Colbert v. Behe

Thanks to The Point blog for pointing to this online clip from Comedy Central's The Colbert Report in which Colbert interviews Michael Behe. You might remember Behe is the author of Darwin's Black Box and now The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism. Behe has become controversial as one of the leading thinkers of the Intelligent Design movement. (Note: He's not universally loved among more conservative creationists, either.)

Colbert has made a name for himself by imitating self-promoting, conservative cable news types like Bill O'Reilley by pretending to agree with conservative, religious viewpoints while really mocking those who believe them. I find him both funny and frustrating.

What I like about this clip is that Colbert fails so grandly at making Behe out to be a fool. The likable doctor refuses either to be defensive or to back down from his position and scores several rational points (given the limits of a three-minute comedy news interview). Colbert is the one who ends up looking more silly and frustrated than funny, at least to me.

This interview repeats the tone of almost every ID v. Darwin debate I hear these days. The IDer says, "Here's some evidence that points to problems with Darwin's theory and suggests the need for a designer." The Darwinist smirks and says something to imply, "Look at the all the smart guys on my side; you must be a loon." Increasingly, those in the media who feel it's their job to represent "science" in the perceived battle between God and reality have seemingly decided they will be most persuasive by adapting a smarmy, condescending tone when forced to discuss Intelligent Design. I hope they keep it up.