I Predict

I'm not one for predictions. I'm certainly no prophet. So if I make any such prognostications, you can take them with a grain of salt. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction.

I've seen Expelled. I've also seen the reviews by others. What, then, do I expect will come out of this movie? Ready? Here's my prediction: Nothing. Nothing at all. I expect that Darwinian Evolutionists will continue to protest against Intelligent Design. I expect that Intelligent Design advocates will continue to complain that their views aren't being allowed in the academic arena. I predict that not much at all will come from this movie.

Here's how it works. If you're in favor of Intelligent Design (for instance), you will have seen a smart movie about how ID is not being allowed in the arena of academic discussion. You will likely have seen a movie that rightly questions Darwinian Evolution and makes some excellent points about the way things are and how they should change. Of course, you already thought that, so it isn't a change for you. If you're in favor of Darwinian Evolution (for instance), it's probable that you would have seen a very flawed movie which improperly portrays Evolution as some sort of "bad guy" and simply showers us with right wing propaganda (probably even Christian propaganda, even though Ben Stein is not a Christian) about some stupid, unnecessary suggestion that the philosophical discussion of Intelligent Design should be included in the realm of science ... which any thinking person would know is wrong. Of course, you already thought that, so it isn't a change for you.

In fact, that's typically how we operate. When Michael Behe came out with his book, Darwin's Black Box, do you suppose the scientists in the field of Evolutionary Studies picked it up and said, "Hmmm, I wonder if Behe is going to change my mind?" or do you suppose they picked it up and said, "Okay, let's pick this thing apart and figure out what's wrong with it"? I suspect the latter. And you Intelligent Design folks likely say, "Yeah! That's right!" So what did you do? I suspect your first thoughts were something like, "Well, now, here's someone who supports my views!" instead of "Is this a valid argument or not?" You see, we tend to accept with little evaluation the views with which we already agree and deny with little evaluation the views with which we already disagree. A Bible-believing Christian who gets an email that says, "NASA has a computer that proves Joshua's missing day" accepts it without question despite the nonsense of the claim because it agrees with his or her accepted view. And it's not like Christians are the only one. Equally problematic claims are made on the other side that cause you to nod in foolish agreement because they're what you already thought. We tend not to be very critical of things which agree with our position. We tend to be highly critical of things that disagree with our position. It seems very uncommon that we simply evaluate the ideas and arguments for whatever they're worth. All of us seem to have an agenda that we will maintain when we look at the field of arguments that we are examining.

I said at the outset I'm no prophet. I am, I suppose, a cynic. I think it's likely that the movie will not likely move anyone. Intelligent Design advocates will not see the flaws in the movie and argue, "I think that was likely a poor way to express it." Darwinian Evolutionists will not likely see the truthful parts of the movie and say, "He has a point." We'll likely just devolve into name-calling and ad hominem arguments and no one will shift a bit. But ... I'm no prophet.