oops, sorry for the empty post -- I cut & failed to paste... here's what I
wrote:

At the risk of restarting this divisive & fairly inappropriate thread
again, I feel obliged to point out that Behe's arguments are easily refuted
by anyone with a competent background in the biochemistry of evolutionary
change and a rudimentary understanding of the point that evolutionary
change is DIRECTIONAL selection of random mutations, not RANDOM selection
(c.f. Richard Dawkins, "Climbing Mount Improbable"). Far from being a
"challange to evolution", Behe's book is the musing of one individual who
is to biochemistry what Fred Hoyle is to cosmology -- a hanger on to
long-discredited line of reasoning. Indeed, biochemistry offers perhaps
the greatest CONFIRMATION of evolution and evolutionary phylogenetics,
which is, after all, the basis for the arrangement of species in most of
the field guides we use to ID birds! (There, at least I made an attempt to
tie this post to the topic of birds...)


>I noticed a new book at a bookstand. It's title caught my eye because of the
>recent discussions about evolution on Tweeters. It is "Darwin's Black Box -
>The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" by Michael J. Behe. The author is a
>Biochemistry professor at Lehigh University who indicates he is not a
>"creationist". I only read the cover jacket and didn't buy it. But, it might
>be interesting reading.
>
>Hugh Jennings
>Bellevue, WA
>hughbirder at aol.com

- Mark Egger
9521-49th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98115-2627

megger at home.com