Thoughts on Ben Stein’s New Movie

Yesterday I went to a pre-showing of Ben Stein’s new movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The documentary is fascinating. It is well produced, edited, and presented. The basis of the film is to reveal how intolerant the Universities and Scientific Institutions, in our country, are in regard to any individuals who suggest an investigation of scientific theories that challenge the conclusions of Darwinism. The problem is much greater than many Americans know. Institutions like the Smithsonian Institute are shown to be acting unconstitutionally in the way that they deal with this issue. In addition to interviewing many influential scientists who, while wanting to study the issue of Intelligent Design, were either asked to leave their academic positions, did not have their contracts renewed, or who were slandered and vehemently opposed, Stein interviewed the major scientific figures promoting Darwinism. One of the highlights of the film is when Ben Stein gets Richard Dawkins to admit that we may have been created by some kind of intelligent designer—however, Dawkins still asserts that this cannot be God.

One of the goals of this film is to make Americans aware that if we continue to allow our academic institutions to teach Darwinism as the exclusive philosophical system by which we do science this country will ultimately end up in a very sad place in a matter of time. In the movie Stein traveled to Germany to see if there was a link between the Nazi regime and Darwinism. What he found was that there was a connection between Nazi Germany’s killing 15,000 people with physical or mental handicaps and Darwinism. This makes complete sense. If, as Darwinians suggest, we have simply evolved into the greatest species, then anyone who is not where the best are need to be eliminated in order to created the greatest society in existence. This is also at the very foundation of Planned Parenthood. We have been seeing major effects of Darwinism on our country over the past forty years but we are yet to see the devastation that will come as it takes root downward and branches out upwards.

Being a proponent of a Christian theistic world and life view, I am not overly excited about the Intelligent Design arguments per se, but I am, nevertheless, wanting to promote this movie. This is more than a call for people to go and see the documentary. This is a call to consider how we may pull our resources to address this issue. The assistant producer of the movie is hoping that this will cause such a stir that something radical will be done. This may go nowhere or it may serve as a platform for legislation and, even more importantly, for the Gospel. If you have read this and are interested please pass this on to others who would have an interest.

You can see the Expelled Movie trailer here

You can watch R.C. Sproul interview Ben Stein here