Commentary: Expelled: Persecutiion Fantasies? Holocaust Denial? I Don't Think So...

From the article:
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The movie Expelled, a documentary film about the conflict between
intelligent design and evolution, opened last weekend. Expelled takes a
hard look at the evolutionary worldview, including a focus on how the
science establishment has badly treated ID advocates. Ben Stein, a man of
several professions, stars in Expelled as narrator, interviewer, and guide.

Perhaps running scared, evolutionists in science and the media have roundly
attacked the effort. Their message: Don't see this horrible movie! Perhaps
that should give you all the more incentive to see the film - or to go see
it a second time.

An example of this condemnation comes from bioethics expert Arthur Kaplan at
the University of Pennsylvania. He wrote a misguided opinion column for
MSNBC, Intelligent Design Film Far Worse than Stupid. I looked over this
article -- from one of the leading bioethicists in the country -- for a
reality check.

CAPLAN: He says that in the film there is "not a shred of intelligence on
display"

REALITY: Not a shred? Oh, come on, didn't he at least enjoy the intelligence
of the evolutionists interviewed in the film? With oversimplification at
the ready, he resorts way too much to name calling instead of well-reasoned
arguments.

CAPLAN: "The movie seeks to explain why, as a matter of freedom of speech,
intelligent design should be taught in America's science classrooms and
presented in America's publicly funded science museums."

REALITY: Yes, the movie indirectly makes this argument. Yet it's much more
than that. It's also a science argument, explaining the weaknesses of
evolutionary theory and the advantages of intelligent design.

Caplan appears to expect a geeky science film, but this is an overview
documentary with a Hollywood flair. Nobody would watch it if the movie was
made in Caplan's image. Guess he'd be pleased at that.

Caplan thinks teaching ID would be very, very bad. Actually polls show most
parents would like a counterweight to the "evolution has no faults" school
of thought. Why should a current consensus of scientists dictate what
parents' children learn? Scientific consensus has often proven wrong and
evolution is in much more of an internal crisis than they are letting on.
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Read it at http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/364379.aspx









J. Spaceman

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Relevant Pages

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