Movie review: Propaganda piece "Expelled" flunks

Last update: April 17, 2008 - 5:18 PM

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the truth exposed

âjacksonâ, you are the one that is uninformed. Please, do some DD (not ID): âMichael Behe (as seen in the movie) believes that many … read more systems are âirreducibly complex,â which is just a fancy new name for the very old argument that some systems in nature are made up of parts that are too well matched and work together too perfectly to be the work of evolution; instead, the argument goes, such systems must be the products of an intelligent designer who sounds suspiciously like God.â This is the definition of Intelligent Design. From the other side: http://www.expelledexposed.com/ Remember Ben Stein walking around Seattle, and mentioning the Discovery Institute? âThe ID movement is orchestrated by the Center for Science and Culture (CSC), a subdivision of the Discovery Institute, a conservative Christian think tank based in Seattle.â From LiveScience.com http://www.livescience.com/health/050922_ID_main.html The CSCâs purpose consists of two points: 1.) challenge the validity of scientific evolution, and 2.) replace it with ID. The policies and action plan for carrying out the above, is known as âThe Wedge Documentâ (http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html). In this document, the Discovery Institute states that the center's long-term goals are nothing less than the "overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies," and the replacement of "materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God." There is a 5-year and 20-year plan. The first as described, above, is to replace scientific evolution with theistic evolution (this time around, its ID). Once it has been ingrained into the heads of this countriesâ generation of children that science is anti-God, the 20-year plan is to replace ALL science (including medicine) and politics with Christian theistic teachings, and as a result, the creation of a Christian religious state. In effect, this is no different than what we see in current Iran, and what occurred in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. PBS NOVA Series on the Dover, PA ID Trial: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/ At the MOA showing: http://richarddawkins.net/article,2400,Expelled-Overview,Josh-Timonen-RichardDawkinsnet National Center for Science Education http://www.ncseweb.org/ Other âExpelledâ reviews: http://www.expelledexposed.com/index.php/resources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Discovery_Institute

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1/2 out of four stars

Unrated; includes concentration camp footage

According to "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," the source of all evil in the modern world is Darwinism, a philosophy that, the film posits, is responsible for everything from atheism to abortion, euthanasia to the Holocaust.

A hard-core, fundamentalist bit of right-wing propaganda, "Expelled" slyly appropriates its style from liberal and left-wing sources, sending Ben Stein out to do deadpan interviews of a grab-bag of experts and wack jobs, while intercutting old movies, new animation and newsreel footage.

Typical of all propaganda, it also distorts language. The narration talks of "Darwinism" -- not evolution -- to make it sound like a dangerously secular cult; creationism is replaced by the more scientific-sounding "intelligent design." After an hour and a half, my faith in Darwin was shaken because, judging by what was on screen, we haven't evolved one blessed bit.

STEPHEN WHITTY,

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