Less than a year after publishing its book Designer Science, elite academic publisher New York University Press is retracting the original edition because the book used a fabricated quote by Michael Behe to attack Behe and intelligent design. The publisher has volunteered to destroy all remaining inventory, completely remove two passages referencing the fabricated quote, and reissue both the physical and electronic editions of the book.
“We are pulling the current edition from the market and destroying all existing inventory,” NYU Press Senior Editor Jennifer Hammer communicated to Casey Luskin of Discovery Institute on August 3. Hammer went on to say that new print and electronic editions will be forthcoming, and she later confirmed that references to the fabricated quote would be completely excised from the new editions.
Published in September 2025, Designer Science: A History of Intelligent Design in America was written by C. W. Howell, a religious studies scholar who holds a PhD from Duke University. Critical of intelligent design, Howell’s book was lavished with praise by historian Edward Larson in Christianity Today and philosopher Francis Beckwith at Baylor University.
A “Damning Admission”
At the heart of the current controversy over the book is its false claim that Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe made a “damning admission” during the infamous Kitzmiller v. Dover trial on intelligent design. Howell alleged that Behe “confessed on the stand that the ‘plausibility of the argument for ID depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God.’”
But Behe never said those words on the witness stand — or anywhere else. “It’s literally a fake quote,” says Discovery Institute scientist Casey Luskin.
Even worse, the quote attributed to Behe by Howell contradicts Behe’s actual known and publicly stated views. In the words of Behe, “I’ve said many times over decades that the theory of intelligent design is a scientific one, because it depends exclusively on empirical, physical evidence plus standard modes of reasoning.”
Not a Minor Goof
Howell’s use of the fabricated quote is not a minor issue. “Howell’s fake quote was not just an inconsequential goof,” comments Dr. Luskin. “It formed the linchpin of Howell’s argument purportedly exposing the unscientific nature of intelligent design. His argument about intelligent design as religion, not science, hinged on it. Yet it was based upon a complete misrepresentation of Behe’s actual views.”
Luskin is the one who discovered that Howell used the invented quote. A PhD geologist and one of the leading proponents of the idea that nature shows evidence of intelligent design, Luskin serves as Associate Director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture in Seattle.
Luskin uncovered Howell’s false claim in the course of preparing a detailed review of Designer Science. On July 31, he wrote NYU Press to notify them of the problem and ask them to apologize, correct the record, and fix future editions.
“To their credit, NYU Press and the author did not stonewall,” says Luskin. “They quickly acknowledged that the quote was fake and pledged to completely remove it.” In offering to destroy all remaining copies, the publisher went further than what Discovery Institute had asked. Yet Designer Science remains for sale on the NYU Press website with no indication of a corrected edition or any acknowledgement of problems with the book.
“It’s gratifying to hear that NYU Press cares enough about the truth to correct the record,” comments Michael Behe. “I look forward to watching them follow through on their pledge.”
Despite the publisher’s promise to retract the original book, Discovery Institute Vice President John West stresses the seriousness of what happened.
“Make no mistake: This represents a massive failure of the peer-review process by an elite university press. It’s a cautionary tale of how group think among academics can lead to rubber-stamping shoddy scholarship so long as it favors the dominant paradigm.”
Howell’s “Post-Truth” Scholarship
“What happened is deeply ironic. This book was touted by the publisher as showing how intelligent design’s skepticism of Darwinism contributed to a ‘post-truth’ society. But it turns out that the heart of its indictment was itself a fabrication. A better example of post-truth scholarship is hard to find.”
West added that “in reality, intelligent design’s critique of unguided Darwinian evolution is based on a love for truth, not the erosion of truth. Moreover, its evidence-based critique of traditional Darwinism has been largely shown to be correct, which is why even scientists who don’t embrace intelligent design now think, in the words of Oxford University biologist Denis Noble, that ‘neo-Darwinism is dead.’”
C. W. Howell’s use of a fake Behe quote in his history is just one of his book’s many problems. According to Luskin, Designer Science is “rife with other serious factual errors and omissions.”
Starting tomorrow, you can read about those errors for yourself, as Luskin launches a multi-part series at Science and Culture Today critically examining the claims of Designer Science. Just how accurate is the book’s “history of intelligent design”? Luskin’s first installment will trace the roots of Howell’s fabricated quotation in detail.