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ALSO ON GUIDELIVE
• Movies
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Mad about a movie? Mad for a movie? Mad at The Movies?
E-mail us at movies@dallasnews.com. We'll print excerpts of the best. Also, don't forget to join the critics and grade the movies now showing, and blog with us at movies.beloblog.com.
In defense of 'Expelled'
We received a number of letters this week that took issue with a
review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed that ran last
week's GuideLive Movies. Below is a sampling of them:
The Roger Moore review of Ben Stein's movie Expelled [GuideLive,
April 18] tends to validate the point Stein is trying to make. Moore's
review is dripping with sarcasm and elitism. His final sentence: "And
really, when academia, the courts and the opinions of the educated have
all weighed in on this subject on that 'other side,' who's the real
monkey in this 'debate'?" says it all. By the way, is academia not
educated? Moore shows himself to be a political pundit rather than a
movie critic. The three sources he cites to validate his conclusion are
the very sources Stein is critiquing in his movie.
I haven't seen the movie and am thus in no position to critique it, but
there is no evidence in Moore's critique to suggest that he's seen it
either. He simply provides a criticism of the philosophy that would
produce such a movie.
The movie may be an F as Moore suggests, but if so, he should appeal to
the movie – not to his political, theological or theoretical issues with
it.
I wonder if Moore gave another Moore (Michael) the same type of critique
for his documentaries. His review was placed in the wrong section by
your editors. It should have been placed among the editorials dealing
with political matters.
Ronnie Wiggins, Midlothian
Mr. Moore appears to have fallen into the same trap that is exposed in
the movie – that there is no place for the discussion of intelligent
design in the scientific community. The movie accurately states that the
scientific evidence is the same whether you believe in intelligent
design or evolution, the difference is what world view you believe.
There is a decided lack of freedom in the American scientific community
if you don't believe the way the majority does. Much like the Christian
Church during the Dark Ages before the Enlightenment. There were many
parts of the movie that I thought were sophomoric when belittling the
entrenched scientific community's attempts at quashing the ID
discussion, but to give the film an "F" seems to be the product of Mr.
Moore's liberal anti-God bias and not on the quality of the film itself.
Warren Bird, Sachse
I saw the review on the movie Expelled in the Morning News
today and felt it was not at all fair to the point of the film, making
it an inadequate review. The film did not claim intelligent design was
science to the exclusion of Darwinism, as the review implied. The point
was that no one has a scientific position on origins that can be proved
as science – and so the discussion of all sides should take place in
university and public contexts.
Another point was that people who even raised questions about Darwinism
are losing their jobs, simply for raising questions. The film was not
about intelligent design being right, it was that it is not being
allowed as a topic of discussion at the table in the public square, even
when it is accepted in peer-reviewed and vetted contexts.
Ben Stein is right to raise it as an issue of academic freedom and open
discussion in our educational contexts. The movie review suggests that
the film lacked any serious merit by giving it an F for raising the
question in a public way. But to do so by misstating the film's point
simply reinforces the documentary's thesis that even raising the
question is not something to be tolerated, only something to be scorned
and misrepresented.
Darrell Bock,
Professor of Culture and Spiritual Development, Dallas Theological
Seminary
Published in The Dallas Morning News: 04.25.08
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