Pastor Steve's thoughts

Expelled: No Intelligence Required

Expelled is a documentary playing in movie theaters. The movie was produced by Ben Stein who has a colorful background. Stein graduated as the valedictorian of Yale Law School, practiced law, writes about economics, and eventually appeared in movies. Stein has hosted television game shows and worked as a Hollywood consultant.

The major premise of the movie is that Intelligent Design theories have been expelled from discussions about Darwinian theories. He cites numerous examples of suppression such as the firing of Richard Sternberg from the prestigious Smithsonian. Stein rings the alarm bell. Instead of science questioning everything, the scientific community has quashed opposing opinions by labeling opponents as idiots and simple minded oafs.

The second premise of the movie (perhaps a sub-premise would be better) is that Darwinian evolutionary thinking has profound implications for society. If people are mere animals with no moral compass, then what prevents such genocide? Stein uses the holocaust and Adolph Hitler as an example.

Essentially, Stein maintains that freedom of inquiry does not exist in this context. Scientists who have brought up the arguments of Intelligent Design have been ostracized, fired, and so on. This atmosphere limits freedom of discussion.

What is Intelligent Design? ID contends that the design of the universe (stability, complexity, and irreducibly complex systems) is best explained by as intentional design and thus a designer at work. This is hardly an unreasonable conclusion.

ID is different than the strict Creationist view. Creationism argues that the world was created in 24 hour days and is very young (Usually thousands of years old and not billions of years). Creationists are often opposed to the views of Intelligent Design and the debate is lively (i.e. This is seen in the writings of Hugh Ross, Norm Geisler, Ken Ham).

Yet, many of the film critics have called the film a creationist, fundamentalist campaign. These reviewers have labeled ID as a fundamentalist doctrine which is incorrect.

Here’s my own experience with the quashing of the discussion. While I was a Mechanical Engineering student at Kansas State University, I took a class called Fundamentals of Thermodynamics. Entropy was a major portion of the curriculum. During the class, I asked the professor to talk about the ramifications of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy) upon the discussion of origins. Then I quoted from the class text book,

“The final point to be made is that the second law of thermodynamics and the principle of the increase of entropy have philosophical implications...If all processes known to us have an increase in entropy associated with them, what is the future of the world as we know it?...Quite obviously it is impossible to give conclusive answers to these questions on the basis of the second law of thermodynamics alone. However, the authors see the second law of thermodynamics as man’s description of the prior and continuing work of a creator, who also holds the answer to the future destiny of man and the universe.” (page 248 of Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics)

The professor did not want to discuss the statements. In fact, the professor scorned me for bringing up religion.

A local college science teacher commented to my wife, “You can’t even bring up the issue. It can’t be discussed.”

The critics have labeled the movie as a source of bigotry and have called it bad science. Most of the reviewers only confirmed Ben Stein’s point. No one really desires to discuss the issues and a wall of suppression exists.

Go see it and take your kids with you. Discuss it with your friends and use the movie to have conversations with people about spiritual issues.