Ben Stein’s Ridiculous Foray Into Creationist Propaganda

Posted by Enrique on 04.17.2008

On Friday, Ben Stein joins the list of minor celebrities who get all in-your-face with their politics. Tomorrow is the premiere of his new documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” which pokes all sorts of holes in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. For our story this week, let’s preview a lovely film that really puts those shifty atheist scientists in their place.



Although the Church of Scientology appears to be gaining market share in Hollywood, there's one other religion that has always been the driving force behind Tinseltown. No, not Judaism, and shame on you for even thinking that. Of course, I mean Christianity. As you may be aware, some of Hollywood's biggest-drawing actors are Christians, including Mel Gibson. Only slightly less regarded than Gibson is erstwhile game show host and current eye-drop pitchman Ben Stein. We all came to enjoy Stein's dry wit during his "Win Ben Stein's Money" run, but we also hated him immensely for his part in spawning the career of Jimmy Kimmel.

This week, Ben Stein presents a new movie that's sure to take America by storm. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" promises to be a lighthearted but informative documentary about the merits of teaching "Intelligent Design" theory in government schools. Join Ben Stein as he debates Richard Dawkins on the improbability of an all-powerful creator, as well as the limitations in Darwinist theory, while trying to find common ground on a controversial topic with serious implications for public education policy. Not a date movie.

The story so far…

According to its official web site, "Expelled" will open in over 1000 theaters tomorrow, making it the widest-released documentary in U.S. history. The "Expelled" web site also features the official movie trailer, a blog, and some nifty artwork.



Notably, the "Expelled" web site doesn't feature one single review written by a movie critic. Even though this film is going to enjoy a massive theatrical release, it hasn't been screened for journalists. Typically, movies that aren't screened for critics are, shall we say, craptacular. For example, low-brow spoof comedies starring Larry the Cable Guy, or blood-and-gore slasher flicks are usually not screened for critics, because they're aimed at teenage audiences who don't read reviews. However, it wouldn't be accurate to say "Expelled" wasn't prescreened at all. According to the Salt Lake Tribune:

I contacted the public relations firm handling the movie, and was told there were no screenings for critics for "Expelled." Critics in other cities were told the same thing.

There have been screenings around the country, but not for critics. The film's producers arranged preview screenings for selected "grass-roots" audiences, mainly church groups, to stimulate good word-of-mouth.

In addition to grass-roots audiences, the movie was also prescreened for certain VIPs. According to the man himself, Ben Stein personally visited Rush Limbaugh last month to show him the movie. Good word-of-mouth, indeed – El Rushbo heartily endorsed "Expelled" on his popular radio show, saying "It is powerful. It is fabulous."

Unfortunately, the producers of "Expelled" haven't been so friendly to all interested parties. There was an inconvenient incident on March 21 at Minnesota's Mall of America, one of the private "Expelled" prescreening sites. In a brilliant coincidence, that weekend Minneapolis also played host to the annual American Atheists conference. Scientists PZ Meyers and Richard Dawkins went to the Mall of America intending to watch "Expelled," and perhaps participate in the Q&A with producers afterwards. According to Meyers, while waiting in line, a policeman picked him out and escorted him from the premises. Apparently, the producers of "Expelled" had specifically prohibited Myers from the prescreening. Dawkins, on the other hand, wasn't spotted by the authorities, and saw the movie. It may not surprise you to know that Dawkins had a more nuanced view of "Expelled" than Rush:

In the course of this film, ["Expelled" producer Mark] Mathis tricked a number of scientists, including PZ Myers and me, into taking prominent parts in the film, and both of us are handsomely thanked in the closing credits…

The whole tone of the film is whiny, paranoid -- pathetic really. The narrator is somebody called Ben Stein. I had not heard of him, but apparently he is well known to Americans, for it is hard to see why else he would have been chosen to front the film. He certainly can't have been chosen for his knowledge of science, nor his powers of logical reasoning, nor his box office appeal (heavens, no), and his speaking voice is an irritating, nasal drawl, innocent of charm and of consonants. I suppose that makes it a good voice for conveying the whining paranoia that I referred to, so maybe that was qualification enough.

Now, to the film itself. What a shoddy, second-rate piece of work…

Oh, I say! It seems a little odd that the producers would wish to exclude from the audience interested parties who had actually appeared in the fucking movie. According to Dawkins, he and Myers (among others) were duped into believing they were participating in a documentary called "Crossroads" that would examine the debate between Darwinism and "Intelligent Design" – they were not told it would be one-sided creationist propaganda. Well, perhaps "creationist propaganda" might be a bit harsh considering I've never seen the movie. But thanks to the lack of prescreenings, I have to form an opinion based on the few biased persons who have seen it.

Speaking of biased persons, Dawkins goes on to say that "Expelled" makes a melodramatic effort to tie Darwin's theory of natural selection to – wait for it – Nazi Germany. I just LOVE it when people play the Hitler card, it's always the sign of a sound, well-reasoned argument. Apparently the film contains a sequence where Ben Stein visits Dachau, and plants his face in his hands in anguish over the sheer human cost of the Holocaust. I suppose there's no accounting for taste, but to imply that people who doubt creationism are akin to fascists is, shall we say, menstrual.

But like I said, I haven't even seen the movie. I've only seen the trailer on the official web site, from which I took two main points. First, Stein emphasizes that Darwin's theory of natural selection doesn't explain the origins of life. That's true, and in the creationist mind, that means it's perfectly logical to assume the existence of an all-powerful, intelligent creator. In fact (the argument goes), public school biology classes should teach "Intelligent Design" alongside Darwinian theory as if both have equal scientific weight. Personally, I'm not blessed with children, but if I were a parent, I wouldn't be too keen on my kids being taught in a science class to ignore evidence. Even though natural selection doesn't adequately explain the origins of life, it does not mean that government schools should be teaching children "Intelligent Design." Public schools should take the lack of evidence of a Designer's existence at face value, and leave religion to individual families.

As an aside – If you don't want to have to explain to your children the incongruity of believing in God with the fact that humans don't apply "faith" to any other area of life, then maybe you should ask yourself why you're teaching them to believe in an invisible being who can read their thoughts and is constantly judging them. Aside concluded.

Secondly, the "Expelled" trailer appears to say that scientists and academics who hold creationist beliefs have faced persecution, and have even been terminated from their jobs. Reason magazine throws cold water on some of the specific allegations, but I'll be frank – if a biologist thinks the Bible is literal, he/she is manifestly unqualified to be employed by an institution of higher learning. I'm sure plenty of scientists can be practicing creationists in other lines of work – the chemist working on the formula for New Coke can probably do his/her job regardless of religious belief. But not biology. If you are a fundamentalist Christian scientist and you want to be a positive influence on mankind, work for a pharmaceutical company. Don't blame Darwin for your unreasonable superstitions.

Of course, I shouldn't be so quick to judge – I've never seen the movie. It opens tomorrow, so feel free post a review if you'd like. But if you do see "Expelled," don't be judgmental like me – watch it through Clear Eyes®. (Wooooow.)