It’s doubly disappointing for me, since Miller was a writer on Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the 2008 documentary featuring Ben Stein making a brave defense of Intelligent Design in the service of free speech and academic inquiry. I thought Expelled was a thoroughly refreshing and worthwhile exploration of its subject, less because of its defense of I.D. (in which I have, admittedly, little interest) than for its willingness to dignify the debate over its validity, and the people who want to take part in that debate.
Hellbound?, alas, is just another sucker punch of a documentary, which begins with a hot topic button and ends with a gentle but firm dismissal of those people most passionately engaged with the topic. Even for someone, like myself, whose sympathy is more firmly in the Universalist camp, it’s hard not to watch the credits roll without feeling like your side has won a rigged game.
