Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

05/14/2008 Posted by IXL

Eye opening to those not familiar with the academic bias that is so prevelant today. Hawkins will except any theory of life, even little green men from space, the only possibility to be excluded is God. Those who become too academic to accept the possibility of God are doomed to live without him. A very sad reality.

Pros: enjoyed the experience very much

05/10/2008 Posted by Snafu2

I think the New York Times review of this movie said it best: "One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” is a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry."

04/28/2008 Posted by wowme

I did my PhD research in an Evolutionary Biology lab and found this film was very thought provoking. I highly recommend it for scientists and non scientists alike.

04/28/2008 Posted by moviecriticsRus

Whether you agree or not, it'll open your eyes. I consider myself a skeptic, but I was shocked at some of the revelations from this movie. Do yourself a favor, see this movie so you can hold your own at the water cooler tomorrow. :-)

04/28/2008 Posted by aredant

This is a propaganda piece launched by a pseudo-religious organization masquerading as a scientific establishment in order to promote a bogus field of study they call "Intelligent Design" also referred to as ID. ID is Creationism but differs in that it is presented using the language of science so that the public doesn’t recognize it as Theology. Proponents of ID reject the study of Evolution because it conflicts with the literal interpretation of the Bible. The making of "Expelled" is part of an overall effort to by a component of the Christian fundamentalist movement to establish a Dominionist Theocracy in the United States. The aim of the film is to vilify and discredit the secular scientific establishment and garner sympathy from the audience by inventing a conspiracy whereby noted scientists are supposedly being persecuted for trying to discuss ID. It essentially blames the cause of all inhumanity in the modern world on the study of Evolution, a sub-field of the science of Biology. The promotional strategy for this film relies heavily on activism from within the Christian fundamentalist community. All of the top film reviewers in the non-Christian media gave Expelled the lowest rating possible. I would give it zero stars for "Protest this Movie" if I could for being not just a badly made film, but for being intentionally dishonest and promoting ignorance. This one reeks.

Pros: none

Cons: Heavy handed, dishonest and advocates a return to the dark ages.

04/27/2008 Posted by JesusMYSavior88

"Head fakes" bother me especially if they claim to be the ultimate 'truth'. I saw one very necessary film, Expelled. As a teacher I realize Charles Darwin's, The Origin of Species, does not describe the origin of any species. I also know Darwin couldn't experience what we now know about the human genome, the double helix, or even enjoy seeing into the infinity of moving micro "galaxies" inside JUST ONE living cell. Today we know more, and yet we wait for the first word from science on the origin of any species. Smart guys like Dawkins are saying maybe outer space creatures seeded life on earth. Sounds like he believes in Intelligent Design that's beyond us, after all! What we don't know is evident, and it is too obviously the 'elephant' trumpeting truth in the halls of science--and it will keep doing just that. Come on scientists, "...do a miracle...do a miracle..." make just one little living cell from words, matter, energy or SOMETHING and prove REAL miracles do not exist--IT'S ALL IN THE WRIST. I'm also a Mom, reproducing several diverse human beings who are now giving back to their communities and producing grandchildren---AND I realize all of us started from two micro half cells that wandered inside a woman, found each other and grew into pounds of living, growing human beings with body, mind and spirit--WELL LIKE WOW--GUESS I'll keep my "miracle of life from God" view a while longer. Colossians states "In Christ all things hold together--without Him was not anything made that was made--He existed with God the Father outside of time and created everything. As my 12 year old son said, He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, "So Mom God is everpresent with us right in the Middle of time, too". God with us...yep. God seeded us, invited us to notice, asked to adopt us, then made those "who will" family forever--amen! The 'head fakes' of science are explicitly evident. Now they must simply be acknowledged as areas of ongoing investigation.

Pros: Amazing use of the past to remind us of 'old science' in Darwinism, perhaps. Fun black and white films with appropriate messages.

Cons: Too short...I was hungry for more, and I know there is more to the avoidance techniques of 'impure' science.

04/25/2008 Posted by jerry99

Great! This movie provides great fodder for debate of the subject, evolution vs creation for any conversation. If Darwin's 'theory' of evolution can be taught in the public schools why then is the 'theory' of intelligent design so feared. Could it be that be that those selecting the curriculum have a hidden agenda. If they can do away with 'God' they eliminate the U.S Constitution and do to us as they will. Even an atheist should resist such an outcome if he/she cares to remain free. As to the gentleman suggesting everything needs to be verified by scientific testing, run your own test based on the following: When was the last time anything of a complex nature you personally attempted went right by accident?

04/24/2008 Posted by P31Mom

This was a thought provoking documentary that used well established, though not well known, scientific evidence to give another side to the story... not evidence that God made the universe. No, evidence that science points to an intelligent designer. Why are there so many BRILLANT scientist out there still believing in ID if there were no evidence of intelligent design? That alone was a point worth making. I think it was especially interesting that Dawkins, a leading evolutionary scientist, thought that their WAS a possibility that life began from an intelligent source. So who does this "great" scientist think may have created us? Aliens. Yep. And this is supposed to be a better idea than God creating us. Of course that was only one of many theories as to how we began. It became very apparent that evolution really doesn't have clue as to how life began. I also think it's interesting that another reviewer stated that ID can not be a real scientific theory because it's not "testible". Good point. Has anyone seen any aliens lately that we can test??? Oh, yeah...there is that one website about the aliens...maybe we should try there to obtain our specimens. How have those laboratory tests turned out that scientist have done (and are still doing) trying to recreate life from non-living things? Oh yeah...they all failed. I guess nothing in the universe is "real" unless we've tested it. That reminds me of the time I had to take my child to the ER for an ear infection. They had signs posted in our room, and the nurses gave me papers stating that I should not give my children cold medicines because they don't work. When questioned, they said that the medical community has not done studies as to whether cold medicines really dry up runny noses. Right. Science hadn't proven it so as far as they were concerned it didn't work. IBottom line, if you are agnostic, I highly recommend you watch this movie. It just might give you a reason to believe.

04/24/2008 Posted by curlyfester

I would recommend this film only to those who have trouble with word definitions - because they will be the only ones who will get it. Words like "evidence" and "science" (as in - "Intelligent Design is not an issue that SCIENCE can even address because there's neither testable nor observational EVIDENCE presented by anyone in the pseudo-scientific field of ID). What you have in ID is a vast group of people who don't like it that scientific evidence threatens they're literalist faith. Spiritual toddlers, if you will, that cling to a religious security blanket because they have yet to outgrow the childish fear of existential monsters under their crib. What you have in this film is the propaganda wing of religious ignorance attempting to redefine science for it's own cynical purposes. If anyone has been fired from a scientific post for espousing ID, they deserved to be fired. It would be the same if an astronomer tried to teach students that the moon is made of cheese without presenting any evidence to prove the claim. ID can not, or at least has not, presented ANY evidence that has stood up scientific scrutiny. Evolution science has done just that... again and again and again and again... that's why Evolution gets to be taught in science classes. Because it can present quantifiable evidence!

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04/21/2008 Posted by dlingalt

At first I thought this movie would clearly define intelligent design and show that it is entirely based on scientific method and empirical fact, but this is more important. Ben Stein sticks our noses into the logical consequences of Darwinism, the prevailing religion of today’s secular academia. You see a number of PhD’s, very knowledgeable people in their fields (Mathematics, Physics, Microbiology, etc.) willing to have a dialogue about facts that do not fit Darwinism. But this is unthinkable to atheists. If Darwinism is accepted as an article of faith (it must be) then there is no need for God, no soul, no morality, and ultimately no accountability to God for one’s actions. In the film, Nazism is traced back to its solid underpinnings in Darwinism. Why wouldn’t a population cleanse itself of the weak and unwanted? From our point in history it was an unspeakable horror. Now the politics of intolerance in the name of Darwinism have re-emerged in the public arena masquerading as authority. Never mind that their present dogma does not fit the knowledge base, that inquiry is the soul of science, or that in America there is supposed to be free speech—the heretical words (intelligent design) must not even be mentioned in a serious context or careers are gone. Two points stand out in the movie: the woman at the German lab and the atheist in chief. The woman did not think the doctor who did experiments on people and terminated them was evil. He had…a purpose. Chilling. Think about it. That is like saying that what Jeffrey Damler did was ok because he was busy. And the atheist, admitting the inability of Darwinism to address the origin of life, submitted that perhaps we were seeded by aliens! How ironic, that atheism in the face of irreducible complexity is reduced to intelligent design, as long as it is not by God! (So man without God decides that it is okay to be created by someone a little higher than him, just not a lot higher!)

Pros: Thought provoking

Cons: Too short