Expelled

I haven't seen Ben Stein's new movie yet, but when I do, I'm pretty sure I'll agree with NRO's Jim Manzi, who says, "Show me the Science."

Since I believe that the universe - all that is, seen and unseen - was created by a God who is supremely intelligent and supremely powerful, I have no problem in saying that I believe it to have been intelligently designed. But I'm suspicious of Intelligent Design as science, just as I was suspicious of its predecessor, Creationism. Actually, I wasn't just suspicious of Creationism; I think it was an absolute farce. The ID folks at least pretend to do real science; most Creationists, on the other hand, would have been content to completely replace the science of evolutionary biology with the Book of Genesis, without the faintest inkling that the two might actually complement one another.

The big question is whether Intelligent Design is just a souped-up version of Creationism. It may very well be, but insofar as it represents a shift from a hyper-literalistic - and demonstrably false - interpretation of the Bible towards one that is more accommodating to scientific reason and common sense, then it's a big step forward. It may be bad science, but at least it's better theology.