Expelling Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed!

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, is a current film touted by Ben Stein as the proof needed that there is a vast conspiracy by scientists to exclude the evidence of a divine creator, and Intelligent Designer, i.e. God, that is obscuring the truth and perpetuating a falsehood about evolution. The argument, however, is much older than this movie, and is, in my humble opinion, just another rehash of the same tired, disproven diatribe used by anti-evolutionists to get Creationism put into the classroom. I’m sorry, but I didn’t buy it then, and I don’t buy the argument now.

I am one of those people who believe that religion is religion, and science is science, and seldom shall the twain meet. Recently, the people who brought you such novel ideas as the earth is only 5,000 some odd years old and Creationism, have tried a new tactic in getting their message across. It is called Intelligent Design.

Now, I am not going to say that God had nothing to do with creating everything there is, or that God exists or doesn’t exist. That is a matter of religious belief, and there is nothing is science that can measure the God Factor in anything scientifically examined.

However, Intelligent Design (ID) is not science. It is a postulation that behind everything that exists, there must be seen the direct intervention of a Superior Being, God, if you will. I can neither confirm nor deny that by using science or the scientific method.

ID was born of the frustration that Creationists feel about not getting their unsubstantiated views shoved into public school science courses. They gave their views a more scientific feel, without any of the substance or proof needed to create a scientific theory, never put their views under scientific scrutiny, and because some of their claims have been disproved by serious science, they claim foul, equate non-believers to Nazis and do all they can to make the scientific method look like some quasi-religion that shuts out their views.

Well, in my humble opinion, it is their own set of views that excludes itself from being taken seriously. Recently I watched a show where a “scientist” was showing that because layers of land exposed by erosion were flat, it proves (a) and Noah’s flood was real, and that (b) the Earth is only a little more than 5,000 years old.

How they came to that conclusion was not clearly presented in the argument, but if they were to create a serious document, provide evidence, publish it, and then be prepared to present it, maybe they could be taken more seriously as scientists. But no, they decided to by-pass the scrutiny and scientific inquiry stages and just appeal to the public.

Now I am not saying that we common folk are unenlightened, but just as I would not want to perform surgery on someone, me not being medically trained to do so, neither would I expect the mass of people to be able to properly use the scientific method to weigh the arguments for and against ID. Heck, most people still think a theory used in science is just a best guess, failing to understand the common usage of the word theory is as far removed from the scientific use of the word as can be.

So, people may naturally say, “Yes, gee, scientists sound like a bunch of elitists that deny the existence of God! They must be punished, so allow ID to be taught in public schools!” That, at least, seems to be the hope of the current batch of ID proponents.

Without asking whether or not a god, or The God, created everything in the Universe, one must ask oneself; what are the rules by which we must play this game? Well, in science, unlike other areas of life, the rules are quite explicit. Postulate, prove, and then proclaim. The ID people would like to skip that middle section. To them, proof is anecdotal. I often stir controversy amongst my very religious friends by stating that simple fact that there is more scientific proof for how the eye was evolved than there is for the entire Bible. (By the way, for those who don’t know, the complexity of the eye was used as one example of why evolution can’t be true.)

I guess I would have to take a pass on seeing the Intelligent Design behind this film. I give it no rating, because it is neither science nor good cinematography. Sorry, Ben. You should have stuck with just giving away your money instead of throwing it away on junk like this.

For those seeking to learn more about the truth behind the REAL science, go to: http://www.expelledexposed.com/