In today’s LA Times, Josh Getlin discusses biochemist Michael Behe’s testimony in the Dover trial:

Even some of Behe’s strongest critics believe he may have scored important points in his mid-October court appearance.

Getlin also profiles Behe, giving details that often get left out because they don’t fit the “ID is a redneck fundamentalist creationist Biblical literalist theocracy-inspired conspiracy” trope:

Like many Roman Catholics, he had believed in God and Darwinism. “I didn’t think the two were exclusive,” Behe said. He remembers learning about Darwin’s theory of evolution.

“In the seventh, eighth grades, I recall nuns teaching that God can make life any way he wants,” Behe said. “If he wants to create life by the outplaying of natural laws, well, who were we to tell him otherwise? Here was Darwin’s theory, and it looks like God set up the world to begin producing life. I remember thinking, ‘That’s cool.'”

In those days, Behe and Kenneth Miller would have been on the same page.

Then Getlin allows Behe to explain how he eventually came to diverge from the party line:

“I came to realize that a pillar of my thinking was supported not by evidence but by sociological factors, what other people think.”