Ben Stein is dead to me. It’s a shame, considering my own high school has long touted him as one of our most prominent alumni. Unfortunately, he must have skipped biology class more than a few times because his new anti-evolution movie Expelled (in theaters April 18) infuriates me. It paints intelligent design as the underdog, stifled by “Big Science”.
In a country where more than half of the population believes that man was created as literally described in the Bible and only 12% believe we evolved without divine intervention (Gallup poll), I find it laughable that religion is described as the underdog in the battle for public opinion.
There are countless examples in science of a single individual’s ideas changing the world. Copernicus, Newton, Einstein, Darwin, Watson and Crick, Claude Shannon… We name entire branches of science after the single person who was brave enough to buck the status quo and discover something new.
When I was in school I learned about Newtonian physics, Einsteinian physics, Maxwell’s equations, Shannon information theory, and much more. I could fill an encyclopedia with the free-thinking individuals who came up with revolutionary ideas that transformed the world of science.
Wait, actually, those brilliant people are exactly what encyclopedias are filled with.
Is Ben Stein seriously making the argument that religion is more accepting than science of new ideas? Someone should pass that memo on to Copernicus and Galileo, they might have missed it. Interestingly, when discussing the “smear campaign” against Richard Sternberg, who unethically circumvented the peer review process to sneak an intelligent design paper into a scientific journal he edited, Ben Stein says, “publishing [the Discovery Institute’s intelligent design] paper would not have been a problem if we lived in the time of Galileo.”
Ah, the time of Galileo, when there was no higher ideal than scientific freedom. I’m sorry, what was that? The church sentenced Galileo to house arrest, banned all his works including future publications, and forced him to recant under threat of the Inquisition? And the church did not concede that the Earth actually moved around the sun until until Pope John Paul II in 1992? Oh.
Yeah, Ben Stein’s probably right. If you want to pass off your backwards religious ideas as science, you’d have a better chance in the 16th century.
The trailer begins with Ben Stein discussing evolutionists’ wacky ideas, saying: “they believe we’re nothing more than mud animated by lightning”. Nice unbiased strawman argument there. But Ben Stein is nothing if not reasonable, adding, “I have no problem if people want to believe that sort of thing.”
Though of course, no creationist diatribe would be complete without pointing out that “Darwinism’s not only improbable, it might even be dangerous” as footage of concentration camps scrolls across the screen. Hitler believed in evolution, therefore evolution caused the Holocaust. It’s a straightforward argument. Hitler also had a mustache; perhaps we should ban mustaches to prevent any future horrors.
But what upsets me the most are the simple, to the point counterarguments included as sound bites from prominent evolution supporters: “They [intelligent design proponents] are not scientists.” “Intelligent design is not a research program.” “It’s all propaganda.” Apparently, the intelligent design movement expects the average American to interpret these valid criticisms as more evidence of the narrowmindedness of “Big Science”. Unfortunately, the intelligent design movement is probably right about that, and that makes me sad.
Ben Stein claims that this is a free speech issue. Great, then as well as giving equal time to creationists, let’s give equal time to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and my own personal theory that new species of life are brought into existence on the back of invisible pink unicorns from Jupiter. No one is claiming that creationists should be muzzled, they’re simply saying their ideas do not belong in scientific journals or science classes. Because intelligent design is not science. Science is not relativistic. Ideas are born and buried on their own merits.
I have little respect for creationism, but just like Ben Stein, I have no problem if people “want to believe that sort of thing.” I just think that anyone who turns their back on science is being hypocritical to do it halfway. You don’t like science, that’s your own prerogative. But you’d better be willing to give up all the nice stuff that it’s brought you, like cars and electricity and vaccines and modern medicine. If you can do that, you’ll have my full support.
I’ve included the trailer for Expelled below for any other science-minded individuals who want to get really angry. Move your mouse over it and click the “Expelled Super Trailer” button.
