see a very strong similarity between those trying to show that evolution is wrong and evil and those who were trying to show that Galileo was wrong and evil about his observations of the earth orbiting the sun rather than the Sun orbiting the earth.  The church was not the only ones who were opposed to Galileo’s findings.  His findings were in conflict with what Aristotle had said as well but the church found even more reason to defend a earth centered solar system because they believed that the Bible taught it.  If one only had the  Bible and if you thought that the Bible gave us factual information about science then you would be forced to agree that the Sun does in fact revolve around the earth.  It is only in retrospect that we can look at the texts of the Bible which talk in this way and realize that they are simply an ancient description of what APPEARS to be happening from the perspective of the those living on the earth. Now the church recognizes that the Bible does not seem to be talking about the world in a scientific way at all and it is not something that we should look to when we want to learn about science.

What we see happening with Intelligent Design is very similar in my opinion.  You have people of faith who feel that they HAVE TO disagree with evolution no matter what because they perceive it to be in conflict with  their religion and so it is very hard for them to take an objective look at the evidence that we have for evolution.  Movies like Expelled further reinforce this emotional and psychological barrier that exists in the minds of many (not all) religious people.  When you think that accepting the theory of evolution will take you down the same path as Hitler and that you will no longer have any reason to be moral, it is easy to be down right scared of even considering such a theory. But what happens when more and more religious people see that the evidence for evolution is overwhelming (which it is) and that their commitment to a 6000 year old earth and Intelligent Design is more likely a misunderstanding of the Bible? People will be prone to just chuck the whole thing.  I know I felt this way on many occasions when I spent time examining the arguments that I once believed so effectively defended the Christian faith.  When I saw that much of the scholarship that I relied on was actually not that good, that many Christian apologists embellished the evidence in favor of the Bible, when I began to see more and more the obvious bias that existed in my own mind against ANYONE disagreed with ME,  I felt cheated.  I felt like I had wasted my life and that I had been stupid.

In the end, I think that many more people will be turned off to Christianity as a whole by this emotional film when they find out that it is really not being honest about the evidence than would have been had this film not been made!

The evidence for evolution is there to be seen.  It makes predictions about biology that can be tested.  It makes predictions about fossils yet to be found which are confirmed on a regular basis.  It is only a matter of time before the whole church realizes this.  There are already more and more churches who are recognizing this fact.

This view is accepted (or at least not rejected) by major Christian churches, including Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and some mainline Protestant denominations; some Jewish denominations; and other religious groups that lack a literalist stance concerning holy scriptures. Various biblical literalists have accepted or noted openness to this stance, including theologian B.B. Warfield and evangelist Billy Graham. From Wikipedia at this link

We are all interested in the truth.  Nobody wants to have their head in the sand and reject that which is plain for all to see.  This may mean that religious conservatives need to take a second look at their holy books and think of some other possible interpretations of the texts that speak of origins and which SEEM to speak against evolution.  The worst thing that we can do though is make videos like Expelled which are based on so much emotion that it clouds a person’s judgement and predisposes them against a position that is held in overwhelming majority by the scientific community.  If Intelligent Design is true and their is strong evidence to support it then fine.  Lets discuss it and debate it.  But if it is not making any contributions to the scientific community and attempts to circumvent the regular scientific process of peer review and carful study then lets not waste our time.

I have below a few short videos which offer critiques of the film which i direct the reader to watch.  There are many honest believers who have no problem with evolution and also remain committed Christians who love the Bible. There are also people who may or may not be believers who are simply interested in what is true with this controversy.

Brief critique and comments by Francis Collins and other Christians of Intelligent Design:

A Scientists Critique of Expelled:

Expelled Exposed Web Site

A satirical look at Expelled:

Jeff

Similar Posts:

• Evolution and Creation Videos
• Book Review: The Language of God by Francis Collins
• Science Videos on Youtube.com
• Debate:Intelligent Design/Evolution
• Evolution is a Fact and a Theory
• Book Review: Losing My Religion by William Lobdell
• Book Review: Leaving The Fold: Testimonies Of Former Fundamentalists

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