December movies

We’ve got two controversial movies hitting the theaters this month, The Golden Compass and Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed.

The Golden Compass is being called a subversive attempt to spread atheism among children. Many churches are urging their members to abstain from viewing it.

Based on the first book of a trilogy called His Dark Materials by acclaimed English author and self-professed atheist Philip Pullman, the movie stars Nicole Kidman and features a little girl’s quest to kill God.
According to Fox News, the novelist has said his books are in response to C.S. Lewis’ series The Chronicles of Narnia, which he has called “one of the most ugly and poisonous things” he’s ever read. “I hate [the 'Narnia' books] with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away,” said Pullman.
“They’re intentionally watering down the most offensive element,” said Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League. “It’s a deceitful stealth campaign.”
The fear is that unsuspecting parents will view the movie and find it intriguing and innocent enough to purchase the books for their children. (The books are at the top of best-seller lists in the U.K and other countries but are not as popular in the U.S.)
In recent weeks, e-mails have been circulating within religious circles calling on people of faith to boycott the movie. Much like efforts before the release of the “Da Vinci Code” movie, which turned out to be a huge worldwide box-office hit, the protests against this film have been loud and aggressive. The controversy is undoubtedly drumming up free publicity for Pullman’s works. (In fact, the rumpus drove me to purchase the books so I could make my own assessment.)
Without actually seeing the movie, it is impossible to draw a fair conclusion. Parents should be aware that religious and atheist groups alike seem to agree that the film is far less provocative than the books.  (Source)

Meanwhile, Ben Stein wants to become the new poster-boy for the ID movement. In Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed Stein claims that “big science” has suppressed the teaching of Intelligent Design in the science classroom.

 In the movie, Stein, who is also a lawyer, economist, former presidential speechwriter, author and social commentator, is stunned by what he discovers – an elitist scientific establishment that has traded in its skepticism for dogma. Even worse, say publicists for the feature film, “along the way, Stein uncovers a long line of biologists, astronomers, chemists and philosophers who have had their reputations destroyed and their careers ruined by a scientific establishment that allows absolutely no dissent from Charles Darwin’s theory of random mutation and natural selection.”
“Big Science in this area of biology has lost its way,” says Stein. “Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, no matter what the implications are. Freedom of inquiry has been greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-American, it’s anti-science. It’s anti-the whole concept of learning.”
“Expelled” documents how teachers and scientists alike are being ridiculed daily, denied tenure and even fired believing there is evidence of “design” in nature and challenging the current orthodoxy that life is entirely a result of random chance.

For example, Stein meets Richard Sternberg, a double Ph.D. biologist who allowed a peer-reviewed research paper describing the evidence for intelligence in the universe to be published in the scientific journal Proceedings. Shortly after publication, officials from the National Center for Science Education and the Smithsonian Institution, where Sternberg was a research fellow, began a coordinated smear-and-intimidation campaign to get the promising young scientist fired. The attack on scientific freedom was so egregious that it prompted a congressional investigation.

In the film, Stein meets other scientists like astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez, who was denied tenure at Iowa State University in spite of an extraordinary record of achievement. Gonzalez made the mistake of documenting the design he has observed in the universe. And there are others, like Caroline Crocker, a brilliant biology teacher at George Mason University who was forced out of the university for briefly discussing problems with Darwinian theory and for telling the students that some scientists believe there is evidence of design in the universe.  (Source)

No more “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Charlie Brown Christmas”. It appears this year we’re to spend our holiday movie viewing time questioning our fundamental beliefs. I’m almost surprised Mel Gibson didn’t release a movie questioning the right to abortion centered around the birth of Christ.

So, who’s going, which one will you watch, why (or why not)? Or are you going to pass on the whole thing and just watch “Miracle on 34th Street” for the umpteenth time?