In fact, he’s not a creationist at all, at least not in the literal sense. Dr. Michael Behe, biochemistry professor at Lehigh University, was invited by the Science and Bible Club to speak last night, reviewing the arguments of his two controversial books Darwin’s Black Box and The Edge of Evolution, directly challenging Darwin’s theory of evolution. Keep in mind, Behe is no charlatan—he received his PhD in biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania and did his post doc work at the National Institutes of Health. The professor even accepts that evolution occurs and that the earth is not, in fact, only 6,000 years old.

Behe laid out his argument detailing the concept of “irreducible complexity,” in which he argues that there are some aspects life at the biochemical level that are far too complex to have come about through random mutation and natural selection alone. Writes Behe in Darwin’s Black Box:

“By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning.”

The lecture was held in 101 Thomas, where people of all perspectives were well represented, whether opponents, supporters, or just plain curious. Spotted in the crowd were the Willard Preacher and the president of the Penn State Atheistic Agnostic Association, just to name a few.

Some attendees had clearly read Dr. Behe’s books and came prepared with questions and objections for the intense Q & A session that followed the talk. His challengers were respectful but unmoved, as seen on Facebook statuses everywhere, including Mario Machado, who posted a few hours after the lecture “Michael Behe…owww, you hurt my head. Really? Do you really believe in what you are talking about? It’s ok, we can’t all be great scientists like Darwin. I appreciate the effort and the time.”

For more about Behe, Intelligent Design, and mousetraps… Wikipedia it.

Dan Mills contributed to this post.