Jeremy & I are both honored to teach high school students - Jeremy through biology, and me through physics - and we're both very aware that our actions speak louder than words. For example, if we preach against tardiness while being habitually late ourselves, students recognize that our words mean nothing: teenagers have the most sensitive hypocrisy meters in existence.
The American public also takes a dim view of hypocrites: Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon. Anti-gay-rights senator Larry Craig and his enjoyment of public bathroom stalls. Even Jesus Christ himself spoke out against hypocrisy more than he did homosexuality (see Matt 6:2; Matt 6:5; Matt 6:16; Matt 15:7; Matt 22:18; and especially Matt 23, an entire chapter devoted to Christ excoriating the hypocrites of his day).
So backers of a movie promoting Christianity & slamming science should be more than careful to avoid that trap, right?
Instead, the makers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" have been:
*loudly railing about academic freedom, while deliberately avoiding the voices of Christians who support evolution;
*complaining that that ID proponents aren't allowed to do research, as they plagiarized a time- and work-intensive animation;
*pretending to be concerned about getting The TruthTM out to the public, while lying to potential critics about times and places of advance screenings;
*crying about censorship in academia, while lying to pro-science interviewees about the title and purpose of the movie;
*railing against public schools for not allowing ID or creationism to be taught as science, while bribing schools to take mandatory field trips to boost opening weekend ticket sales;
*whining about "Big Science" and its supposed influence in the government while holding screenings exclusively for state legislators in states where "Academic Freedom (From Learning)" bills are active in the legislatures.
Details below the fold.
Intentionally ignoring the voices of Christians who support evolution.
Chris Heard transcribed an interview between Scientific American editor John Rennie and "Expelled" associate producer Mark Mathis:
Mathis: No, I don't think so, because, uh, the form of Catholicism that Ken Miller accepts and practices is, is nowhere near the form of Catholicism that is followed by Catholics who are members of the Catholic church, who believe in Catholic doctrine. What he believes is certainly out of -
[Note that Miller practices traditional Catholicism; recent Popes have agreed with his views on evolution.]
The film didn't mention the American Scientific Affiliation, an organization of evangelical scientists. Dr. Keith Miller, Kansas State University geologist and author of "Perspectives on an Evolving Creation," is active in this organization. The filmmakers could have easily contacted him for an interview; obviously they weren't interested in the views of Christians who are scientists & accept evolution.
Plagiarizing a work-intensive animation
From the makers of "The Inner Life of the Cell," XVIVO productions:
William Dembski was caught using copyrighted images from that same video in a presentation he gave in Oklahoma. In fact, Dembski states at UncommonDescent.com (screen shot available on request),
It was a nice touch on the producer's part to use the same music as the XVIVO video. Presumably they got permission from the artist - or is that another possible oversight to explore? But then again, one of the producers was for years in the music business. So most likely they're covered here as well."
Lying about times and places of advance screenings
After an "Expelled" producer wouldn't allow biologist PZ Myers into an advance screening - for which he'd signed up - the production company notified those who'd signed up online to attend that upcoming screenings would be canceled.
The movie makers had an online registration site open for all to use, then they protested when it was used by potential critics of the movie.
Lying to pro-science interviewees about the title and purpose of the movie
The New York Times reported last September:
But now, Dr. Dawkins and other scientists who agreed to be interviewed say they are surprised - and in some cases, angered - to find themselves not in "Crossroads" but in a film with a new name and one that makes the case for intelligent design, an ideological cousin of creationism. The film, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," also has a different producer, Premise Media.
The producers of "Expelled" must have been worried that scientists wouldn't grant them interviews if they know the true title and nature of the movie. Wesley Elsberry did some digging and found that the producers had decided on the title and registered a website to "Expelled" well before those interviews were requested:
Fact 2: "crossroadsthemovie.*" and "crossroads-the-movie.*" domains are not registered by anyone. ("crossroadsmovie.com" is registered, but has been so since 2001 and obviously refers to an unrelated project.)
Fact 3: Mathis' requests for interviews are dated after the purchase of the "expelledthemovie.com" domain.
Bribing schools to take mandatory field trips to boost opening weekend ticket sales
Early buzz for the movie wasn't happening, so its producers decided to implement a marketing scheme. If schools would organize mandatory (as in: students have no choice but to go along), buy tickets, and attend the movie on opening weekend, then the schools were eligible for a prize "up to $10,000."
Holding screenings exclusively for state legislators in states where "
These bills are designed - intelligently, using a template from the Discovery Institute - to make an end-run around existing state standards by allowing students to answer "God did it" on science tests and receive full credit for those responses. Teachers aren't allowed to "discriminate" against students because of the students' beliefs. These bills ignore the fact that belief and understanding are two different concepts.
Please note that this post only addresses the falsehoods associated with the production and promotion of the movie, and not any within the movie itself. For more about the movie itself, go to www.expelledexposed.com.
Did Christ say, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, but it's okay to lie when you're trying to bring people to Me"?
As the public becomes aware of this purposeful, willful campaign of deceit, will they become more likely to trust their religious leaders?
Not likely.
In fact, the Discovery Institute and its cronies probably couldn't have chosen a much better method of turning people away from religion.
Especially hypocrisy-sensitive adolescents.
(edited for clarity 04-12-08 07:55)
posted by Cheryl Shepherd-Adams
