Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is under more and more scrutiny as publicity for the “documentary” grows. This Ben Stein joint is based on the premise that theories and evidence of intelligent design are being suppressed by “big science”, the ridiculous little phrase they use to refer to academia and scientists in general.

I’ve already given my take on this Michael Moore-esque hackery, but now Scientific American has stepped up and exposed Expelled.

Authors John Rennie and Steve Mirsky point out six things that Mr. Stein doesn’t want you to know about evolution and intelligent design. On the list are:

1. Expelled quotes Charles Darwin selectively to connect his ideas to eugenics and the Holocaust.
2. Ben Stein’s speech to a crowded auditorium in the film was a setup.
3. Scientists in the film thought they were being interviewed for a different movie.
4. The ID-sympathetic researcher whom the film paints as having lost his job at the Smithsonian Institution was never an employee there.
5. Science does not reject religious or “design-based” explanations because of dogmatic atheism.
6. Many evolutionary biologists are religious and many religious people accept evolution.

I think one of my favorite passages in the article is this one:

During Scientific American’s post-screening conversation with Expelled associate producer Mark Mathis, we asked him why Ken Miller was not included in the film. Mathis explained that his presence would have “confused” viewers. But the reality is that showing Miller would have invalidated the film’s major premise that evolutionary biologists all reject God.

The reason I feel inclined to point this all out is not only for matters of truth, which is far and away the most important, but also because the very people who made this film, and it’s target audience, are the same people who blast people like Michael Moore for making misleading and inaccurate “documentaries.”

And don’t get me wrong, I think Moore is a complete hack with no integrity, ethics, or authority. The amount of incorrect or misleading pieces of information in his films discredit everything he says. This film falls in the same category.

How in the world do you make a “documentary” where you stage your “star character” giving a speech about intelligent design on a college campus, and have the entire thing staged. A room full of extras giving Mr. Stein a standing ovation doesn’t mean a damn thing. Why not make a cartoon if you’re going to play the game this way.

I highly suggest anyone, agree or disagree, with even a slightly open mind, read Scientific American’s article before watching ridiculous propaganda like this film.

Having said all that, I loved Win Ben Stein’s Money, and I agree with his views on many, many issues. But he’s just out of his element here.

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