Here’s an interesting but admittedly entertaining video that should set the following context into discussion (note the association of evolution with atheism, and the persecution complex that follows):



If you’ll recall my last post, I discussed how the infamous Scopes Trial informed creationists’ views on the issue: refusal to reconcile science with contradictory beliefs and appeals concerning unrelated areas such as morality. Here I’d like to talk about another very important aspect of the creationist point of view—the persecution complex. A persecution complex is common among creationists, especially those who are proponents of intelligent design.

In addition to sincere belief in the veracity of their claims (whether or not they recognize them as scientific), creationists have a tendency to appeal to fairness and other such non-scientific arguments. ‘After all’, they say, ‘shouldn’t both sides of the debate be taught’? This has been brought up in a few comments, and my response has been that creationism can’t be elevated to the same scientific status as evolution. This is a belief shared by many proponents of evolution, and it is beliefs such as these that get reactions from creationists claiming persecution.

I can think of no better example of such a persecution complex than Ben Stein’s Expelled, a relatively recent documentary that advocates intelligent design while smearing evolution. A good portion of the movie deals with the “atheistic scientific establishment” and its supposed war against intelligent design. Take a quick look at the movie’s site, and you’ll see how it appeals to emotion and sets up an attitude of persecution. The movie tries to set up intelligent design as a legitimate scientific theory, and reasons that “Big Science” is just avoiding progressive debate concerning alternative scientific theories of origin. An enticing view, but it’s important to keep in mind what science is— falsifiability and the like. I recommend watching the movie if at all possible, and then checking out Expelled: Exposed, an excellent site that debunks Expelled’s various attacks on evolutionary theory.

This persecution complex that informs many creationists beliefs on what should be taught in schools. The empty rhetoric that results from ideas such as “Teach the Controversy” and the idea of fairness for non-scientific doctrines such as creationism is dangerous to the public mindset. It’s misleading and I’d go as far to say even treacherous. A strong statement, I know, but such appeals only serve to mislead Americans about the value of legitimate science in education. The sort of dishonesty that informs the creationism, especially the intelligent design movement, is staggering at times. It’s true that scientists and the scientific establishment do not want intelligent design taught as a viable alternative theory, yes. But it’s not because they’re afraid of the consequences of losing or because they desperately want to cling to some sort of “atheistic worldview”, but because intelligent design (and by proxy, creationism) is not a legitimate form of science at all. To debate that using non-scientific arguments is simply dishonest.