Expelled and me

Many people want to know how I “snuck in” to the Christian subculture. The answer is, I didn’t. In every encounter I had with people (with one exception), I was completely open about who I was, what I was writing about, and what approach I was taking. It was gratifying that in almost every situation I was welcomed with open arms, despite whatever disagreements I might have had with the people I was writing about. No doubt a few people were suspicious of me, but I think they appreciated my honesty and were willing to engage me because of it.

In the one situation where I was a bit sneaky -- going undercover as an extra in a Passion play -- my deception, and my mixed feelings about having stooped to it, became a part of the story itself. So even though I was dishonest with some of the people I met, I am always honest with my readers -- even about my dishonesty. And when writing the book, I took care to represent people’s opinions and ideas accurately, even if I thought they were crackpots.

So you can imagine my disappointment to see the evangelical community I was so straightforward with embracing the deceptive anti-evolution film Expelled, whose producers lied about their agenda in order to get interviews and then edited those interviews to make their subjects look stupid. They even lied to get music rights.

Rapture Ready! was written from an outsider’s perspective, and I had other folks like myself in mind when I wrote it, but I’ve been very pleased by the warm reception its getting from people inside -- or at least on the fringes of -- the Christian subculture that I wrote about. I can only imagine how furious they would have been if I’d pulled the kind of stunt that they seem to be just fine with coming from Ben Stein and his pals.