Ben Stein IS Expelled

This afternoon I finally got the chance to go see Ben Stein's new documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. & it lived up to my expectations. It is a well-written well executed presentation of the facts on how the scientific establishment is doing all it can to keep the idea of intelligent design kept out of the marketplace of ideas. & some possible reasons why.

1st of all, I have to make 1 thing clear, this movie does NOT attempt to prove that intelligent design is right. Ditto for creationism. That was not his goal. Ben Stein does believe in intelligent design, so do I. & for full disclosure I believe it was the Judeo-Christian God who did the designing. & I also reject any form of evolution that goes against Catholic teaching. & the Church has made it very clear about what we can & can't say about Adam & Eve & evolution. & pure chance evolution without special intervention by God to create Eve from Adam & give them a soul is not allowed. They are our sole parents. Theories like Polygenism are wrong. See Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis for more. Microevolution is a whole different subject that even creationists accept. & the only form of evolution that has ever been proven.

What this movie sets out to show is that when it comes to scienctific inquiry about the origins of life & how it developed, academic freedom is a myth. The very words "intelligent design" have become verboten.

The movie, which runs for about 1-1/2 hrs (a quick 90 minutes) has the flavor of an old fashioned newsreel or 50s TV documentary. Partly because of the used of vintage Edward R. Murrow clips. Partly by recreating intros using the 40s era newsreal style.

The presentation is balanced as he not only interviews people like Iowa State's Guillermo Gonzalez (a black mark on Iowa for this proud Iowa Boy) who were attacked because they upheld intelligent design, he interviews Richard Dawkins & others who are on the other side of the battle. Ben Stein treated both sides fairly. He does spend more time on the arguement for allowing it to be discussed & taught, but that is to be expected.

He looks at some of the arguements that evolutionists use to explain the complexity of the cell & hopw it could just spring up. 1 of those is panspermia. That is the idea that aliens planted life here. & that it was programmed to adopt. Yet, that begs the question. How did that life spring up? Other aliens? That can not go back ad infinitum as most of these same scientists accept the "Big Bang" theory. So how did the 1st life start out without the jump start? (This is a very oversimplified version to illustrate my point.)

1 of the most moving segments was the part on eugenics, which is 1 of the fruits of the atheistic evolution. & whether they like it or not, Hitler's final solution was based on eugenics & loudly applauded by Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger, who also gets her due. As a part of this segment Ben Stein visits a couple of the Holocaust sites & reminds us of what devaluing human life, as we have so terribly done today with abortion & euthenasia, eventually leads to. The movie does not make a direct link between Hitler & evolution & makes it clear that it can't. But it does show there is some cause/effect relationship.

That section has caused the most controversy with a lot of people who don't like the link. I would suspect that many of these are the same pro-abortion people who dislike the fact that abortion is the modern equivelent of the NAZI holocaust. (Ironically, Friday, 2 May is Holocaust Rememberance Day.)

Another minor complaint, & I do mean very minor is Yoko Ono's whining (here natural tone so no shock there) about the use of a bit of John Lennon's Imagine without her permission. She is threatening a lawsuit that will be laughed out of court if she tries as he went through all the legal channels required. I suspect she is doing this because she hopes they will cower & pull it. They won't. & shouldn't. Even if she threatens to go to Ben Stein's house & sing.

I have to add 2 final comments here. 1st, the Wikipedia article on the movie contains enough evidence of the very attacks that academia denies they are doing. Rather than offer a fair discussion they use ridicule, denegration & belittlement. But that isn't surprizing as very few people like their dirty laundry & ugly little (or not so little) secrets brought out. & this is the same bunch who has tried to shut down any disagreement about the reality of global warming also. Not exactly the track record they try to claim they have of academic freedom. For that matter, the article is more of an attack than a description of the movie which is what it is supposed to be.

2ndly, I work in academia & can verify that there is PC mindset very much like the 1 that Ben Stein describes. I've seen it 1sthand. & even saying that here could put me at risk for retaliation.

In conclusion, this movie is well worth seeing. If only to motivate you to speak out to defend those who uphold intelligent design. As Ben Stein said, we need to do something. This is a part of my doing something. It will cost some people their jobs. But the truth is worth the cost. Who is willing? As Ben Stein asks: "Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody?"*

*For those of you who don't get it. This is a takeoff of a line he used in Ferris Beuller's Day Off where he played the economics teacher.