Have the creationists simply forgotten how to tell the truth?

Both PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins have been scammed into giving interviews for a creationist propaganda movie. When they were approached, the movie was apparently titled Crossroads, and had the following synopsis

It’s been the central question of humanity throughout the ages: How in the world did we get here? In 1859 Charles Darwin provided the answer in his landmark book, “The Origin of Species.” In the century and a half since, biologists, geologists, physicists, astronomers and philosophers have contributed a vast amount of research and data in support of Darwin’s idea. And yet, millions of Christians, Muslims, Jews and other people of faith believe in a literal interpretation that humans were crafted by the hand of God. This conflict between science and religion has unleashed passions in school board meetings, courtrooms and town halls across America and beyond.

Now that the movie is ready for release we discover that it’s actually titled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and that it’s the usual religious attack on science, combined with the now familiar claim that the only reason anyone believes in “Darwinism” is that there’s some secret police force rooting out the dissenters and ruining their careers before they can speak out:

Unlike some other documentary films, Expelled doesn’t just talk to people representing one side of the story. The film confronts scientists such as Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, influential biologist and atheist blogger PZ Myers and Eugenie Scott, head of the National Center for Science Education. The creators of Expelled crossed the globe over a two-year period, interviewing scores of scientists, doctors, philosophers and public leaders. The result is a startling revelation that freedom of thought and freedom of inquiry have been expelled from publicly-funded high schools, universities and research institutions.

What’s the betting that their claim to not just represent one side of the story isn’t entirely accurate? The way they got interviews with at least two of their enemies doesn’t exactly demonstrate a commitment to the truth.

PZ expresses surprise that they felt the need to lie to him to get the interview; after all, he’s not exactly known for being shy about arguing with the faithful. I’m tempted to suggest that the creationists, and especially their well oiled PR machine, have got so used to lying whenever science is so much as mentioned, that they just forgot there was any other way to communicate. Actually, though, I suspect they had good reasons to lie. PZ might have been willing to show up if he’d known the real reason for the interview, but he’d also have been much less willing to be led in the interview, much more on his guard and much less likely to accidentally say something that could be used to make him look bad. But quite aside from that, I just don’t think PZ was their main event. It’s no insult to the man – regular readers will know I have nothing but respect for him – but to the creationists he’s a bonus item; they were after Dawkins, who’s well known for not debating, or giving interviews to creationists.

It’ll be interesting to see what the movie’s like; I doubt it’ll get a cinema release in the UK, but I’m sure I’ll manage to track it down somehow. I don’t hold out any hope that any of the scientists’ interviews will have been used complete, and the underhand method they used to to get them doesn’t allow me to believe that even the spirit of what they said will be left intact, but it might at least be good comedy to see just how terribly their words have been twisted.