Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed I have been anxiously awaiting this documentary for some time now, and in the spirit of full-disclosure, admit that I knew which side of the argument I would be on going into the theater. Ben Stein was the driving force behind the project. He is an attorney, professor, economist and former speech writer for Nixon and Ford, but we all know him by the famous words “Buehler? Buehler?” And the “Clear Eyes” commercials.

Mr. Stein had been concerned for some time about the spirit of Politically Correct bias in the science community, which censors the discussion of certain topics with the rabid ferocity of the Spanish Inquisition. Why—he wanted to know—are so many ‘scientists’ so unwilling to give any credence at all to the idea of Intelligent Design? Is it just a crackpot red herring, espoused by fringe elements of the pseudo sciences? Or is something else going on? He traveled all over the world to interview people on both sides of the argument and the result is a compelling, fascinating review of the situation, which turns out to be far more severe and troubling than I ever suspected.

Ben is the most congenial, unassuming and non-threatening human being in existence, which is what got him into a lot of doors. But a lot were closed in his face as well, and all from one side of the isle, as it were.

The film starts out with images of Nazi Germany and the Berlin Wall, the infamous legacy of that conflict. A very well-presented history of Darwinism is offered, not at all slanted, then called into question by interviewees who each had impeccable credentials and careers until they dared mention Intelligent Design, at which point they lost their jobs. Fired. Let go. These were not people from the Right Wing Fringe of Fundamentalist Wacko’s (like me), but liberal, multiple PhD movers and shakers. And they didn’t espouse ID, they just mentioned it in a presentation, or approved a peer-reviewed paper for publication that mentioned it. And were fired for daring to step outside the safe harbor of orthodoxy. You know, like Charles Darwin did in the 1850’s.

He traces Planned Parenthood to the Eugenics movement of the early 20th century, said movement being one of the legacies of Darwinism. He looks into the historical record of Hitler and his Social Democrats (Nazis) being fervently committed to Darwinism, explaining that Hitler’s war (WWII) was fundamentally a product of trying to affect human evolution to match the Third Reich’s vision of genetic ascendancy. It is made clear that this in no way is meant to paint Darwin or his theories into the Nazi nightmare with a very broad brush. Only that Darwinian Evolution can be logically extrapolated into areas beyond morality and ethics—like eugenics (the selective breeding and culling of human beings) because of evolutions intrinsic devaluation of the human species.

The scientists he talks to make it clear on one side of the “wall” that any discussion of Intelligent Design is merely a poorly disguised attempt at bringing Creationism back to the table, while those on the other side of the “wall” insist nothing could be further from the truth. He talked to atheists who acknowledged the short comings of Darwinism, and saw ID as a way to expand the discussion, open other avenues of inquiry. They all stated categorically that Intelligent Design has nothing to do with Creationism. Creationism, for those of us who might be a little fuzzy, insists on a literal interpretation of the Bible and tries to find scientific evidence of those events in the creation story. Intelligent Design, is much different. New research into and greater understanding of things like the cell, neurology, etc., are all leading molecular biologists to admit that the structural and bio-chemical complexity of the cell, make it impossible for randomly occurring mutations to be the sole explanation for the existence of life. Darwin, in 1850, thought the cell was a simple, straightforward organism, with a nucleus and some proteins. Now we know it’s far more complex than anything ever made by man. Including photo-copy machines.

In one sequence Stein asks some guy to explain how life began and the guy went off on the accepted script of orthodox evolution. But when Ben pressed him and asked, “yeah, but how did that stuff that wasn’t alive, suddenly become alive? The guy said “one theory is that these complex molecules rode piggy-back on crystals. Once again, “Yeah, but how did it become alive?”
And the guy got angry, or frustrated, and said “I just told you! Piggy-back on crystals!”
And that’s what passes for a Darwinian Evolution apologist?
The only people who got angry and strident and impatient were the ones having to defend Darwin. It was as if (Actually, not as if—it was) they resented having to defend a theory. That they would not tolerate questioning anything about it. The relationship between the attitudes and behavior of many of these scientists, and Nazi fascism was disturbing. It is very similar to what is happening with “Climate Change” (the current PC term for Global Warming). Science has allowed itself to be politicized. And in some sense at least, to become a religion. For too many in the scientific community, evolution (an idea to which I subscribe, with a few caveats—as most of you know) has become a cult, which cannot be scrutinized or criticized at all, by anyone. (Which reminds me of something Tom Cruise said . . .)
The film was immensely watchable, fast paced, well edited, and to my mind, very even-handed given the subject and the admitted bias. Stein is not a proponent of replacing evolution with Intelligent Design. I don’t think any of the people he talked to were either. They all want a dialogue, a discussion, an ongoing debate—like science is supposed to be. I dare say most people in the field feel that way—in fact Stein said that a lot of the people he spoke to would admit to problems, weaknesses and gaps in the theory of evolution, but would not say so on camera. They did say they wished the whole thing was more open to debate without losing one’s job.
Near the end, he somehow corners the infamous Richard Dawkins, the really, really smart moron who wrote The God Delusion into admitting that Intelligent Design (in the form of Pan Spermia) is a possibility. It just can’t be God. I’m not sure why—he had trouble answering that one.
But even Pan Spermia (the idea that life was seeded on earth from somewhere else, possibly by highly advanced aliens) doesn’t answer the most important question, which is; how did those highly-advanced aliens come into existence? Did they evolve form a single-celled organism? And if so, how did that organism go from not-alive to alive? It’s a good question and it is never going away. Darwin can’t answer it, Dawkins can’t answer it—nobody can answer it. Evolution is as meaningless as a stack of turtles without an answer to that one.

Rated PG. Remember, it’s a documentary. Not only do I give it my highest recommendation, I am pleading with you to go see it. Take your kids. If you are a die-hard Darwinian and will never change, go see it. If you are a snake-handling Pentecostal fundamentalist, go see it. We all need to know that the debate is legitimate.

Forbidden Kingdom

The Forbidden Kingdom Okay, this is another of those kind-of-American-made (or paid for) Chinese-mythical-Kung-Fu-movies. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and others. Jackie Chan and Jet Li are the principals and this is the first time they have worked together. I was enthusiastic to see it and I’m glad I did. The story seems to be another in an unending supply of amazing tales of heroes and immortals from Chinese Mythology. But this one doesn’t quite live up to the promise—and genius—of some of the others. Having said that, I enjoyed it, over all. It has all the action any martial arts fanatic could want, the story is beautiful in that exotic, Asian way, and the stunts and special effects are . . . acceptable. I’m not sure where the weaknesses are, but they are there. The copy I saw had some editing problems, and I thought the acting wasn’t up to snuff. A lack of chemistry might have been a cause as well. There is no profanity, no sex or skin, and no gore. It is however, pretty much wall to wall fighting—albeit very stylized fighting. And a little flying. It is rated PG-13. Die-hard fans of the genre will like it, (a few people clapped when it was over) as well as people who aren’t really paying attention. (you know, high school kids.) If you are Gloria, or Howie, or Larry, or Terri, I don’t recommend it. Although . . . the mood Terri’s in lately, she might surprise me.