Saturday, April 19, 2008

Expelled

"Expelled" is a fascinating documentary, regarding a dangerous level of intolerance within the scientific community concerning dissention against the official party line, and that being, the Theory of Evolution. To get at the heart of the matter, what is going on in the scientific community concerning Evolution is nothing new. It is the same thing that has been going on for eons, in nearly all walks of life. It is politics. The atheistic, anti-Christian establishment has its own fraternity and it's own political establishment, and detractors are treated as a threat to its power. The great fear is that "Intelligent Design" [ID] is nothing more than a front for "Creationism" and getting prayer back in school, by the dreaded "Right Wing," and thus all who support ID, must be ferreted out and silenced. The fear is that the same political strength currently wielded by the Evolution Camp will someday swing back against themselves, and of course "true science will suffer," or more importantly, their fraternity will suffer. The fact is that scientists are supposed to ask questions, and they are supposed to test theories, rather than suppress them. That's why this is a controversy, not over science, but age old politics.

Politics, however, is nothing new to the religious community either. Consider the Inquisition. Even in the Calvinism vs. Arminianism controversy, politics raises its ugly head. Simply consider the events surrounding the regime of John Calvin in Geneva. Simply consider the Synod of Dort, and the brutal repression of Arminians, and the loss of Pastorships, homes, property, as well as banishment and execution, specifically the beheading of Van Olden-Barnevelt. Additionally, look at the brutal persecution of the Anabaptists. In non-Calvinist churches, often there is great fear that Calvinists will creep in, and attempt one of their own special "Reformations," which is really a church split. By comparison, in Calvinist churches, "Arminianism" is considered the great Boogeyman. In the recent "Building Bridges" conference, Jeff Noeblet condemned the Arminian presentation of the Gospel as "wicked." Even Calvinist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, taught that Calvinism is merely a "nickname for the Gospel," and that Arminianism is "heresy." What bothers me is that sometimes the same braggadocio and bluff & bluster committed by the Evolutionist community, sounds eerily similar to the tone heard within the Calvinist community. This is why I do not like to fight over Calvinism and Arminianism. I would rather deal with the matter graciously, and on a theoretical level, as an in-house debate with Christians, rather than as a bitter political rivalry. Passions need to be held in check, for fear of establishing the same Gestapo mentality as with the Evolutionist fraternity. These are the parallels which ran through my mind, as I watched "Expelled." I certainly recommend it.

Answers in Genesis weighs in with their review: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/04/18/dr-dawkins-tear-down-this-wall

7 comments:

Mark Heath said...

Hoorah for Biola, which is featured in "Expelled". The school which I attend.

Richard Coords said...

Hey Mark,

I'm interested in your take on the documentary. I'm going to provide several links.

1) Here is the official website or the movie, and is worth checking out the interviews and related articles:

http://expelledthemovie.com/chronicle.php

2) There is another website called "Expelled Exposed" which attempts to discredit what are otherwise very convincing testimonies:

http://www.expelledexposed.com/index.php/the-truth

I'd be very interested in seeing the alleged victims rebuttle, because EE is disturbingly detailed.

3) Richard Dawkins responds to the movie. It appears that the producers misrepresented themselves in order to secure the interviews of leading Evolutionists. The documentary started out being called "Crossroads" and then innocently changed its name to "Expelled," even though the domain rights were purchased in advance, a point which Richard Dawkins calls out as outright lying:

http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,2394,Lying-for-Jesus,Richard-Dawkins

4) Rush Limbaugh gives his own review:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_031808/content/01125115.guest.html

kangaroodort said...

Richard,

Welcome back! Excellent post. Make sure you are submitting these posts to SEA!

God Bless,
Ben

Richard Coords said...

Hey Ben,

I had been away for so long, I think that I missed the tutorial on how. I'll email you.

Mark Heath said...

Haven't seen the movie yet, but as soon as I do I'll join in the discussion

Unknown said...

Richard,

Certainly comparing Calvinists to the Gestapo and rabid Darwinists goes a long way to keeping passions in check...c'mon...you know better than that.

Were you taking tips from Ergun Caner's book on how to win friends and influence people on this one? I'm more than a little disappointed here.

Richard Coords said...

Hey Kevin,

I wasn't referring to a modern day occurrence, but of 16th century Geneva and it's persecution of the Anabaptists and non-Calvinists. What happened back then is very comparable to the Gestapo, and it serves as a lesson for both Calvinists and Arminians to avoid. Of course, my historical perspective comes from the book "The Other Side of Calvinism" by Laurence Vance, but the account of persecution is very compelling. So I certainly wasn't aiming this at you in particular.