“Creation” stars Paul Bettany as the renowned biologist whose travels to the Galapagos Islands led to his formulation of the theory of evolution.

The film also stars Bettany’s wife, Jennifer Connelly, another notable Hollywood star.

You’d have to be living under a rock to not realize that Darwin remains a controversial and polarizing figure more than 150 years after publishing his most famous work, “On the Origin of Species.”

Many people of strong religious convictions view Darwin as something close to a monster. Beyond challenging the biblical story of creation, they argue that Darwin’s theories helped guide the Nazis in their plans to exterminate all those of Jewish descent.

The whole mess somewhat reminds me of the controversy that accompanied the release of the film “Downfall,” a look at the final days of the Third Reich in the Fuhrerbunker. That film included at times an almost sympathetic portrayal of Adolf Hitler, showing him as a deluded and pathetic man who still could show compassion to other people.

In fact, “Downfall” has since become an Internet meme, as people utilize a scene in which Hitler reacts to news that there will be no German army coming to save Berlin to parody bad news from all spheres of life.

It astounds me that Hitler is acceptable to the general American public, but Darwin is not.

Have we really become a society in which all those with whom we disagree must be silenced?

I’ll freely admit the question is a little disingenuous. It’s not as though there’s a widespread call for a boycott, or as though the movie is being banned. Odds are that this might be the first time you’ve ever heard of the movie.

No, this is simply a case of distributors looking at their bottom lines and not seeing a movie about Darwin being able to make money, despite all the elements that scream marketability.

In fact, the nature of the world is such that it likely soon will be available to Americans via illegal means. Just ask any major American film studio about piracy.

But the fact remains that at the moment it looks like Americans won’t get a chance to legally see the film.

Part of the problem might be the attitude of the film’s producer, Jeremy Thomas.

He was quoted in London’s Telegraph as saying that “ … in the U.S., outside of New York (City) and L.A., religion rules.”

When I read that quote, I really wondered if he had made an effort to sell the picture to the so-called “flyover country” — a term I find highly offensive.

The more I thought, the more I became livid. How dare he paint nearly the entire United States with the same stroke? I know plenty of people right here in Michigan who would find the picture interesting and worthwhile.

However, before my rage truly could boil over I read the sobering fact that a recent Gallup poll showed only 39 percent of Americans believe in evolution.

Thirty-nine percent. That’s a figure that’s truly staggering.

We’re talking about a branch of science that is taught in countless classrooms. Despite efforts by groups to ban or temper its teaching, it still prevails. Yet it seems that people simply don’t find the study of it persuasive in the least.

It makes me wonder whether I really know my country at all.

After taking some time to think on the matter, I’m not sure those opposing the film are necessarily in the wrong. I’ve long been an advocate of free speech, but I’ve always said there’s no right to have your speech be supported.

Just as there are plenty of ideas I don’t want to hear, aren’t those who oppose the film doing their part to forward their agenda?

It’s not fun being part of a minority. Unfortunately, that’s what I am in this case.

James Harrison is the State News opinion editor. Reach him at harri310@msu.edu.