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Pa. professor [Behe] to testify in landmark case [Dover evolution trial, 16 Oct]
The Wichita Eagle ^ | 16 October 2005 | MICHAEL RUBINKAM

Posted on 10/16/2005 1:28:00 PM PDT by PatrickHenry

Marginalized by his university colleagues, ridiculed as a quack by the scientific establishment, Michael Behe continues to challenge the traditional theory of how the world came to be.

For more than a decade, the tenured Lehigh University biochemistry professor and author has been one of the nation's leading proponents of intelligent design, a movement trying to alter how Darwin's theory of evolution is taught in school.

This week, Behe will testify in a federal courtroom in Harrisburg in a landmark case about whether students in a Pennsylvania classroom should be required to hear a statement before their evolution classes that says Darwin's theory is not a fact.

"The fact that most biology texts act more as cheerleaders for Darwin's theory rather than trying to develop the critical faculties of their students shows the need, I think, for such statements," Behe said.

In papers, speeches and a 1996 best-selling book called "Darwin's Black Box," Behe argues that Darwinian evolution cannot fully explain the biological complexities of life, suggesting the work of an intelligent force.

His life on the academic fringes can be lonely. Critics say the concept is nothing more than biblical creationism in disguise. He long ago stopped applying for grants and trying to get his work published in mainstream scientific journals. In August, his department posted a Web statement saying the concept is not scientific.

"For us, Dr. Behe's position is simply not science. It is not grounded in science and should not be treated as science," said Neal Simon, the biology department chairman.

Behe said he was a believer in Darwin when he joined Lehigh in 1985, but became a skeptic after reading Michael Denton's book "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis."

Behe's big idea, published in "Darwin's Black Box" and the one that catapulted him to academic fame, is irreducible complexity. It is the notion that certain biochemical systems are incapable of having evolved in Darwinian fashion because they require all of their parts working simultaneously.

Behe uses a mousetrap to illustrate the concept. Take away any of its parts - platform, spring, hammer, catch - and the mousetrap can't catch mice.

"Intelligent design becomes apparent when you see a system that has a number of parts and you see the parts are interacting to perform a function," he said.

The book "put the positive case for design on the map in a way that some of the (previous intelligent design) work had not done," said Steven Meyer, director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute [http://www.discovery.org]. Most of academia panned it.

Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education [ http://www.ncseweb.org], said that he believes Behe thought he discovered something astonishing. "But no one is using irreducible complexity as a research strategy, and with very good reason ... because it's completely fruitless," he said.

Behe finds community in a Web group that he says includes like-minded faculty from other universities. Most keep their views to themselves, Behe said, because "it's dangerous to your career to be identified as an ID proponent."

He earned tenure at Lehigh before becoming a proponent, which lets him express his views without the threat of losing his job.

"Because of the immense publicity that's mushroomed around this issue in the past six months, more people are getting emotional about the topic," Behe said. "And it's generally not on my side."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: crevolist; dover; evolution
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To: PatrickHenry
I suppose my post will be leaped upon as an example of ID...

Did you misspell something again?

21 posted on 10/16/2005 2:07:02 PM PDT by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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To: podkane
And it would be dangerous to my physics career to be identified as a gravity skeptic.

You're a physics-career type too, huh? There seems to be a disproportionally high number of us hanging around the crevo threads on FR, I noticed.

22 posted on 10/16/2005 2:10:00 PM PDT by Quark2005 (Where's the science?)
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To: Gumlegs
"Eugenie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education..."

Interesting that the major propagandists for evolution tend to be atheistic story-tellers like Richard Dawkins or ‘political animals’ like fellow atheistic anthropologist Eugenie Scott

23 posted on 10/16/2005 2:10:43 PM PDT by Matchett-PI ( "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." -- Dwight Eisenhower)
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To: podkane; PatrickHenry

Podkane...at the end of your post #7 you stated, "Good thing for the universe that the Creator wasn't as mentally limited as this crowd"....Thank you for saying that....It was something I had thought for a long time, but was just too timid to post...I had always thought that those who insisted on Creationism, or ID, and would refuse to explore other avenues, had put God in a box...they had tried to limit God by granting Him only their way of doing of things...I find those who accept evolution to be much more open minded....I just dont find evolution to be in competition with the Bible, or in conflict with God...evolution and natural selection may very well be Gods own way of 'creation'...

PatrickHenry...if you have a ping list, I would appreciate being put on it...this is my first post ever on an evolution thread, and will probably be my last...I just dont have the expertise that many of the posters have, and feel my input would probably be rudimentary and perhaps to some, just plain silly...

But I would like to be on the ping list, as I do enjoy reading these threads, contemplating everyone elses input(people from both sides, both evolution and ID, are of interest to me), and making my own decisions...

Thanks...


24 posted on 10/16/2005 2:11:42 PM PDT by andysandmikesmom
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To: Quark2005
You're a physics-career type too, huh? There seems to be a disproportionally high number of us hanging around the crevo threads on FR, I noticed.

I'm just waiting for the fundies to figure out how "unbiblical" particle physics and cosmology are... it's a wonder to me we've gotten a pass so far..

25 posted on 10/16/2005 2:12:42 PM PDT by podkane
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To: andysandmikesmom

"I just dont find evolution to be in competition with the Bible, or in conflict with God...evolution and natural selection may very well be Gods own way of 'creation'... "

That's exactly my point of view. One does not have to "choose" between creation and evolution; they can coexist peacefully.


26 posted on 10/16/2005 2:14:42 PM PDT by Buck W. (Yesterday's Intelligentsia are today's Irrelevantsia.)
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To: PatrickHenry
This week, Behe will testify in a federal courtroom in Harrisburg in a landmark case about whether students in a Pennsylvania classroom should be required to hear a statement before their evolution classes that says Darwin's theory is not a fact.

"The fact that most biology texts act more as cheerleaders for Darwin's theory rather than trying to develop the critical faculties of their students shows the need, I think, for such statements," Behe said.

This pretty much sums up the defense case.

Do not be surprised if Behe is a very effective witness for the defense.

27 posted on 10/16/2005 2:17:02 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: Matchett-PI
Madame, you are second to no one in your ability to hurl ad hominem attacks while whipping up a zesty quote salad with logical fallacy dressing on the side ... and all after a hard day in the quote mine, too.

My hat's off to you.

28 posted on 10/16/2005 2:21:46 PM PDT by Gumlegs
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To: PatrickHenry

ROTFLMAO

Needed that, thanks.


29 posted on 10/16/2005 2:24:03 PM PDT by b_sharp (All previous taglines have been sacked.)
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To: Matchett-PI
"Interesting that the major propagandists for evolution tend to be atheistic story-tellers like Richard Dawkins or ‘political animals’ like fellow atheistic anthropologist Eugenie Scott."

No; what is really interesting is that two Popes, Pius XII and John Paul II, have pointedly stated that "If the human body take its origin from pre-existent living matter, the spiritual soul is immediately created by God," which John Paul II further built upon in saying "The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory," which makes clear that some of the most religious men of recent times have seen evidence supporting the Theory of Evolution as valid, thus debunking the lame argument that the theory is an "atheistic conspiracy," unless you intend to call these two Popes atheists.

I consider myself to be a genuinely religious person and I also see the evidence for the Theory of Evolution as overwhelming.
30 posted on 10/16/2005 2:24:30 PM PDT by StJacques
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To: podkane; Quark2005
"I'm just waiting for the fundies to figure out how "unbiblical" particle physics and cosmology are... it's a wonder to me we've gotten a pass so far.."

Meet a couple of your collegues, here and here

31 posted on 10/16/2005 2:25:58 PM PDT by Matchett-PI ( "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." -- Dwight Eisenhower)
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To: andysandmikesmom
I just dont have the expertise that many of the posters have, and feel my input would probably be rudimentary and perhaps to some, just plain silly...

Relax, mom. I don't have any expertise either. But it doesn't take all that much when dealing with creationists.

32 posted on 10/16/2005 2:27:51 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (No response to trolls, retards, or lunatics.)
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To: RightWhale
Just so. That's what intelligent design means. If you landed from another planet and saw a shopping mall, you would probably deduce that it didn't evolve accidentally out of the primal mud, but was designed and built by some agent or agents possessing intelligence.

Not very much intelligence, true.

Seriously, Behe is worth reading. Interesting stuff.

33 posted on 10/16/2005 2:28:47 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: PatrickHenry

Why the name "PatrickHenry" PatrickHenry?

"During the last years of his life, he became increasingly alarmed with the spread of deism and atheism coming from France's "godless revolution." Henry came out of retirement in 1799 to run for public office in Virginia. As a contemporary put it, he warned against the doctrines of the French philosophers who were at war with "the majesty of Heaven and the welfare of earth, and which were poisoning the minds and morals of the most talented youths of Virginia." ... In his will, he reminded Americans that "Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation."


34 posted on 10/16/2005 2:30:52 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: Matchett-PI

BTTT


35 posted on 10/16/2005 2:33:54 PM PDT by 185JHP ( "The thing thou purposest shall come to pass: And over all thy ways the light shall shine.")
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To: StJacques

***Theory of Evolution as valid, thus debunking the lame argument that the theory is an "atheistic conspiracy," unless you intend to call these two Popes atheists.***

No true Christian takes the word of science over the words of Christ - pope or not.


36 posted on 10/16/2005 2:34:06 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: PetroniusMaximus
Why the name "PatrickHenry" PatrickHenry?

Washington and Jefferson were already taken when I registered. And I like ol' Patrick's spirited opposition to the Constitution during the ratification debates in Virginia. I've always been an admirer of the Articles of Confederation.

37 posted on 10/16/2005 2:34:51 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (No response to trolls, retards, or lunatics.)
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To: andysandmikesmom
"PatrickHenry...if you have a ping list, I would appreciate being put on it...this is my first post ever on an evolution thread, and will probably be my last...I just dont have the expertise that many of the posters have, and feel my input would probably be rudimentary and perhaps to some, just plain silly...

Welcome to the monkey house. Do not worry about your posts, there is enough information at Darwin Central via PatrickHenry's List-O-Links that you will get up to speed quickly. You might also pop over to talkorigins.org.

38 posted on 10/16/2005 2:35:33 PM PDT by b_sharp (All previous taglines have been sacked.)
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To: podkane

***I'm just waiting for the fundies to figure out how "unbiblical" particle physics and cosmology are... it's a wonder to me we've gotten a pass so far..***

And I'm just waiting for some hard-headed materialist to explain why their "miracle" singularity isn't a miracle.


39 posted on 10/16/2005 2:36:33 PM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: PetroniusMaximus
"No true Christian takes the word of science over the words of Christ - pope or not."

And Christ never attacked Darwin either.
40 posted on 10/16/2005 2:36:44 PM PDT by StJacques
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