Friday, April 11, 2008

Ben Stein, Making Christian Friends and Darwinian Enemies

I just came across something that really took me by surprise. I had no idea about this project until today, but apparently Ben Stein is coming out with a movie that will hit theatre's nation wide April 18 called "Expelled." This movie is about the fact that schools around the world have almost unanimously "expelled" the notion of intelligent design. The movie is meant to put this debate in the public spotlight and present the case for intelligent design as, at the very least, a reasonable theory that deserves as much attention as evolution.

There are many brilliant scientist's around the world, Christian and non Christian, that believe intelligent design is true, highly probable, or at least a viable theory that should be considered next to or over evolution.

I don't know much more about the movie really other than it has gained endorsements from people like James Dobson, Chuck Colson, the lead singer of the newsboys, and a whole bunch of other big "names" in the Christian community.

I'm looking forward to seeing it. I hope it does a good job of presenting the case for intelligent design so that it will show unbelievers that there is ample evidence that points towards a creator over random chance + time.

Anyway, here is a link if you want to look at more information about the movie (and I guess curriculum to buy for your church that coordinates with the movie). I don't necessarily endorse the movie or the curriculum for that matter, seeing as how I just found out about it, but this movie should at least push an important discussion into the public spot light.

http://www.getexpelled.com/

Sola Deo Gloria,

Jacob Allee

4 comments:

Benjamin Franklin said...

Hi Jacob-

Oh yes, I really want to see Expelled now because it was endorsed by the lead singer of the newsboys.

But, on the other hand, he probably knows about as much about science as either Dobson or Colson.

Intelligent design has never been "expelled" from schools, as you state. It has never even beeen brought up to the level of theory where it can be taught.

You say that you don't yet endorse this movie, but there is a great deal more about it that you should know, before you even think about spending good money to see it.

for more info, go to www.expelledexposed.com

or reply to me on this blog and I can give you the real deal, with documentation.

Benjamin Franklin

risen_soul said...

You really made me laugh bud. I mean honestly, your tone in what you wrote was as if I insulted your grandmother or something.

First of all, I wasn't saying that I want to see this movie because the lead singer of the Newsboys said something about it. And for that matter, I have serious theological disagreements with Dobson and Colson, so it's not that I'm sold on anything that excites them. And furthermore, I surely don't claim them as scientific authorities, nor do I claim to be one.

So I would suggest first of all that you cool your jets.

Now, that said, I don't have a clue about this movie other than the general topic matter and that Ben Stein is in it. I made that pretty clear. I might not agree with the approach they take in the movie. I don't know. I ended by saying that I merely thought it was good that this would push an important topic into the realm of public conversation.

In the same way I'm not a fan of Roman Catholic Mel Gibson's theology, but I was glad for the Passion of the Christ coming out as a platform to talk to other about my faith in Jesus Christ.

I would guess by your obvious irritation at the mere mentioning of this movie that you may be a fan of evolution or at least not a fan of theistic claims to creation.

I'm sorry that you don't feel like the creation view can even be rightly called a theory, but I think that's nothing but brazen arrogance on your part.

After all Evolution makes some very major leaps of faith to even attempt to hold itself together.

For instance, both Christian theism and evolutionary science are built on basic unproveable pressupositions that are accepted by faith.

Christian believe that an eternal God exists who created the universe, whereas evolutionist's believe that the universe itself is eternal.

Neither presuppostion can be conclusively "proven" by science. But both must be accepted by mere faith.

And really, from my vie point, after those basic presuppositions, theism seems a lot more likely. After all an all intelligent and all powerful being could create a world with the amazing order that we see. The earth being close enough to the sun to provide warmth and light for life but far away enough that we don't freeze.

That is of course just one basic example. But evolution must make the claim that random chance + time eventually churned out this anomoly called earth and all the plant life and species that exist.

I think it seems clear that the greater faith lies within the evolutionist because it defies pure statistical probability that non living matter could become living, something that cannot even be recreated in a lab.

So, go ahead and rip on this movie, I don't care. For all I know it's a terribly innacurate movie. I don't endorse it.

But let's not pretend the evolution is a proven fact that has it all figured out and excludes any possibility of a supernatural being that created. That's arrogance at it's worst.

I don't have any desire for some drawn out conversation about this all, I don't frankly have the time at the moment. But I'll just leave at this, there is strong evidence for Christian theism. However naturalistic presuppositions don't allow for such evidence because their presuppositions automatically deny any chance of the super natural.

Jacob Allee

BarryDean said...

Jacob,

Nice brief dissertation of theistic creationism. I heard about this movie on talk radio a few weeks ago and have actually included a banner to the movie trailer on my blog site. I am skeptical of the biblical content but enthusiastic for the dialog if the movie does well. I am looking forward to seeing it. There are a couple of theaters here in Omaha playing it this weekend.

risen_soul said...

Barry,

yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it. Hard to say how well done it'll end up being, but It should definitely creat important conversation.