There's a war going on in our schools and universities, our laboratories and lecture halls.
The scientific community is so enraptured with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution that they are working as one to stamp out anything that may contradict it, especially the notion of intelligent design. Scientists with impeccable records are being ostracized from that community - losing their jobs, their tenure, their professional credibility - for even giving voice to the notion that life may have been the work of an intelligent creator.
At least that's the premise of the new movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The documentary, produced by Premise Media and starring speech writer, actor and game show host Ben Stein, is set to open on Friday, but it has already ignited controversy.
It remains one of the most talked-about (and blogged-about) topics on the Internet, and producers are so concerned about pirated copies of the film showing up online that they've instituted strict security measures for preview screenings. Photo IDs are checked, bags are searched, and all cell phones and other electronic devices must be left in cars.
Last Thursday night, the Total Living Network held one of those screenings in Aurora. TLN is a Christian television studio and broadcasting network based on Aurora's far West Side, which creates its own faith-based programming and beams it out via satellite to stations across the globe.
TLN's CEO and president, Jerry Rose, prides himself on using his network to spark open debate about important issues.
Expelled will certainly start a few of those. The film starts off with Stein, perhaps best known as the droning teacher repeating the title character's name in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, interviewing biologists who believe they've been censured for giving credence to the idea of intelligent design. Stein also interviews biologists who vehemently disagree with intelligent design, particularly Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion.
Later, the film attempts to draw connections between Darwinist theory and Nazism, and compares the perceived debate in the scientific community to the erecting of the Berlin Wall.
Open discussion
Locals who attended Thursday's screening came away impressed with the movie, and many expressed hope that it will start a dialogue about the issue. David and Diana Winters of Aurora said they expect the movie will make those in the scientific community angry. And Jerri Reimann of Downers Grove said she was surprised, in our free society, that "we can't discuss different points of view."
But can we? While the loudest proponents on both sides of the issue grab the headlines, Neil Blackstone, biology professor at Northern Illinois University, said the vast majority of scientists don't believe there is a conflict between evolution and intelligent design. Blackstone, in fact, discusses intelligent design theory in his classroom, and said he has never felt any pressure to stop.
"My students hear about the controversy, there's certainly great interest in it, and saying that we can't talk about that is the wrong approach," he said. "I think it can be a good tool to show what science really is."
Science, religion co-exist
The main criticism of intelligent design from evolutionary biologists is that it isn't really science. Darwin's theory of evolution states that species adapt and grow over time to suit their environmental and biological needs, and that one can trace that evolution down the chain.
But evolution does not provide an answer to the big question - where did we all come from? That's a hole the intelligent design theory attempts to fill by saying complex structures in nature can only be the work of an intelligent creator.
While Blackstone believes science and religion can co-exist without difficulty, he said intelligent design doesn't pass muster as scientific theory. It can't be tested, it can't be proven or falsified, and it depends on an unknown and unknowable other as its basis.
"If you invoke the supernatural, you can't test it in a framework in which the supernatural is absent, and that's what science is," he said.
What conflict?
Carrie Morjan, assistant professor of biology at Aurora University, said she has not seen any persecution of intelligent design as a philosophy, but has seen debate over how to deal with it in a science classroom.
"I certainly see it as a valid subject to study, through philosophy and religion," she said. "But it doesn't fall under the umbrella of science."
Both Blackstone and Morjan said they would use intelligent design in the classroom to illuminate the scientific method. Blackstone noted that some aspects of intelligent design, such as the idea that some structures are so complex they wouldn't work without all their components, can be disproved.
And Morjan gave the example of the human eye as something that seems complex enough to have been intelligently designed, but is in fact flawed enough that it serves as evidence for evolution.
"The blood vessels are in front of the retina, and the brain had to learn to see around them," she said. "Things aren't as perfect as some expect, and evolution can explain many things that wouldn't make sense otherwise."
Both scientists disagree with Expelled's basic premise - that the scientific community has erected a wall around intelligent design and refuses to discuss it. The idea that some scientists may be losing their jobs over the theory is disturbing to Blackstone, although he said he doesn't have enough information to know whether that is happening. But he believes science and religion can walk hand in hand, without contradicting one another.
"Why make it a conflict?" he said. "Let's not pretend we have to fight to the death. We can have both. We don't need to be Richard Dawkins or Ben Stein."
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