Expelled Foot in Mouth Disease on Ken Miller

Mark Mathis, ass. prod. of the anti-evolution propoganda film Expelled, was interviewed by Scientific American editor-in-chief John Rennie, and among the topics covered was why Ken Miller, a devout Roman Catholic and biology professor at Brown University, was not included among the scientists interviewed for the film. After all, one would think a movie discussing whether scientists are censored by "Big Science" for mentioning their religious views, would be very interested in the experiences of a well-known, religious person who also happens to be highly acclaimed scientist and science author.

The answer for the thinking side of this issue isn't too tough to discern, but it is highly amusing to watch Mathis dance around trying not to admit the obvious. For the benefit of those not familiar with ID-speak, I humbly offer my translation of these edited-for-readibility remarks:

"[I'm] an associate producer. I don’t make decisions about who gets interviewed, [or] what makes it into the film."

Translation: I do not want to deal with this topic, or take any responsibility for it, because I know how bad it is going to make us look.

"...Ken Miller would have confused the film unnecessarily. I don’t agree with Ken Miller...when you look at this issue and this debate...there’s one side of the line or the other...I don’t think you can intellectually, honestly...stand on a line that I don’t think exists"

Translation: Ken Miller's views conflict with my ideology, so like a good little zealot, I choose to ignore reality. And since my target audience of zealots pretends to think in a similar manner, and will tolerate no deviation from that vision, Ken Miller could not be in the film.

...the form of Catholicism that Ken Miller accepts and practices is...nowhere near...Catholic doctrine...[T]here...are some people who fall into that camp. And I am...certainly not a theological expert in this area. But...if you talk to the average Catholic person and...you start talking about how life came to be, they are going to cite a biblical view.

Translation: I don't know a thing about Catholicism, and I just don't care that the past two Popes affirmed evolution. My ideology depends on Catholics agreeing with me, so that's what I'm going to assert.

It's pathetic, isn't it? Note that he essentially says that people like Ken Miller and Francis Collins, and the last two popes, are intellectually dishonest. The evidence? They disagree with him, simple as that. The irony drips from a film ostensibly about closed-mindedness being made by people this extraordinarily closed-minded.