Documentary Description
Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial is an award winning NOVA
documentary on the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District,
which concentrated on the question of whether or not intelligent design
could be viewed as science and taught in school science class. It aired
in on PBS in November 2007 and features interviews with the judge,
witnesses, and lawyers as well as re-enacted scenes (no cameras were
allowed in court).
The documentary was praised by Nature, and described as accurate by
the National Center for Science Education. Variety magazine also gave
the documentary a positive review, and said it was one of the year’s
most important television projects, that “should be shown not just in
every U.S. high school but in houses of worship as well.”
In contrast to the positive reception the film has been given,
creationist and intelligent design supporters have criticized the
documentary. The Discovery Institute produced a website critical of the
broadcast. Answers in Genesis claimed the evidence for evolution
presented by scientists in Judgment Day was fallacious. The Institute
for Creation Research (ICR) also claimed the film was not balanced.
WKNO-TV, the local PBS affiliate in Memphis decided not to air the
documentary because of the “controversial nature” of the subject, but
has since promised to broadcast it in 2008.
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