This is a notable moment at PS in my opinion. Leaving aside the advice from one of the last remaining adults in the room (that’s you, @Rumraket) here is why I think this.
Bill Cole has publicly* asserted that Mike Behe does not accept common descent. He first stated that Behe “concedes common descent for arguments sake” and then confirmed that Behe “knows common descent is not a fact.”
I know of no credible critic of Behe’s who has even suggested this. Behe has explicitly disclaimed the kind of creationism that denies common descent (see the rest of this thread). As poor as his scientific reputation is now, it would be vastly worse if he denied common descent. And perhaps more importantly, his ideas/suggestions about design often depend on common descent. (Imagine gibbering about “devolution” if you don’t think that lineages are related.)
Now, if it were true that Behe believed that lineages are poofed into existence by Dog, it would be strategically important to keep that carefully hidden. And yet here we are with public “revelations” about what he believes. I don’t know Behe and won’t do this favor for him, but someone should probably tell him that Bill is singing.
Bill Cole is an ignoramus who types stuff he doesn’t understand and lies with casual grace. So perhaps we should assume that his claims about Behe, like essentially everything else he splatters onto the forum, are falsehoods. If that is the explanation here, then maybe @moderators should consider some kind of badge or icon to alert readers that Bill is… who he is.
*As you probably know, the “Side Conversation” section of PS is not really public; you have to be logged in to see it and you won’t discover it using Google. [This isn’t completely accurate; see followups below for minor corrections.] Because of that, and because it is possible/likely that Bill will delete or edit his posts, I have screenshots I’m glad to share with anyone.