521 Expelled: No Kindness Allowed
In his recently released motion picture, “EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed,” Ben Stein attempts to document how teachers and scientists alike are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired for believing there is evidence of "design" in nature. "Big Science in this area of biology has lost its way," Stein says. "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."
I like Ben Stein but I thought “EXPELLED” was riddled with over-the-top insinuations and slanted reporting. Though Stein succeeded in showing how freedom of inquiry has been compromised in some areas of the scientific community, “EXPELLED” also demonstrated that Stein can pursue truth as narrowly as those he’s trying to implicate. He fails to see that the Intelligent Design martyrs in his documentary aren’t the only ones being expelled.
Consider a professor seeking tenure at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University who suddenly disclosed that he no longer believes in Creationism or Intelligent Design? How about a science writer at James Dobson’s Focus on the Family who publicly states that she now embraces the views of atheistic evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins? Does anyone doubt these employees would be expelled?
I’m not saying that organizations must hire or retain individuals who don’t share their core beliefs; I'm asking why we choose to be so standoffish toward them? Jesus brilliantly said that truth will set us free, but what so often happens is that truth entraps us. The more certain we are about our truth, the more unpleasant we are with those who don’t share it.
While we don’t have to give up what we believe is true, shouldn’t we recognize that our truth is not all truth? Truth is ultimately owned by God alone and we are merely shortsighted, short-lived pilgrims passing through this third rock from the Sun. I’m sure that’s why Jesus also implored us to love one another (those like us) and our enemies (those unlike us).
I suggest that instead of slamming one another in movie theaters that we slam on the breaks and stop short of the sign that declares we are right and everyone else is wrong. I’m sure Stein would agree that engaging in a wider dialogue on the sensitive topics is better than merely shooting down one another’s beliefs and kicking people out of our groups. We don’t have to agree on everything to be friends. Why not make kindness an equal to rightness? How about having a friendly chat over coffee and if there are disagreements, then like flavoring in the coffee, our conversation will be even richer.
Let us aspire to be people whom others can approach with questions, doubts and disagreements without fear of being condemned, judged or expelled. Instead of having all the answers or seeing ourselves as possessing “the truth,” let’s provide safe spaces for us to explore truth together. Instead of expelling, let’s pull an extra chair up to the table of truth and trust that in the process of dialogue and community we will all find ourselves drawing closer to what really is truth.
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