More Lies and Deception

If I were asked to sum up what first led me to suspect that Christianity was more lie than truth it would have to be the fact that its adherents so readily use lies and deception in an attempt to achieve their goals.

The latest example comes in a N.Y. Times article from September 27th which reports the complaints of a number of scientists that they were misled when interviewed for an upcoming movie.

They were told that the movie was to be called “Crossroads” and was to deal with the intersection of religion and science. Instead, they have now discovered, the movie is to be entitled “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” to be released by a different producer and based upon the premises that (a) Intelligent Design is a viable alternative to evolution and (b) academics have been expelled, denied tenure, or suffered other penalties because they believe they see signs of intelligent design in living organisms.

According to the Times the film, in its trailer, claims that it presents “a startling revelation that freedom of thought and freedom of inquiry have been expelled from publicly-funded high schools, universities and research institutions.”

The Times also reports that the film’s website claims that this is due to a scientific conspiracy to keep God out of the nations laboratories and classrooms. The key here of course are the words “publicly-funded.” This particular choice of words is almost guaranteed to get the under 90 IQ, Trailer Park crowd in an uproar once it’s been explained to them what the phrase means.

Now, I think a debate as to whether or not scientists or university teachers are penalized for pushing ideas or hypotheses that don’t conform to accepted scientific positions is a perfectly valid topic for discussion. Making a movie which investigates this possibility is certainly within the scope of things a documentary film maker might want to explore.

However, what is not acceptable is lying to people about what you’re doing. The Times reported that some of the scientists, such as Richard Dawkins, said they would never have agreed to the interviews if they knew the true premise of the film. Others, such as P.Z. Myers of the University of Minnesota, said they would have agreed to the interview anyway but would have aggressively attacked the premise of the movie.

The problem of course is that these people were purposely misled as to that premise. You can also be certain that the film, which won’t be “available for preview” until a month before its scheduled release, will be edited just right to make whatever point they want to make. You can also be certain they figure a month won’t be enough time to do anything when someone finds out that what they said has been grossly misrepresented.

If you are privy to God’s Truth, why do you need deception? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, let’s stack everybody’s “Truths” on the table of science and education, shine the light of reason upon them and see which “Truths” whither and which “Truths” flourish.

If we just had the courage to do that we could reduce religion to a minor sidebar in society. How do I know that? I know that because the adherents of religion constantly find it necessary to lie and deceive.