The release of the highly controversial film, Expelled, on the 18th of this month gave no surprises when it came to the main purpose of the film: show the intolerance of the leaders in the science and academic institutions for anything that does not agree with the theory of evolution. Ben Stein certainly accomplished his goal.
The second most important point of the documentary was less obvious, but still clear. Professor Richard Dawkins, arguably the premier spokesman for the theory of evolution today, made an astonishing statement when asked how life began. He stated, “no one knows how it started”. This one statement by itself is somewhat startling for those that have followed the debate over the last few decades. It is an admission that evolutionists really do not know how life began to evolve. This implies that there is no scientific explanation to the beginning of evolution, and without that, the theory has no foundation to build on. None of the other leading evolutionists had a scientific explanation for the origin of life, either.
Dawkins made another truly spectacular admission. “It could be that at some earlier time”, he said, “somewhere in the universe, a civilization evolved by, probably some Darwinian means, to a very, very high level of technology and designed the form of life that they seeded onto, perhaps, this planet. That is a possibility … And I suppose that it is possible you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of our chemistry and molecular biology you might find a signature of some sort of designer. And that designer could well be a higher intelligence from elsewhere in the universe.”
Not only does Dawkins admit that no one knows how evolutionary life began, but there could be a signature of intelligent design as well. There are certainly other sub-themes that appear in the film as well such as the importance of the theory of evolution in the eugenics movement under Hitler or the lack of freedom that is evident in academic and scientific institutions. But certainly the most significant admissions by leading evolutionists is that no one knows how evolutionary life began or that there might be ‘signatures’
Whether one is on the side of evolution or intelligent design, this movie is certainly eye opening. Opposing arguments are available for those on the side of evolution. They can certainly see some of the major intelligent design positions that they will be facing over the next few years. For those on the side of intelligent design, encouragement can be received just by knowing that the intolerance and scientific problems with the theory are being exposed. In either case, this documentary should be seen by anyone that has an interest in the debate concerning the origins of life.
