Alright, I haven’t been expelled, though I’m sure it would have been an interesting situation if I had been. I recently had the opportunity to watch Ben Stein’s movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Of course, this movie is more of an American phenomenon than a Canadian one – the attempt to ridicule one’s opponents’ views while at the same time presenting one’s own side as slightly laughable, and suddenly moving into the realm of Very Serious Issues, such as the Holocaust. I don’t think that the movie is any worse for that, and it definitely stays entertaining.

Throughout the movie, several very useful distinctions are made. For one, “Intelligent Design” is not the same thing as “Creationism.” Intelligent design simply states that all existing beings did not arise from mere chance, and that there must be some source of order, somewhere in the process. Creationism is usually full-fledged biblical literalism. As Catholics, then, we must believe in some sort of intelligent design, though we might not subscribe to creationism. (N.B. We believe that God created the world, but the term “Creationism” is usually adopted by those who believe it was created in six literal days, etc.) Ironically, notions of intelligent design and evolutionary views can be quite compatible: one can believe that God created life and let it evolve.

Another distinction that was made – though not carried through as well as I should have liked – was the distinction between different views of evolution. The scientists interviewed pointed out that in the broad sense, evolution simply means ‘change over time,’ and that no scientist would deny it. They objected to it in much narrower definitions: the spontaneous appearance of life on earth, the development of new species, etc. Stein, however, tended to group all evolutionary theories under the caption of Darwinism, a move which has left many opponents complaining.

Finally, he made the controversial claim that the Holocaust was partly explained by evolutionary theory: the Nazis believed that they were the most fit and could eliminate other races in the inexorable progress of natural selection. Genocide is a touchy subject, to say the least, but I think that it is only fair to take note of the parts that philosophical and scientific ideologies play in politics and history. This is not only the case when it comes to Marxism or theocracies, but also in much less obvious ways. Consider the role of Malthus’ thought in excusing the Irish famine as ‘inevitable,’ or the thought of eugenicists such as Margaret Sanger in the popularization of groups such as Planned Parenthood.

The most important point that the movie makes, I think, is in exposing the unfair treatment of scientists who fail to accept the status quo. Science is undergoing constant revision. To eliminate one entire side of this revision is going to limit the progress available. Diversity of theories is a necessary check; just as the Church did not define much of her doctrine until it was threatened by heresy, scientific definitions become tighter and better researched when they are threatened by opposing theories.