The movie pretends to take the same tolerant, anything’s-possible position. While not especially good…it is still a fascinating cultural document in the age of intelligent design. Its point of view suggests an improbable alliance of postmodern relativism and absolute religious faith against the supposed tyranny of scientific empiricism, which is depicted as narrow and dogmatic.

The sincerity of a believer…is conflated with the plausibility of his beliefs. The doctors, meanwhile, seem so sure of themselves. But of course, the movie says, no one can ever be completely sure, and thus superstition becomes a matter of reasonable doubt. Meanwhile the clocks stop, the wind howls, and we are encouraged to believe – or at least not to disbelieve – our own eyes. Father Moore knows what he saw. So do I: propaganda disguised as entertainment.

As The Onion puts it, the movie “offers the dangerous proposition of hokum as an argument for faith.”