Before I answer that question, allow me to address Stein's "reminder" that Darwin's theories led to the Holocaust. Liberty's readers should not have to be reminded that dictators (and politicians in general) justify their actions in whatever way is convenient. To claim that "survival of the fittest" leads to eugenics is akin to claiming that science causes war, or that capitalism causes poverty.
Back to the movie's thesis: Stein's interviewees do not respond to the charges above because they never hear them. Stein interviews under the guise of an objective documentarian. He tells the mainstream scientists he interviews that his movie is innocuously entitled "Crossroads: The Intersection of Science and Religion." But by Stein's own admission, the movie's title was already "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" when it was pitched to him. The interviews are carefully edited to remove content that rebuts any of the film's premises, then interspersed with pseudoscientific pronouncements from Intelligent Design (ID) proponents (which are, of course, presented as the real truth of the matter).
Were any of the supposed martyrs in "Expelled," actually fired, demoted, or harassed for questioning Darwin? The short answer is "no."
In the case Ben Stein describes as the "most egregious," Richard Sternberg supposedly "lost his job" for publishing a paper critical of the standard evolutionary account of the Cambrian Explosion. In actuality, before the paper was published Sternberg gave his notice of intent to resign his position; then he circumvented the standard review process to publish some ID nonsense in the small scientific journal for which he served as unpaid editor; then the journal's publishers withdrew the paper and announced it should not have been published; finally, he left his job. Sternberg was (and still is) an unpaid research associate at the Smithsonian, although he has not shown up there in years. Sternberg was (and still is) an employee of the National Institute of Health.
Each of the five other supposed martyrdoms is convincingly refuted at www.expelledexposed.com., at www.michaelshermer.com. (the site of one of the scientists duped into appearing in "Expelled"), and at Wikipedia. Each of these sites also addresses the film as a whole, and each site provides easy access to sites addressing the science (or lack thereof) behind ID. Finally, since science and truth are both best served by full information, each site also provides easy access to prominent ID websites.
One of these ID websites (www.researchID.org) inadvertently refutes the general case of suppression with its list of "100+ universities and colleges" that include ID in their curricula. Six Ivy League schools are on the list. (Fittingly, none of them view ID as science.)
What about the supposed problems with the Darwinian theory of evolution? There are, in fact, legitimate (and sometimes heated) disputes, and peer-reviewed articles regarding natural selection are regularly published in reputable journals of science. The papers make specific, testable, falsifiable claims, which are judged only on whether they withstand challenges. (All scientific papers are challenged — the scientific process has its own survival of the fittest.) The papers cover everything from the criteria of mate selection to the frequency and importance of symbiogenesis.
ID theorists, on the other hand, do not publish in peer-reviewed journals, for they do not practice science. Some of them dispute this — they claim that their research is legitimate science that does not get a fair hearing at the "intelligentsia-controlled" scientific journals. If this is the case, why don't they publish it through other channels? Their leading theorists have published several books that claim to make a scientific case for ID. Unfortunately for them, all but one ID-related claim has been refuted. This sole unrefuted (and irrefutable) claim is: "some things are known to no one." Hardly a solid basis for a theory of everything.
ID's specific claims are all along the lines of "this [link in the evolutionary chain] could not occur without
Intervention." "Life could not have emerged by chance, therefore there is a Designer," they maintain. Mainstream science continues its search for a natural origin for life, although this search is outside the sphere of evolutionary science. "Certain structures are 'irreducibly complex' and therefore could not have evolved." The reasoning behind the idea of "irreducible complexity" has been thoroughly refuted, as has every ID-proclaimed irreducibly complex structure (including their flagship examples: the eye and the eubacterial flagellum). "The Cambrian Explosion [of phyla and fauna] was too sudden to be natural." The Cambrian Explosion took place over the course of roughly 80 million years, and on top of that, its "explosiveness" may be overstated in the fossil record, as most of the organisms of that era, lacking bones or other mineralised body parts, would fossilize only under unusual conditions.
The claims that "Darwinians have already made adjustments to their theory to account for evidence of the Big Bang" (since the theories do not overlap in any manner, this is both bizarre and revealing), "ID and evolution do not have to be mutually exclusive," or that there are "ID scientists who shun theology" are no closer to the truth than the belief that a cartoon elephant will teach us a lesson about science.
As for the fiction that ID is something other than a Trojan Horse with which to sneak Christian fundamentalism into public schools, consider the words of one of ID's founders, William Dembski: "Intelligent Design opens the whole possibility of us being created in the image of a benevolent God. . . . And if there's anything that I think has blocked the growth of Christ as the free reign of the Spirit and people accepting the Scripture and Jesus Christ, it is the Darwinian naturalistic view."
All those who've longed for someone to apply Michael Moore's technique in support of the Religious Right will love this movie. Those who want an honest presentation of the facts should look elsewhere.
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