Expelled: Evidence of "Political Food Fight" Explained

A good friend of mine, a brother from Memphis, asked me about seeing “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” saying he was a little skeptical of the film.

My advice was to see this film AND to be skeptical.

A few years ago many of us recommended for disciples to read Dan Brown’s controversial thriller The Da Vinci Code. We said to 1) read it, 2) enjoy it and 3) take it with a (heavy) grain of salt. Christians would then be able to discuss the novel and its claims intelligently with others and even use it as an opportunity to share their faith in the real Jesus of the Bible. I would humbly advise the same with the new movie “Expelled” for the following reasons.

 

1) This film looks entertaining; something humorous with a good point (see below) but not to be taken too seriously. My misgiving here is that it appears to be a propaganda piece rather than a true documentary. Michael Moore is a talented maker of often-entertaining films, but they are NOT documentaries. Moore creates agenda-driven propaganda/publicity stunts that may be fun to watch and may have a message, but they are not the evenhanded explorations of a topic that a true documentarian like Ken Burns does in all of his PBS documentaries (“The Civil War,” “Jazz,” “The War,” etc.). “Expelled” appears to be a conscious attempt to ape Moore's style and be a crowd-pleasing, rabble-rousing, antiestablishment satire. That's okay with me, but it's simply countering the acerbic ridicule of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens with more of the same. It's basically a food fight about origins.

 

Unfortunately, the provocative nature of the film “will throw gasoline on the fire” as Dr. John Oakes points out, but religion-bashing atheist evolutionists like Dawkins have been stoking this fire for years. In fact the first satirical documentary concerning Intelligent Design was marine biologist Randy Olson’s 2006 film “Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus,” which ridicules Intelligent Design advocates. With the so-called "New Atheists" and other supporters of atheistic macroevolution dominating the mainstream media, “Expelled” is simply putting another perspective out there for public consideration. But there is no doubt that this is a polarizing film which may shed more heat than light on a controversial issue.

 

2) “Expelled” looks a bit heavy-handed in its approach, exaggerating the persecution of design theorists in academia. But all hiring, promotion, tenure and firing of science professors, as well as access to research grants, is controlled by the mainstream scientific community, which is overwhelmingly pro-(atheistic) evolution. Scientific naturalists also oversee the editing and publishing of scientific journals and the review and editing of journal articles. Then they argue that "if creation/creationism/creation science/Intelligent Design theory were REALLY scientific, wouldn’t it appear in peer-reviewed scientific journals?" This is totally disingenuous. Anything that smacks of creation or design is 1) blocked from ever appearing in the scientific literature, and 2) savagely attacked and caricatured in the pages of SKEPTIC and Scientific American and on television shows like Real Time with Bill Maher and The Colbert Report. So the scientific establishment never officially acknowledges the existence of alternate theories concerning the development of biological systems, theories which are then simply ridiculed in popular culture. So where is the scholarly debate? And where does the average person hear a dissenting view? This movie, while using extreme examples, highlights the turf war that is being waged in suppressing these contrary views.

 

3) “Expelled” seems to share another trait of Michael Moore's films: being manipulative. Moore often stages publicity stunts and edits interviews to make his point and then dishonestly presents this as a truth-seeking documentary by a hard-hitting journalist. According to blog posts from Richard Dawkins and Michael Shermer, “Expelled” plays with the facts in a similar way. Dawkins and others were interviewed for a conventional creation/evolution documentary ostensibly titled "Crossroads," only to find they had been set up. This is the kind of "ambush interview" that is typical of Moore. While they say the evolutionists knew (or should have known) where the interviews were going, the makers of “Expelled” have not answered these allegations in a convincing way. This film is supposed to expose the truth (about stonewalling in the scientific community) but the project doesn't seem to have been truthfully pursued. While Jewish thinkers like Ben Stein, David Berlinski and Gerald Schroeder are the prominent players in “Expelled”, it is being marketed heavily to Christians. This just cements Dawkins' stereotype of Christians as right wing, anti-scientific, fundamentalist hypocrites who will say and do anything to wrest control of society from the cultural elite (ironically the same cultural elite that loves slanted "documentaries" by Michael Moore and Al Gore). Once again, it's a political food fight.

 

Should you see this “Expelled?” If you are thinking about seeing it, see it. This will enable you to discuss it intelligently (pun not intended) with others. If you would prefer a more conventional “PBS style” documentary, Coldwater Media’s 2002 DVD “Icons of Evolution” is an excellent (an inexpensive) introduction to this subject, in which atheist evolutionists and Intelligent Design theorists alike are interviewed tastefully and respectfully.

 

Should your ministry see “Expelled?” This is up to local ministry leaders and members. Teens and campus students will no doubt enjoy it and even benefit from it, but might be left with an adversarial view of mainstream science and scientists that will not help them in the long run. A Christian should enter the classroom (or the lab) with an open and critical mind, not an attitude. Once again, the “Icons of Evolution” DVD could substitute for or supplement “Expelled” effectively.

 

Should you or your ministry actively promote “Expelled?” I would say no. While there have been and continue to be some unfounded attacks on the film, there are enough legitimate questions and concerns about its production and approach to make disciples wary of being too closely associated with it. This film will come and go, but our example for Christ will linger on in the minds of the people we are seeking to influence in the world.

 

Your brother,

 

Vice President

Apologetics Research Society