…Because he would have had a mountain more evidence against him in the Kitzmiller v Dover trial.

Michael Behe, Intelligent Design Creationist Extraordinaire, started an Amazon.com blog to answer criticisms of his recent book, The Edge of Evolution.

Now, it seems, he just can’t help himself. He’s already taken to sexist attacks upon ERV, who we may all know as the graduate student who showed that Behe doesn’t know anything about HIV evolution.
Next, he’s turned his sights on Ken Miller, claiming that he’s really an IDer in Darwinist clothing. It’s a really pitiful stretch of argumentation. Disregarding Millers scientific arguments, he quotes a theological argument that Miller also made, to claim that Miller’s opinion was based entirely off of theology! Even more, he quotes someone else, and attacks that statement as if it was Miller’s!
Oh come on, folks. Kenneth Miller believes that the universe was made by a deity, but he believes that this is not a scientifically-testable position. IDists and other creationists, however, believe that they can scientifically test their religious beliefs. Miller is not a creationist like all y’all. Give me a break.

Still, I can see why they are trying to recast Miller as being on their side - They desperately need someone with real scientific credibility and an actual scientific output. Behe, since he published his first book in 1996, has done almost nothing.
At first, Behe did not allow comments on his blog, but now it’s open season. (For now.)
I’m very glad that Michael Behe has decided to expand his blogging to attempt to address some of the criticisms made of him. And in doing so, has revealed that he either continues to ignore scientific criticisms even when they are spot-on, and focuses on the non-scientific when it behooves him. Perhaps I might prod him in a month or two with an essay I’ve been working on about how his definition of Irreducible Complexity has changed from time to time. He has let loose some pretty contradictory statements on the subject.

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3 Comments to "Why Behe wasn’t blogging years ago"

• On 11/04/2007 at 19:17 Paul Decelles said:

  Behe makes an interesting claim about both Miller and Ayala:

  “So there you have it. Miller (and Ayala) won’t tolerate life on earth being designed because that would impugn God’s reputation. Too many bad things inhabit the earth. They embrace Darwinism, at least in large part, for theological reasons.”

  But Behe has it backwards. Miller and Ayala embrace Evolution for scientific reasons and they are (whether they admit it or not) asking what Evolution as currently conceived by science says about how God might operate. Claiming that the Universe is fine tuned is quite different than Behe’s claims about irreducible complexity. Nor is Behe correct (in an earler post on Behe’s blog)that Miller is surprised that Behe is not a young Eath type creationist. All Behe would have to do is go and read Miller’s Finding Darwin’s God where Miller gives a good account of Behe’s beliefs.

• On 11/04/2007 at 19:20 Paul Decelles said:

  Note my correct blog address is http://theforcethat.blogspot.com. If ya click on the link on my previous entry you get sent to biblecollege on line. Irony or what?

• On 11/05/2007 at 0:34 Karl J. Mogel said:

  Yeah, Behe has revealed (yet again) how the IDists think. If someone believes in a god, they’re an Intelligent Design supporter. Nuanced theistic beliefs that admit that the the supernatural is untestable by science just don’t cut it for them. Then they turn around and say that ID is not about religion… just can’t have it both ways. It was very telling how Behe decided to “out” Miller as an IDist based upon his belief in a god. I wonder if this will keep up or will his fellow IDists suggest that he stop blogging and not embarrass them? Oh wait, Dembski is still blogging..! Great to see that a grad student like Abbie Smith can get the two of them all worked up.

  I agree (with your recent post on this issue with Behe), Behe always seemed like the most congenial of the IDists. but two years ago, when KvD went down and Judge Jones handed them their rectums, Behe went sour. Very sour. He started talking about Jones’s time working for the Liquor control board… and contradicting his testimony that 2 dependent parts = Irreducible Complexity, changing it to 3 or more parts… when he’s admitted to me in an email that one part can suffice.

  So I read and reread Behe’s words, and it is definitely a put-down, and mildly sexist in the least. It could be an indication of more prejudice, but two kinds of social dominance is enough for me to conclude that Behe has got nothing to show for himself, 2 years after Dover. More books, more bluster, and more reasons to be worried about our schools.

  (BTW - I fixed the link in your second comment - but not the first so people can find that weird site you mentioned.)