The Voyage that Shook the World
Encyclopedia
The Voyage That Shook The World is a 2009
dramatised documentary film
commissioned by Creation Ministries International
, a Christian Young Earth creationist
organisation, and produced by Fathom Media. It was released to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin
's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species.
A historian featured in the film has stated that the creationist backing of the film had been concealed when he agreed to take part, that the editing of his words could give a false impression of his views, and that the film presents a historically distorted portrait of Darwin. Creation Ministries agreed that they had set up a "front company" to approach experts. They denied any deception and stated that one of the interviewees had admitted that while the producers had "cherry picked" comments they "didn't distort what we said", and compared their approach to that used by the BBC in making documentaries.
The three historians featured in the film subsequently issued a statement that they had been misrepresented by the film company's selective reconstruction of Darwin's voyage.
CMI countered these claims with extended quotes from the interviews of the historians. Their response was described as appearing to be sound in specific aspects by American skeptic Jim Lippard
, who had not seen the film at that time. Having seen the film, he described it as trying to hide its own creationism, which becomes increasingly apparent as the film progresses.
on evolution
as well as proponents of intelligent design
and young earth creationism
. It features wild-life footage from the Galapagos Islands
as well as on-location footage from Argentina
, Chile
, Tierra del Fuego
and the United Kingdom
. The film's dramatised sequences were shot on location in Tasmania
, Australia
.
on Movieguide, a conservative Christian
website offering film reviews, gave the movie four stars and called the film "a beautifully produced program" that shows the flaws and "anti-Christian" attitudes in Darwin's work, but is done "with dignity and respect". Baehr asserted that many of Darwin's ideas "now prove unscientific", and concluded that "if people watch it with an open mind, it may turn their hearts and minds away from the confusion that is Darwinism
toward asking the right questions that can lead them to the truth." , this was the only review cited on the film's website. Despite its neutral name, Movieguide describes itself as a ministry "dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media according to biblical principles, by influencing entertainment industry executives and helping families make wise media choices".
The movie is listed on Rotten Tomatoes
, also an aggregator of film reviews, but without a score.
A statement by the three historians featured in the film says that it is "clearly intended to challenge evolution, but stops short of openly endorsing the more extreme alternatives favored by some creationists." They described it as being highly critical of Charles Lyell
's uniformitarianism
and featuring geologists who point to evidence of limited catastrophes in earth history, but said that "it does not imply that the whole geological record is the product of a single flood." They state that the reconstruction of Darwin's life is used to give the overall impression that he "had an enquiring mind but was led astray by his theoretical preconceptions, a view backed up through interviews with several scientists, including one who expresses open doubts about evolution. The film also suggests that what is ultimately at stake is a clash of world views rather than the resolution of scientific questions." They recommended websites for information on the history of Darwin and evolution; the Darwin Correspondence Project and the National Center for Science Education
, both of which have sections on science and religion, and the National Science Foundation
's "Evolution of Evolution" report featuring interviews with historians of science.
described it as professionally produced with excellent cinematography and high-quality graphics and effects. He had no criticism of the acting, which is mostly shown as visual effects during voice-overs of interviews or narration. As a documentary it starts reasonably, though putting unusual emphasis on Darwin "making up stories" as a child, and has the professional historians as the first experts shown. Lippard thought the film veered into creationist areas when discussing the influence of Charles Lyell
's uniformitarianism
, showing Peter Bowler
stating that it was then a settled question that the earth is of great age, but not today: in emails, Carl Wieland
of Creation Ministries International
and Steve Murray who directed the film advised that the statement was about the fact that there was no Young Earth creationist movement
at that time. The film then presented as experts several people without identifying them as creationists and intelligent design
advocates. Lippard thought perhaps the most deceptive aspect of the film was that these people were shown as though they were on a par with established experts, misleadingly representing their subject areas and not mentioning that two work for CMI while an intelligent design proponent is a professor at Biola University
. They identified Stuart Burgess as "Design & Nature, Bristol University": Burgess, the Professor of Engineering Design and department head at Bristol University
, is Lecturer and Unit Director for a 4th year course on Design and Nature about mechanical solution principles found in nature. In their emails, Wieland and Murray disclaimed any attempt to be deceptive in choice of on-screen credentials.
The creationist Emil Silvestru presents arguments for a young earth and for catastrophic flood
producing geological formations, taking as an example the Channeled Scablands
, but omits evidence of the great age of the earth. The film argues that Darwin was misled by Lyell's ideas, and presents a two-model approach in which science of the age of the earth is contrasted with religion as the creationist view that the diversity and distribution of species evolved rapidly in the few thousand years since Noah's Flood
. The film then presents creationist claims that there are limits to evolution and random mutation
cannot generate new information or structures, claims at odds with the synthetic biology
research of Synthetic Genomics
. The film touches on claims that evolutionary views caused racism
, but omits to mention religious support for racism, such as the Southern Baptist Convention
being set up to promote slavery. Alvin Plantinga
presents philosophical arguments against the validity of scientific evidence, and the film completely omits the overwhelming evidence supporting common descent
and human evolution
. The film concludes that there are opposing views of evolution and creation, and implies that religion and science are incompatible, finally stating that questions of origins and meaning in existence will not go away. Overall, Lippard thought the film was better than he had expected, and appeared to be trying to hide its own creationism.
, Janet Browne, and Sandra Herbert.
Bowler made his complaint known in a BBC
interview, and later all three issued a statement published in the History of Science Society
Newsletter.
Creation Ministries International has responded to the criticisms, in the latter case with supporting extended quotes from the interviews.
In a BBC
interview Bowler complained that he and other expert historians had been "duped" into participating in an "anti-Darwinian" film presenting a historically distorted portrait of Darwin without realising it was being produced by a creationist organisation. He claimed that the narrative of the film wrongly implies racism, contrary to current historical research, and also expressed concern that the way his words had been edited could give viewers a false impression of his own views on Darwin. In the same interview, Phil Bell, CEO of Creation Ministries UK, stated that his organisation had established a "front company" called Fathom Media for the purposes of approaching experts such as Bowler, who would not agree to take part in the film if they realised it was an "overtly Creationist" production. "At the end of the day," he said, "[when] people see 'Creationist', instantly the shutters go up and that would have shut us off from talking to the sort of experts, such as Professor Bowler, that we wanted to get to." When asked if this method of securing an interview was "deceptive", Bell replied, "Well, it could be called deceptive. But I think, at the end of the day . . . more people are concerned about how we've made a documentary, that's a world-class documentary, clearly with wonderful footage, with excellent interviews, and balanced open discussion." Bell also denied that his organisation had broken the Biblical Ninth Commandment
by "bearing false witness" against Bowler and his colleagues. "Nobody was told any lies," he said.
Creation Ministries International answered these allegations in a statement about how the film was made. This included a statement by the director, Steve Murray, and the text of the document sent to all interviewees prior to their interview. In responding to accusations of "lying by omission" it stated that in an email response to a query, an unnamed interviewee said, "They didn't actually distort what we said, but did cherry-pick the comments." The producers deny any deception and accuse their critics of being inconsistent in not criticising the BBC and other documentary producers when they do not reveal the purpose of their documentary to their interviewees when, for example, making an undercover documentary of repression behind the Iron Curtain
.
There was a similar controversy over the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
when interviewees critical of intelligent design
stated that they were misled into taking part by the film producers misrepresenting the aims of the film.
Newsletter said that the three historians had been misrepresented by the film company's selective reconstruction of Darwin's voyage. They said that they had been led to believe that "the movie was being made to be shown as an educational film on Australian broadcast television and possibly elsewhere", and had only been alerted to the true nature of the movie shortly before its release. They describe the interviews filmed with themselves as having been edited to highlight certain aspects of Darwin's views and character. Browne's description of Darwin's childhood delight in making up stories to impress people was "used to imply that the same motive may have driven his scientific thinking." The film uses the description of Darwin's later views on racial inequality but, the statement says, omits Bowler's account of the thesis that Darwin's work was inspired by his opposition to racism and slavery, as put forward by Adrian Desmond and James Moore
. A comment by Sandra Herbert that "Darwin's theory required explanation of many aspects of life" was, the statement said, edited down to imply that his theory required explanation of all aspects of life. They stated that this opportunity to reach out to a wider public had turned out differently from their expectations, and that academics perhaps "do need to be more aware of the fact that the media organisations are not always open about their underlying agendas." While they probably would not have contributed had they known the true origins of Fathom Media, they thought that the producers had a point in that if academic historians refuse to participate when historical information is sought by organisations they disapprove of, they cannot complain if less reputable sources are used instead.
CMI has responded to these criticisms by quoting more extensive transcripts of the interviews to show that Bowler made no mention of Desmond or Moore, and that Herbert's views were not misrepresented. On Bowler's claim, they quote the director (Steve Murray) as saying, ". . . in my interview with Prof. Bowler he offered no reference at all that I or others could tell (even on re-examining the transcripts), to the work of Desmond and Moore, nor was there any statement that Darwin was inspired by his opposition to racism and slavery, or anything to that effect".
In answer to Herbert's claims, Murray said, "Professor Herbert seems to imply that somehow we twisted the meaning of her words, so that 'many aspects of life' was edited to imply 'all aspects of life'. Yet where did she refer to 'many aspects of life'? We simply included what seems to be a very clear statement that Darwin had to 'explain everything!' (Implied: 'all aspects of life')"
American skeptic Jim Lippard
, commenting on CMI's response before he had seen the film, said, ". . . the CMI rebuttal appears to be sound with respect to those two specific allegations." and added that prospective interviewees should do due diligence to find out who is backing the film before agreeing to appear, should check that the release gives a way of defending against misrepresentation, and if going public with feelings that they have been misrepresented, should "consult the raw footage to make sure your charges of misrepresentation are themselves accurate". Having seen the film, he thought that it started off reasonably, but deceptively presented creationists as though they had reputations on a par with well credentialled experts, and as the film went on more standard creationism began to emerge.
2009 in film
The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
dramatised documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
commissioned by Creation Ministries International
Creation Ministries International
Creation Ministries International is a non-profit young Earth creationist organisation of autonomous Christian apologetics ministries that promote a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis...
, a Christian Young Earth creationist
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
organisation, and produced by Fathom Media. It was released to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species.
A historian featured in the film has stated that the creationist backing of the film had been concealed when he agreed to take part, that the editing of his words could give a false impression of his views, and that the film presents a historically distorted portrait of Darwin. Creation Ministries agreed that they had set up a "front company" to approach experts. They denied any deception and stated that one of the interviewees had admitted that while the producers had "cherry picked" comments they "didn't distort what we said", and compared their approach to that used by the BBC in making documentaries.
The three historians featured in the film subsequently issued a statement that they had been misrepresented by the film company's selective reconstruction of Darwin's voyage.
CMI countered these claims with extended quotes from the interviews of the historians. Their response was described as appearing to be sound in specific aspects by American skeptic Jim Lippard
Jim Lippard
James Joseph Lippard is an American skeptic and activist freethinker who has written and spoken widely.Lippard works for Global Crossing as its head of information security....
, who had not seen the film at that time. Having seen the film, he described it as trying to hide its own creationism, which becomes increasingly apparent as the film progresses.
Production
The 52-minute-long film includes interviews with scholars, academics and scientists covering a wide range of views including proponents of the scientific consensusScientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study. Consensus implies general agreement, though not necessarily unanimity. Scientific consensus is not by itself a scientific argument, and it is not part of the...
on evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
as well as proponents of intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
and young earth creationism
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
. It features wild-life footage from the Galapagos Islands
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
as well as on-location footage from Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The film's dramatised sequences were shot on location in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Reviews
Ted BaehrTed Baehr
M. Robert E. Theodore Baehr is an American media critic and Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, a division of Good News Communications, Inc...
on Movieguide, a conservative Christian
Conservative Christianity
Conservative Christianity is a term applied to a number of groups or movements seen as giving priority to traditional Christian beliefs and practices...
website offering film reviews, gave the movie four stars and called the film "a beautifully produced program" that shows the flaws and "anti-Christian" attitudes in Darwin's work, but is done "with dignity and respect". Baehr asserted that many of Darwin's ideas "now prove unscientific", and concluded that "if people watch it with an open mind, it may turn their hearts and minds away from the confusion that is Darwinism
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
toward asking the right questions that can lead them to the truth." , this was the only review cited on the film's website. Despite its neutral name, Movieguide describes itself as a ministry "dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media according to biblical principles, by influencing entertainment industry executives and helping families make wise media choices".
The movie is listed on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, also an aggregator of film reviews, but without a score.
A statement by the three historians featured in the film says that it is "clearly intended to challenge evolution, but stops short of openly endorsing the more extreme alternatives favored by some creationists." They described it as being highly critical of Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
's uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism
In the philosophy of naturalism, the uniformitarianism assumption is that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. It has included the gradualistic concept that "the present is the...
and featuring geologists who point to evidence of limited catastrophes in earth history, but said that "it does not imply that the whole geological record is the product of a single flood." They state that the reconstruction of Darwin's life is used to give the overall impression that he "had an enquiring mind but was led astray by his theoretical preconceptions, a view backed up through interviews with several scientists, including one who expresses open doubts about evolution. The film also suggests that what is ultimately at stake is a clash of world views rather than the resolution of scientific questions." They recommended websites for information on the history of Darwin and evolution; the Darwin Correspondence Project and the National Center for Science Education
National Center for Science Education
The National Center for Science Education is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is the United States' leading anti-creationist organization, and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology and opposes...
, both of which have sections on science and religion, and the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
's "Evolution of Evolution" report featuring interviews with historians of science.
Review by Jim Lippard
In his review of the film, Jim LippardJim Lippard
James Joseph Lippard is an American skeptic and activist freethinker who has written and spoken widely.Lippard works for Global Crossing as its head of information security....
described it as professionally produced with excellent cinematography and high-quality graphics and effects. He had no criticism of the acting, which is mostly shown as visual effects during voice-overs of interviews or narration. As a documentary it starts reasonably, though putting unusual emphasis on Darwin "making up stories" as a child, and has the professional historians as the first experts shown. Lippard thought the film veered into creationist areas when discussing the influence of Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
's uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism
In the philosophy of naturalism, the uniformitarianism assumption is that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. It has included the gradualistic concept that "the present is the...
, showing Peter Bowler
Peter J. Bowler
Peter J. Bowler is a historian of biology who has written extensively on the history of evolutionary thought, the history of the environmental sciences, and on the history of genetics. His 1984 book, Evolution: The History of an Idea is a standard textbook on the history of evolution, and was...
stating that it was then a settled question that the earth is of great age, but not today: in emails, Carl Wieland
Carl Wieland
Carl Wieland is an Australian young earth creationist, author and speaker. He is currently the Managing Director of Creation Ministries International , a Christian apologetics ministry...
of Creation Ministries International
Creation Ministries International
Creation Ministries International is a non-profit young Earth creationist organisation of autonomous Christian apologetics ministries that promote a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis...
and Steve Murray who directed the film advised that the statement was about the fact that there was no Young Earth creationist movement
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
at that time. The film then presented as experts several people without identifying them as creationists and intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
advocates. Lippard thought perhaps the most deceptive aspect of the film was that these people were shown as though they were on a par with established experts, misleadingly representing their subject areas and not mentioning that two work for CMI while an intelligent design proponent is a professor at Biola University
Biola University
Biola University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located near Los Angeles. Biola's main campus is in La Mirada in Los Angeles County, California. In addition, the university has several satellite campuses in Chino Hills, Inglewood, San Diego, and Laguna Hills.-...
. They identified Stuart Burgess as "Design & Nature, Bristol University": Burgess, the Professor of Engineering Design and department head at Bristol University
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
, is Lecturer and Unit Director for a 4th year course on Design and Nature about mechanical solution principles found in nature. In their emails, Wieland and Murray disclaimed any attempt to be deceptive in choice of on-screen credentials.
The creationist Emil Silvestru presents arguments for a young earth and for catastrophic flood
Catastrophism
Catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. The dominant paradigm of modern geology is uniformitarianism , in which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, create the Earth's appearance...
producing geological formations, taking as an example the Channeled Scablands
Channeled scablands
The Channeled Scablands are a unique geological erosion feature in the U.S. state of Washington. They were created by the cataclysmic Missoula Floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch. Geologist J Harlen Bretz coined...
, but omits evidence of the great age of the earth. The film argues that Darwin was misled by Lyell's ideas, and presents a two-model approach in which science of the age of the earth is contrasted with religion as the creationist view that the diversity and distribution of species evolved rapidly in the few thousand years since Noah's Flood
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
. The film then presents creationist claims that there are limits to evolution and random mutation
Mutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
cannot generate new information or structures, claims at odds with the synthetic biology
Synthetic biology
Synthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines science and engineering. It encompasses a variety of different approaches, methodologies, and disciplines with a variety of definitions...
research of Synthetic Genomics
Synthetic Genomics
Synthetic Genomics is a company dedicated to using modified or synthetically produced microorganisms to produce the alternative fuels ethanol and hydrogen. Synthetic Genomics was founded in part by J. Craig Venter...
. The film touches on claims that evolutionary views caused racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, but omits to mention religious support for racism, such as the Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
being set up to promote slavery. Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Carl Plantinga is an American analytic philosopher and the emeritus John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and Christian apologetics...
presents philosophical arguments against the validity of scientific evidence, and the film completely omits the overwhelming evidence supporting common descent
Common descent
In evolutionary biology, a group of organisms share common descent if they have a common ancestor. There is strong quantitative support for the theory that all living organisms on Earth are descended from a common ancestor....
and human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
. The film concludes that there are opposing views of evolution and creation, and implies that religion and science are incompatible, finally stating that questions of origins and meaning in existence will not go away. Overall, Lippard thought the film was better than he had expected, and appeared to be trying to hide its own creationism.
Controversies
The documentary has been criticised by the three historians featured in the film, Peter BowlerPeter J. Bowler
Peter J. Bowler is a historian of biology who has written extensively on the history of evolutionary thought, the history of the environmental sciences, and on the history of genetics. His 1984 book, Evolution: The History of an Idea is a standard textbook on the history of evolution, and was...
, Janet Browne, and Sandra Herbert.
Bowler made his complaint known in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
interview, and later all three issued a statement published in the History of Science Society
History of Science Society
The History of Science Society is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science.It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publication of Isis, a journal of the history of science Sarton had started in 1912....
Newsletter.
Creation Ministries International has responded to the criticisms, in the latter case with supporting extended quotes from the interviews.
Bowler's BBC interview
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
interview Bowler complained that he and other expert historians had been "duped" into participating in an "anti-Darwinian" film presenting a historically distorted portrait of Darwin without realising it was being produced by a creationist organisation. He claimed that the narrative of the film wrongly implies racism, contrary to current historical research, and also expressed concern that the way his words had been edited could give viewers a false impression of his own views on Darwin. In the same interview, Phil Bell, CEO of Creation Ministries UK, stated that his organisation had established a "front company" called Fathom Media for the purposes of approaching experts such as Bowler, who would not agree to take part in the film if they realised it was an "overtly Creationist" production. "At the end of the day," he said, "[when] people see 'Creationist', instantly the shutters go up and that would have shut us off from talking to the sort of experts, such as Professor Bowler, that we wanted to get to." When asked if this method of securing an interview was "deceptive", Bell replied, "Well, it could be called deceptive. But I think, at the end of the day . . . more people are concerned about how we've made a documentary, that's a world-class documentary, clearly with wonderful footage, with excellent interviews, and balanced open discussion." Bell also denied that his organisation had broken the Biblical Ninth Commandment
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
by "bearing false witness" against Bowler and his colleagues. "Nobody was told any lies," he said.
Creation Ministries International answered these allegations in a statement about how the film was made. This included a statement by the director, Steve Murray, and the text of the document sent to all interviewees prior to their interview. In responding to accusations of "lying by omission" it stated that in an email response to a query, an unnamed interviewee said, "They didn't actually distort what we said, but did cherry-pick the comments." The producers deny any deception and accuse their critics of being inconsistent in not criticising the BBC and other documentary producers when they do not reveal the purpose of their documentary to their interviewees when, for example, making an undercover documentary of repression behind the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
.
There was a similar controversy over the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 documentary film, directed by Nathan Frankowski and hosted by Ben Stein. The film contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticize evidence supporting...
when interviewees critical of intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
stated that they were misled into taking part by the film producers misrepresenting the aims of the film.
History of Science Society statement
The statement issued in the History of Science SocietyHistory of Science Society
The History of Science Society is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science.It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publication of Isis, a journal of the history of science Sarton had started in 1912....
Newsletter said that the three historians had been misrepresented by the film company's selective reconstruction of Darwin's voyage. They said that they had been led to believe that "the movie was being made to be shown as an educational film on Australian broadcast television and possibly elsewhere", and had only been alerted to the true nature of the movie shortly before its release. They describe the interviews filmed with themselves as having been edited to highlight certain aspects of Darwin's views and character. Browne's description of Darwin's childhood delight in making up stories to impress people was "used to imply that the same motive may have driven his scientific thinking." The film uses the description of Darwin's later views on racial inequality but, the statement says, omits Bowler's account of the thesis that Darwin's work was inspired by his opposition to racism and slavery, as put forward by Adrian Desmond and James Moore
James Moore (biographer)
James Richard Moore, historian of science at the Open University and the University of Cambridge and visiting scholar at Harvard University, is noted as the author of several biographies of Charles Darwin...
. A comment by Sandra Herbert that "Darwin's theory required explanation of many aspects of life" was, the statement said, edited down to imply that his theory required explanation of all aspects of life. They stated that this opportunity to reach out to a wider public had turned out differently from their expectations, and that academics perhaps "do need to be more aware of the fact that the media organisations are not always open about their underlying agendas." While they probably would not have contributed had they known the true origins of Fathom Media, they thought that the producers had a point in that if academic historians refuse to participate when historical information is sought by organisations they disapprove of, they cannot complain if less reputable sources are used instead.
CMI has responded to these criticisms by quoting more extensive transcripts of the interviews to show that Bowler made no mention of Desmond or Moore, and that Herbert's views were not misrepresented. On Bowler's claim, they quote the director (Steve Murray) as saying, ". . . in my interview with Prof. Bowler he offered no reference at all that I or others could tell (even on re-examining the transcripts), to the work of Desmond and Moore, nor was there any statement that Darwin was inspired by his opposition to racism and slavery, or anything to that effect".
In answer to Herbert's claims, Murray said, "Professor Herbert seems to imply that somehow we twisted the meaning of her words, so that 'many aspects of life' was edited to imply 'all aspects of life'. Yet where did she refer to 'many aspects of life'? We simply included what seems to be a very clear statement that Darwin had to 'explain everything!' (Implied: 'all aspects of life')"
American skeptic Jim Lippard
Jim Lippard
James Joseph Lippard is an American skeptic and activist freethinker who has written and spoken widely.Lippard works for Global Crossing as its head of information security....
, commenting on CMI's response before he had seen the film, said, ". . . the CMI rebuttal appears to be sound with respect to those two specific allegations." and added that prospective interviewees should do due diligence to find out who is backing the film before agreeing to appear, should check that the release gives a way of defending against misrepresentation, and if going public with feelings that they have been misrepresented, should "consult the raw footage to make sure your charges of misrepresentation are themselves accurate". Having seen the film, he thought that it started off reasonably, but deceptively presented creationists as though they had reputations on a par with well credentialled experts, and as the film went on more standard creationism began to emerge.