Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by ZayZayEM (talk | contribs) at 03:59, 18 December 2007 (restore documentary links, per talkpage consensus; hesitant to add Category:Documentaries about science, lack of science content in film...). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Future film

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a controversial documentary film which argues that intelligent design proponents are discriminated against by the scientific community. Starring Ben Stein, it is due to be released in February 2008. The film alleges "that freedom of thought and freedom of inquiry have been expelled from publicly-funded high schools, universities and research institutions”. It is claimed to show that educators and scientists who see evidence of a supernatural intelligence in biological processes have been unfairly ridiculed, presenting cases such as an application to be granted tenure being refused and a biology teacher having to leave the university, and describes this as due to a scientific conspiracy to keep God out of the nation’s laboratories and classrooms. The trailer shows Ben Stein stating that his intention is to unmask “people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can’t possibly touch God.”

There is no credible scientific challenge to the modern theory of evolution which explains the complexity and diversity of life on earth. Scientists commonly hold religious faiths, while using the methodological naturalism of the scientific method which looks to nature to answer questions about nature and ignores supernatural explanations which are by definition “not within the scope or abilities of science.” This view is the scientific consensus of the overwhelming majority of the scientific community. However, the press release for the film alleges that Stein discovers "an elitist scientific establishment that has traded in its skepticism for dogma" and allows no dissent from what it calls "Charles Darwin’s theory of random mutation and natural selection."

Although not yet released, the film is being promoted by a Christian movie site, and by organizations affiliated with the Discovery Institute, the hub and source of the intelligent design movement. As part of the Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns claiming discrimination one of the institute's websites, Intelligent Design the Future, makes the claim that Expelled "reveals the stark truth: Darwinists have been conspiring to keep design out of classrooms, out of journals, and out of public discourse." The Discovery Institute has been critical of some of the statements made in promotion for the film, issuing a disclaimer that intelligent design is not creationism.

People presented in the film

The film is described by its promoters as citing several people as victims of persecution. Those named have featured in Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns.

Richard Sternberg is cited for the Sternberg peer review controversy which arose when, having served as editor of the scientific journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington and giving in his resignation in the previous year, he arranged for his last issue to include publication of a paper by leading intelligent design proponent Stephen C. Meyer. The review procedure was questioned and the journal subsequently declared that the paper "does not meet the scientific standards of the Proceedings" and would not have been published had usual editorial practices been followed.

The astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State University, co-wrote the book The Privileged Planet promoting intelligent design claims. After the normal review of aspects such as his record of scientific publications which had dropped sharply after he joined the faculty, he was not granted tenure and promotion on the grounds that he "simply did not show the trajectory of excellence that we expect in a candidate seeking tenure in physics and astronomy." In the previous decade, four of the 12 candidates who came up for review in the department were not granted tenure. The Discovery Institute then launched a campaign portraying Gonzalez as a victim of discrimination.

Biologist Caroline Crocker was barred by George Mason University from teaching a Cell Biology class over her introduction of intelligent design into it, and her contract at that university was not renewed.

The film also includes interviews with scientists who advocate the teaching of evolution and are opposed to the intrusion of creationism and other religious doctrines in science classes, biologists PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins and anthropologist Eugenie Scott.

Claims of deception by interviewees

The movie has been criticized by several of the interviewees, including biologists PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins and anthropologist Eugenie Scott, who were asked to be interviewed for a film named Crossroads on the "intersection of science and religion", with a blurb which described the strong support that had been accumulated for evolution, and contrasted this with the religious who rejected it, and the controversy this caused.

On learning of the pro-intelligent design stance of the real film, Myers said "not telling one of the sides in a debate about what the subject might be and then leading him around randomly to various topics, with the intent of later editing it down to the parts that just make the points you want, is the video version of quote-mining and is fundamentally dishonest." Richard Dawkins said "At no time was I given the slightest clue that these people were a creationist front"; and Eugenie Scott, of the National Center for Science Education, said "I just expect people to be honest with me, and they weren’t."

Mark Mathis (one of the film's producers who set up the interviews for Expelled) described such criticism as hypocritical: "I've never seen a bigger bunch of hypocrites in my life...I went over all of the questions with these folks before the interviews and I e-mailed the questions to many of them days in advance. The lady (and gentleman) doth protest too much, methinks." The film's proponents point to Dawkins himself having participated in the BBC Horizon documentary "A War on Science", which they allege is an attack on Intelligent Design. That documentary features intelligent design proponents Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe, Stephen C. Meyer and William A. Dembski, and proponents of Expelled allege that the producers of the BBC documentary presented themselves to the Discovery Institute as objective filmmakers and then portrayed the organization as religiously-motivated and anti-scientific.

Defending the movie, the producer, Walt Ruloff, said that scientists like prominent geneticist Francis Collins keep their religion and science separate only because they are "toeing the party line". Collins, who was not asked to be interviewed for the film in any of its incarnations, said that Ruloff's claims were "ludicrous".

Promotion

The film's website includes trailers, additional material, press articles, and a blog. The blog's first entry was an open letter from Ben Stein which explains his personal premise for the movie. Stein utilizes arguments based on freedom of inquiry, teleology and the beliefs of historically prominent scientists. He also accuses the modern American scientific establishment as being "a new anti-religious dogmatism". The letter suggests that Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein based their work and discoveries on creationist assumptions, and that they would not be allowed to pursue their science in the anti-religious scientific atmosphere that exists today.

The film's long format "super trailer" implies that this film is so controversial that any scientist who watches the film will be summarily fired from his or her job, and suggests that the content of this film is so dangerous that teachers, legislators and journalists should not view it either. It promotes the intelligent design explanation for the species observed on planet earth and their behavior, and implies there is no evidence for the mainstream scientifically-accepted understanding of the origins of species. The trailer and other promotional materials often refer to evolution as "Darwinism", a term that has acquired negative connotations because it is used by creationists and intelligent design supporters to connote atheism and other unpopular beliefs. The trailer states that the current era of "Darwinism" began after Einstein's career ended (in 1955), and that therefore scientific publications questioning Darwinism would have been welcomed until the last few decades, but no longer are possible. The trailer also claims that there is a conspiracy of Darwinists, the courts, schools and the media to squelch all discussion of intelligent design.

The website also asks for submissions of personal stories of discrimination against students for suggesting design or questioning Darwinian theory, with the enticement that a winning story, or stories will be featured in the film.

The press release for the movie asks, "Were we designed or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning?" It claims that several scientists who found evidence for design have been censored in various ways. The press release asserts that "Big Science" does not allow dissent from "Charles Darwin’s theory of random mutation and natural selection." It suggests that there is no evidence for evolution.

To publicise the film, Ben Stein featured on The O'Reilly Factor. Intelligent design was described by Bill O'Reilly as the idea that "a deity created life", and Stein stated that "There's no doubt about it. We have lots and lots of evidence of it in the movie. And you know Einstein worked within the framework of believing there was a God. Newton worked within the framework of believing there was a God. For gosh sakes Darwin worked within the framework of believing there was a God. And yet, somehow, today you're not allowed to believe it. Why can't we have as much freedom as Darwin had?" The Discovery Institute quickly issued a statement that when Bill O'Reilly conflated intelligent design with creationism he was mistakenly defining it as an attempt to find a divine designer, and regretting that "Ben referred to the 'gaps' in Darwin's theory, as if those are the only issues that intelligent design theory addresses." It went on to assert that "intelligent design also provides a robust positive case, and a serious scientific research approach", a claim that had been explicitly refuted at Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.

See also

• Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns‎

References

1. ^ Dean, Cordelia (September 27, 2007). "Scientists Feel Miscast in Film on Life's Origin". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
2. ^ Lesley Burbridge-Bates (2007-08-22). "Expelled Press Release" (PDF). Premise Media. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "99.9 percent of scientists accept evolution" Finding the Evolution in Medicine National Institutes of Health
4. ^ Kitzmiller v. Dover:4. Whether ID is Science
5. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". ChristianCinema.com. 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "In the News - Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". ARN. 2007-09-24. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. ^ "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed the new film on the ID controversy". ID the future. 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2007-09-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ Robert Crowther (October 24, 2007). "Evolution News & Views: Intelligent Design is Not Creationism (No Matter What Bill O'Reilly Thinks)". Discovery Institute. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
9. "Council Statement". The Biological Society of Washington. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
10. "News Service: Iowa State University". Statement from Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy. Iowa State University. June 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "Iowa Citizens for Science - Gonzalez, Discovery Institute seek to replace science with politics, religion". Retrieved 2007-12-16.
12. Darwin Goes to Church, Henry G. Brinton, Washington Post, September 18, 2005
13. ""Crossroads" synopsis". Rampant Films. Retrieved 2007-12-12., under "Properties" menu, select "Crossroads" icon
14. ^ PZ Myers (2007-08-22). "I'm gonna be a ☆ MOVIE STAR ☆". Pharyngula. Scienceblogs. Retrieved 2007-09-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. PZ Myers (2007-08-28). "Expelled producer seems to be embarrassed about his sneaky tactics". Pharyngula. Scienceblogs. Retrieved 2007-09-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. ^ Cornelia Dean (2007-09-27). "Scientists Feel Miscast in Film on Life's Origin". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. ^ LifeSiteNews.com (2007-10-05). "Atheist Scientists in Uproar". LifeSiteNews.com. Retrieved 2007-10-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
18. Ben Stein's Introductory Blog, Ben Stein, August 21, 2007.
19. Expelled Movie trailers
20. MOVIE CONTEST Premise Media Corporation, Accessed Novemeber 2007
21. PZ Myers (October 24, 2007). "Pharyngula: Official denial, unofficial endorsement". Pharyngula. Retrieved 2007-12-16.

External links

• Expelled homepage
• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed at IMDb

• 2008 films
• Intelligent design controversies
• American documentary films
• Discovery Institute campaigns
• Documentaries about education
• Documentaries about religion