April 2008

Mark your calendars now! The powerful documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, is scheduled for release Friday, April 18th, hopefully in a theater near you. The movie features the actor-and-intellectual Ben Stein, and it combines interviews of leading Darwinists and scientists teaching or researching ID, along with Stein's own penetrating analysis of the issue. The film exposes a campaign of intimidation, harassment, persecution, and career-assassination that has been carried out for years against those who question the reigning orthodoxy of neo-Darwinism.

Know this: You will love this movie! Linda and I have been privileged to view several screenings, beginning with a rough cut last December and progressing to a near-final cut in February. We have been particularly struck by the film's parallel between the Communist suppression of basic individual rights through black-and-white footage of the erecting of the Berlin Wall and the denial of freedom of inquiry into the scientific flaws and problems of neo-Darwinism. EXPELLED is entertaining yet serious, comic yet electrifying. In the screenings we viewed, audiences typically were silent and almost breathless as the credits began to role. Then the applause and praise. In a review following a screening in Kansas City, Jack Cashill, Executive Editor of Ingram's Magazine, writes

the film brought the audience to its feet. And with good cause. Stein's often funny, always engaging frontal assault on the oppressive neo-Darwinist establishment is arguably the smartest and most sophisticated documentary ever produced on the right side of the cultural divide, on any subject, ever. As such, Expelled represents still another blow to the progressive orthodoxy of government-issued science in its winter of discontent.

Particularly exciting for us at FTE is the role of the two authors of The Design of Life in the movie, and the endorsement of the movie's producers for The Design of Life. Of the 50 or so scientists interviewed all over the world during the making of the film, only a few, of course, could be included in the final cut. Our own William Dembski and Jonathan Wells are among those few. In addition, once the movie is released, an "Expelled" E-Store will offer related resources that will keep the issue in the public eye. The Design of Life is one of a small handful of books that will sell in the E-Store. How we praise God for this incredible development in our history and our mission.

This is a "must see" movie of the highest quality that will hopefully stir cultures around the world. Your heart will be touched; your mind will be challenged. You will also laugh! As a bonus, you'll better equip yourself in the battle against the erosion of free speech in our schools, universities and beyond. I invite you as a friend and supporter of FTE to become a mobilizer for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, by stirring excitement and inviting others to go with you to your local theater on the weekend of April 18th. Bring your friends and neighbors; go out for a snack afterwards and continue the discussion. It's important that the film have good attendance on its opening weekend. The news of a huge attendance on opening night will result in more theaters opening up to it, as well as extended bookings in the original theaters, so ultimately EXPELLED will be viewed, not just by a few million, but by many, many millions during its theater run.

If you have access to the internet, let me urge you to visit the movie's website and watch the "Bad to the Bone" teaser trailer, at www.expelledthemovie.com and move through various links that provide an overview of the movie, a satiric parody of Big Science Academy, responses to such questions as "What's At Stake (and why is it important?), a theater locator, and much much more. You will see why we are beyond excited about this movie!

Please, don't miss it!

Jon Buell