The God delusion: John Lennon, Killers songs used to promote creationism in new film (original) (raw)
Songs by John Lennon and The Killers have been used to soundtrack a new film arguing that children should learn about the Christian theory of creationism in school science lessons.
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - the name a reference to the idea of ‘intelligent design’ – was directed by Nathan Frakowski, but is really the work of actor, comedian and social commentator Ben Stein. The Killers’ ‘All These Things That I’ve Done_’ is used towards the end of the picture, while ‘_Imagine_’ is used over “_B&W scenes of what looked like communist China, with a parade of soldiers. The lyrics to the song were subtitled on the bottom of the screen.
“_I think I remember a shot of Stalin saluting somewhere in here as well. The part of the song played was of course '...and no religion too...', implying that no religion equals communist China,_” according to a poster over at famed anti-creationist Richard Dawkins’ website who, with Dawkins, was privy to an advance screening of the film which also traces the cause of The Holocaust back to Darwin's theory of evolution.
“_Does Yoko know about this?,_” the poster, Josh Timonen, continued, referring to Lennon’s ex-wife Yoko Ono who owns the rights to the song. “_I doubt she'd be pleased._”
Well, it turns out she isn’t at all pleased – while DrownedinSound’s enquiries were met with silence, an industrious ‘blogger over at The Playlist has done “_a little digging around_” and been told by Ono’s publicists that the track has not been licensed for the film, and that her lawyer is now “_exploring all options_”.
And The Killers? Well, apparently they did give permission for the track to be used though only when its description was given thus: “_The film is a satirical documentary with an estimated running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, exploring academic freedom in public schools and government institutions with actor, comedian, economist, Ben Stein as the spokesperson,_” according to the band’s management.
Though you’d think a band based in the States, or at least their management team, would be aware of Stein – an Emmy award winner and prominent public figure - as an outspoken pro-Creationist, they did try to have the song removed but were told it’s now too late.
So, what now? Lawsuits galore, we’d imagine, though Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed will open in over 1,000 cinemas across the US this Friday. Sneaky Stein - at least the preacher on the Jubilee line this morning had the decency to capitalise 'JESUS' on his hat to warn us he was coming - does have previous in the picture house.
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Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
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