'Expelled' Exposes Plight of Darwin Doubters
WASHINGTON – A provocative film to be released next year is uncovering a conspiracy among educators to "expel" professors who question Darwinism.
Highly acclaimed professors have lost their jobs, been denied tenure, and rejected of subsequent teaching positions for raising questions on Darwin's theory of evolution, said speakers at a promotional event this week for the film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," featuring Ben Stein.
"Soon after I lost my job at George Mason [University] for questioning Darwinism, I was working at Northern Virginia Community College," said biology professor Caroline Crocker, who is featured in "Expelled," on Tuesday
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"I overheard the administrator (at NVCC) saying to my supervisor that she should get rid of me," Crocker recalled at the event hosted by the Family Research Council. "I made her life easy and said I found another job."
But Crocker continued to face persecution in subsequent jobs with bosses telling her they ran out of money after she worked a year, even though they had an NIH (National Institute of Health) grant.
"I was offered three or four jobs after many applications. Every one of them after being offered at the interview the job, within two weeks I was phoned and told that there is no money for this position," the biology professor recalled.
"I thought it was a little strange that they had money to advertise and to interview but didn't actually have the money for the position," she noted. "Since then I was told by someone at the NIH, 'Don't bother, you're blacklisted.' That is what he told me, but I don't know if it's true."
In defense, Crocker denies teaching creationism at George Mason University. Rather, she contends that she taught only one lecture on the evidence for and against evolution and did not even mention creationism.
"What I really wanted to do was in an intellectually honest manner give the evidence for evolution, but also the question about evolution – the scientific critiques – that's all I did," Crocker said.
She has not been able to find a lawyer to represent her against George Mason since her first lawyer dropped her case.
In response to cases such as Crocker's, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" highlights the long-standing controversial debate between supporters of Darwinism and supporters of Intelligent Design, which argues that the creation of life and the universe are results of an intelligent "designer" and not by chance as the former theory suggests.
Through interviews with both Intelligent Design and Darwinian Evolution proponents, the movie is said to expose "the intimidation, persecution and career destruction that takes place when any scientist dares dissent from the view that all life on earth is the mere result of random mutation and natural selection,'" according to the film's producers.
"There are people out there who want to keep science in a little box where it can't possibly touch God," said Stein in the film's trailer. "Scientists are not even allowed to think thoughts that involve an intelligent creator."
Executive producer Walt Ruloff said, "When our audience sees the stories of the real victims of scientific malpractice they're going to be outraged."
Todd Nordquist, the community liaison at the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, also spoke at the event about the battle of worldviews where currently scientific materialism dominates.
An "Expelled Road Show Tour" is currently underway and is scheduled to hit 40 college campuses across the country by the film's February 2008 release date.
