I had the opportunity to watch “Expelled No Intelligence Allowed” on opening night at a PA Family Institute’s movie night held at Penn Cinema.

Here are are my reactions to the movie.

Disclaimer: I am a Christian who is also a young earth creationist – hence I have a presuppositional bias.

Attacking an idea by comparing it to Hitler and Nazi Germany is one of the oldest debating tricks in the book, the official term is Reductio Ad Hitlerum

The fallacy most often assumes the form of “Hitler (or the Nazis) supported X, therefore X must be evil/undesirable/bad”[2]. The argument carries emotional weight as rhetoric, since in many cultures anything to do with Hitler or Nazis is automatically condemned. The tactic is often used to derail arguments, as such a comparison tends to distract and to result in angry and less reasoned responses.[2] A subtype of the fallacy is the comparison of an opponent’s propositions to the Holocaust.[2] Other variants include comparisons to the Gestapo (the Nazi secret police), to fascism and totalitarianism more generally,[1] and even more vaguely to terrorism.[3] An inverted variant can take the form “Hitler was against X, therefore X must be good.”

I admit I’ve often used forms of this argument in fun debate, but to use it to imply that Darwin is somehow responsible for the holocaust is ridiculous.

The other main tenant of the movie is the personal stories of “oppression” as a result of giving voice to the theory of Intelligent Design (ID). ExpelledExposed.com has the other side to each of these stories.

Even if all the claims of persecution in the movie are true shouldn’t this be expected?

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. [Matt 5:10-11]

If you start with the presupposition that God does not exist – then the theory of evolution makes perfect sense and the theory of creationism or ID is laughable.

Conversely if you start with the presupposition that God does exist then creationism and ID make perfect sense and the theory of evolution ex nihilo is laughable (Yes I am aware of the differences between theistic evolution, ID and literal creationism but that is a subject for another time).

When an atheist looks at the big question marking the origin of matter that is his starting point for investigation. He knows that we currently exist therefore that had to be a cause, hence he has job security until he figures it out.

When an theist looks at the big question marking the origin of the universe he says “God started it all” and then ceases to look for an explanation because he already believes he knows the answer.

Besides all that from a film critics perspective Expelled wasn’t well made. Maybe being silly was planned but the plethora of quick cuts to highlight specific words was very “Privy Lord Seal“.

Reason To Believe has a short article regarding the movie

In Reasons To Believe’s interaction with professional scientists, scientific institutions, universities, and publishers of scientific journals we have encountered no significant evidence of censorship, blackballing, or disrespect. As we have persisted in publicly presenting our testable creation model in the context of the scientific method, we have witnessed an increasing openness on the part of unbelieving scientists to offer their honest and respectful critique.

Our main concern about EXPELLED is that it paints a distorted picture. It certainly doesn’t match our experience. Sadly, it may do more to alienate than to engage the scientific community, and that can only harm our mission.

In summery Expelled wasn’t a great documentary and will do nothing more than make those who already agree join in the chorus of “help I’m being oppressed” and make those who already disagree say “Look at the bunch of “unintelligent people being fooled by Ben Stein”.

Sadly most “creationists” are happy to write books critiquing evolutionary theory, many times twisting evolutionary theory to make it easier to “disprove”. Would they not be better off “doing science” from a creationist perspective? A rare though but there are Creationists out there doing a good job. Kurt Wise for example was called “A honest creationist” by Richard Dawkins, a statement that won’t be made regarding Ben Stein. P.S. Dr. Wise was also my science professor in college.

Well now I expect to get quite a few comments taking issue with my critique of the movie. Just remember when I attack your arguments I am not attacking you personally.

Helpful Linkss
ExpelledTheMovie.com
ExpelledExposed.com
Scientific American
Reason.org – Statement
CreationBiology.org

Helpful Videos

Expelled the Trailer

The Violence Inherent in the system