Recently I was looking at this very website, and one of the advertisements caught my eye. It said, “Why is Big Science suppressing the evidence of Intelligent Design?” and it was an ad for a movie called Expelled, which is apparently a Ben Stein joint.

So I went to the website for the movie and found that Ben Stein has gotten into the documentary business with this film about the suppression of science by the government. I have not seen the movie, so all of my information is from the film’s website.

First off, the main claim of the film is that the public is being forced to believe in evolution because big science is run by the government, who is using this propaganda to further it’s own cause. The claim is that the American people are being duped because of the “government’s expanding role in defining the curriculum in America’s schools, universities and institutions of science”.

The film also apparently claims that those who dare question Darwinism and argue in favor of intelligent design are being persecuted, and this film is a call to action to students and teachers to save the educational process. The website tells teachers,

“Your students are being bombarded with such propaganda throughout their education; despite the fact that MOST Americans do NOT believe we’re the result of ‘random chance’.”

Fortunately, we do not base our science on what MOST Americans DO or DO NOT believe in. We base our science on the scientific method. The problem facing backers of Intelligent Design is that they refuse to participate in the process. They don’t want to go through the rigorous scientific process of hypothesizing, experimenting, and peer review. That is why Intelligent Design is not part of the curriculum, not “big science.”

The film’s website calls this “arguably the smartest and most sophisticated documentary ever produced on the right side of the cultural divide, on any subject, ever.” That sounds pretty unbiased.

They also claim that the government is behind this pro-evolution, anti-ID movement. Do they not realize that for 20 of the last 28 years, there have been anti-atheist presidents, and for the other eight you had a religious democrat.

George W. Bush is on record as being in favor of teaching creationism.

His father George H.W. Bush is the author of the quote, “No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God.”

Ronald Reagon’s take on evolution was,

“Well, it’s a theory, it is a scientific theory only, and it has in recent years been challenged in the world of science and is not yet believed in the scientific community to be as infallible as it once was believed. But if it was going to be taught in the schools, then I think that also the biblical theory of creation, which is not a theory, but the biblical story of creation, should also be taught.”

Which of these men was behind the government’s “big science” agenda?”

The problem with this “debate” isn’t that Intelligent Design is being suppressed, it’s that it has been examined and lacks scientific merit worthy of debate. If ID had sufficient scientific value, it would be openly debated and examined. The problem is that the theory, in it’s current form, does not stand up to scientific evaluation. Bring a scientist a scientific debate and they’ll engage.

I would bet that 99.999% of university scientists I’m sure are more interested in science than agenda. The fact that so many top level scientists are willing to debate global warming is something that should be noticed. The fact that none of them are interested in Intelligent Design should be recognized for it’s science based meaning, not it’s philosophical meaning.

If the ID folks can present real scientific data, not just “here’s what we think happened”, then they will be taken seriously. This isn’t the work of the government or a secret agenda, it’s simply science. If you have no data or experiments, you will not be welcomed or taken seriously. There are entire schools dedicated to fields of evolution, and none of them have been “proven wrong.” There is nothing in favor of Intelligent Design worthy of much more than a lecture, much less a whole program or school.

There is a scientific method, and you must follow it to be accepted into the scientific world. Simply telling scientists that they’re wrong isn’t going to get you on the curriculum with your version of what you think happened.

The website for the film also makes mention of Albert Einstein and Galileo, saying that they wouldn’t be welcome in today’s scientific society due to their thinking outside of the box. The funny thing is, their discoveries are amongst the top reasons why real scientists don’t take Intelligent Design seriously.

The church put Galileo under house arrest for believing in something that was not what the church taught. Einstein’s theory of relativity and other scientific advances further crippled religion’s views on the universe. Then the site has the nerve to try to quote Einstein to make him look religious, saying “I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.”

It doesn’t bother to show his quotes about his actual faith (or lack thereof), such as:

“I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”

Einstein and Galileo did more scientific damage to religion than almost everyone else not named Darwin. For an obviously pro-religion film to try to quote them as being on their side is laughable to me.

I have not seen this film, nor do I plan to. I’m sure it will be debated by many after the film comes out, and I’ll leave that to those that have watched it. I have nothing against Ben Stein or this particular film itself, I just don’t watch any documentary type film that I think is either biased or propaganda. I have not watched, nor will I watch An Inconvenient Truth for the same reasons, and I’ll never watch any Michael Moore film.

I am merely attempting to counter the idea of the film, not the film itself. I’ve read the website, and I’ve read the press kit, and I believe this film will be very factually inaccurate and extremely biased. I will never watch such propaganda, and I hope you won’t either. No matter what side of the argument you are on, this is not the way to “win” the argument.

If you want Intelligent Design or creation to be taught or argued alongside of evolution, present actual scientific data and be willing to have it go through the process, including peer review. If it stands up to that, then we’ll talk. But until you’re ready for your work to be scientifically examined, stop trying to force this propaganda.

Here’s what another cat thinks about this film, based on the previews.

Discussion

No comments for “Ben Stein vs. Big Science”

Post a comment