Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a creationist film opened in the US yesterday. It is made by Premise Media, a Canadian Company.

I agree with Chris Hedges,  while scientists have done an excellent job of refuting the film, and ID has shown to be the reactionary repackaging of creationism: the side show of anger (people were duped to appear in this) the backlash does show a rise in  more than one kind of fundamentalist thought.

A lot of people would find it counterintuitive that you would go from your last book, “American Fascists,” which was a scathing critique of Christian fundamentalism in the U.S., to writing against atheism. Do you see these as connected projects?

I do. I didn’t start out that way, because these guys were not on my radar screen. I think a lot of their popularity stems from a legitimate anger on the part of a lot of Americans toward the intolerance and chauvinism of the radical religious right in this country. Unfortunately, what they’ve done is offer a Utopian belief system that is as self-delusional as that offered by Christian fundamentalists. They adopt many of the foundational belief systems of fundamentalists. For example, they believe that the human species is marching forward, that there is an advancement toward some kind of collective moral progress — that we are moving towards, if not a Utopian, certainly a better, more perfected human society. That’s fundamental to the Christian right, and it’s also fundamental to the New Atheists.

You know, there is nothing in human nature or in human history that points to the idea that we are moving anywhere. Technology and science, though they are cumulative and have improved, in many ways, the lives of people within the industrialized nations, have also unleashed the most horrific forms of violence and death, and let’s not forget, environmental degradation, in human history. So, there’s nothing intrinsically moral about science. Science is morally neutral. It serves the good and the bad. I mean, industrial killing is a product of technological advance, just as is penicillin and modern medicine. So I think that I find the faith that these people place in science and reason as a route toward human salvation to be as delusional as the faith the Christian right places in miracles and angels.

I went over to the World Magazine blog to read comments from conservative Christians who have seen Expelled. What strikes me is the labels, the uncritical viewing the groupings of people, and the lack of desire to read scientists who have seen this film. I don’t believe dialogue isn’t possible in this kind of world view block-thinking. I also understand this is genuinely what the commenters think in absolute sincerity.

The commenters believe what they saw on screen:

-creationists being expelled see Ed Braytons article on The Richard Sternberg Affair
- the line drawn in the movie between ‘Darwinist’s’ and Nazism being accurate, or comparisons between Nazism and Planned Parenthood.
-’Darwinist point of view’
- humanism and utilitarianism are far more popular foundations for a nonreligious ethics
-  Darwinists will not like this documentary, because it pokes fun of renowned blind guides of the blind.
- Being that there’s a wall of division through science, those who accept the possibility of God and those who don’t–and comparing the scientific refusal to allow any mention of God
- I couldn’t help but be curious how those who disagree will respond to the film (if they dare see it
- the Darwinistic scientists really did look closed-minded and ultimately unscientific.
- Darwinisim as insufficient to be a cause of the Holocaust but necessary to create the  environment to allow it to take place.
-Ben Stein is an incredibly brave man and will not work in popular Hollywood ever again thereby substantiating the thesis of his film.

The fact the majority of Christians in western countries (and Christian scientists see the Michael Shermer article) have no problem with the science of evolution isn’t a reality to these viewers, while I get that there are blocks of US Christians who need to see see black and white, who need to label and polarize, it’s sad and depressing.

Religious right leaders such as the SBC’s Richard Land,  Willaim Dembski or James Dobson are praising and promoting this film, not because of scientific accuracy but for political and economic expediency.

Legitimate scientific review such as Scientific American won’t get read - it’s too liberal and perhaps scary for the World Magazine crowd.

Update: Box office - Distributed by Rocky Mountain Films, opened in 1,052 US theatres at 8 out of the top 10. “$1.2M Friday for what should be a $3.4M weekend.”  Per screen average was $1,130. Deadline Hollywood  Variety