Movies
Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed.
by Jimmy Hopper
Our Movie Night feature tonight was Ben Stein’s documentary, Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed. This is obviously a very thought provoking film, and, in the interest of provoking discussion among those who saw it tonight or had seen it earlier, I am including a brief list below. Give us your ideas on these and any other idea you might have about the movie and the issue.
- One of the interesting academic/scientific issues is how deeply ingrained the now “politically correct” separation of church and state idea pervades everything in science and academia.
- The connection of Darwinism, not only to Hitler’s policies but to Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and other “lesser” mass murderers can easily be documented. When he took his theories and “ran with it,” as one of the scientists noted, Darwin became one of the most dangerous men of history. Yet he is a “scientist” and carries no blame for the atrocities. I am reminded of Romans I.
- Is anything sadder than Richard Dawkins refusing to believe in God, but, with unrefutable evidence of intelligence design, could believe in little green aliens.
- The aliens don’t solve anything. Where did they come from?
- For that matter, the existence of matter itself, the material life was built from, argues the existence of God.
- When first watching the movie, I was shocked that Baylor University was named as having fired a professor because of intelligent design. I don’t know their current status but Baylor was founded as a private Southern Baptist college. On the other hand, Harvard was founded as a private Presbyterian college.
- Stein very correctly states this as a worldview issue and says that the problem is that the science follows the worldview instead of vice versa.
- This movie really got me excited about Riverwood Classical School.
Give us your thoughts.
Posted by Jimmy Hopper at April 5, 2009 09:33 PM
I’d like to offer a comment on the worldview issue. I expected the documentary to be more of an exposition of the intolerant political correctness that stifles the academy these days. And it was that, I suppose; but it was more.
I really enjoyed the way that Stein brought the whole question around to that of worldview. Stein demonstrated, quite ably, that no particular scientific inquiry has necessarily and logically lead to the rejection of intelligent design (or creation, for that matter) since no one can prove scientifically what happened so long ago.
Rather, science merely offers data (and incomplete data, at that) onto which men project their worldview in its interpretation. Sometimes (as with the “golden chain” theory), that worldview leads to conclusions that cannot be supported in any objective way by the evidence, but nonetheless provide an explanation to those willing to indulge the worldview.
I suspect that, as discoveries in cellular biology progress, a moment will come when someone of sufficient stature and credibility will stand up and say that evolution (as a theory of the origins of life) is unworkable and will back that up with the facts.
But until that person points out that the emperor has on no clothes, I suspect that the politically correct parade will continue.
Clay, I imagine that most of the scientists in the film would still argue for evolution, even if obvious evidence to the contrary stared them in the face. Evolution is their religion. It is a presupposition that they cannot abandon without the work of the Holy Spirit.
Jimmy, I am definitely thankful for Riverwood Classical School and other alternatives to mainline education. I pray that God will continue to protect the freedom we currently have to train our children as directed by his word, so they will be equipped to defend their own faith when confronted with issues like these. I think the saddest character in the film was the scientist who came from a church-going background and, through his distorted training, came to the conclusion that there is no meaning to life at all. At least he was honest about the ramifications of his worldview.