How New DNA Science Is Challenging Evolution

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Does evolution really explain the development of life? Or is it a theory in crisis?    This week on The Roys Report, Dr. Michael Behe, the so-called father of Intelligent Design, joins me to discuss why he believes evolution is fundamentally flawed. According to Behe, evolution breaks things; it doesn’t make things. And new research has made this abundantly clear. 

This Weeks Guests

Michael J. Behe

Michael J. Behe is a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University. He is the author of three books -- Darwin's Black Box (1996), The Edge of Evolution (2007), and most recently Darwin Devolves (2019) -- all of which argue that the biochemical foundation of life required purposeful, intelligent design. His new book shows that the case for design has just gotten much stronger.

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This transcript has been edited slightly for continuity.

Segment 1: 

ANNOUNCER:  In the midst of all of today’s noise and confusion, we need a voice that cuts through the chaos to bring wisdom and clarity. Welcome to The Roys Report with Julie Roys—an hour-long show exploring critical issues related to faith and culture from a uniquely Christian perspective. Now, here’s your host, Julie Roys.

JULIE ROYS:  Does evolution really explain the wide diversity of life that we see today or does it merely explain minor adaptations within species? And is it a theory in crisis? Welcome to The Roys Report brought to you in part by Judson University. I’m Julie Roys. And today I’m extremely excited to be interviewing Dr. Michael Behe, a top critic of Darwinian evolution, and a top proponent of Intelligent Design. And for those of you who aren’t familiar with Intelligent Design, it’s the theory that life could not reasonably have arisen by chance, but instead was designed and created by an unseen intelligent agent. After all, when you look at DNA, for example, does it really make sense that such incredible complexity came into being by purposeless non-intelligent processes? Well, there are other problems with evolution besides the complexity, which my guest today has brilliantly exposed over the past couple decades. One is something called “irreducible complexity.” This is the idea that some complex living systems, like we see today, could not possibly have evolved one piece at a time as evolutionists assert. That’s because every single piece of these systems is necessary for the system to work at all. So in a simpler form, the symptoms would be completely dysfunctional, and the belief that a dysfunctional system could somehow gradually evolve into a functional one simply doesn’t make sense. Another huge problem with evolution, that Dr. Behe has exposed, is the discovery that evolution breaks things. It doesn’t make things. Most mutations, for example, are destructive. They may help an organism to survive in a hostile environment, but long-term mutations are unhelpful. So, it simply doesn’t make sense that this largely destructive mechanism of mutations could account for a gradual, constructive evolution of biological life. Well, Dr. Behe first forwarded the second idea of evolution breaking things in his groundbreaking book, The Edge of Evolution. And just this year, he published a follow up to that book called Darwin Devolves—The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution. And I’m very eager to dive into some of this new science with Dr. Behe. So Dr. Behe, welcome. It’s a pleasure to have you join me.

DR. MICHAEL BEHE:  Thanks very much. It’s great to be on the program. Looking forward to the conversation.

JULIE ROYS:  Now, me too. And I gave a short description. I hope I got my descriptions right. I know I sometimes I say these things and my husband who is much more scientifi