This guy would be loading us into cattle cars right now if he could. Typical liberal.
Posted on 05/24/2005 6:58:26 AM PDT by Albion Wilde
A Brooklyn College professor who called religious people "moral retards" was elected to head his department this month - sparking a campus uproar. E-mails expressing alarm that Timothy Shortell was now chairman of the sociology department circulated among students last week on the school's Midwood campus.
Shortell has written in an online academic publication that the devout "are an ugly, violent lot. In the name of their faith, these moral retards are running around pointing fingers."
"I'm horrified by the ideology of Prof. Shortell," said Eldad Yaron, a Brooklyn College senior.
"This person has control right now on the content of many classes every student will take. Just imagine how fair and balanced these classes will be."
Daniel Tauber, president-elect of the school's student government, said he was worried that Shortell and other faculty members would breed religious intolerance at the diverse college.
"I would like to see professors in high positions who don't believe religious people are moral retards," Tauber said.
Shortell's remarks - which included lines such as "Christians claim that theirs is faith based on love, but they'll just as soon kill you" - elicited a multifaith backlash among university groups.
"He's intolerant," fumed Alex Selsky of the school's Hillel chapter, a Jewish campus organization. "With this kind of unreasonable thinking, I don't know how he can be elected to head of a department."
Kevin Oro-Hahn, director of the school's InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, said he hopes the university can "move beyond mere rhetoric in the pursuit of truth."
A college spokesman said there's little CUNY officials can do.
"Whether one agrees with Dr. Shortell's comments, this is an election as mandated by university guidelines," he said. "His comments are public, but this is the decision of the sociology department."
Shortell didn't return calls to him at his office.
Brooklyn College, which has more than 15,000 students, observed its 75th anniversary this year. It was named one of the top 10 best values among undergraduate institutions in the country by the Princeton Review.
Originally published on May 23, 2005
But morality is all relative anyway...
(sarcasm)
I can't imagine any student wanting to major in sociology at the college. Would the sociology faculty retain their jobs if no students signed up for their classes?
"But morality is all relative anyway... (sarcasm)"
LOL. Campus cowards seek converts who are there paying money to get credentialized in a rat race not of their own making.
You know what passes for "devout" these days? People who go to church or temple at least once a week. A generation ago, that what seen as the least one should do in the practice of a religious faith. The point? Over the last 35 or 40 years America has become so secularlist in nature that the simple act of attending mass regularly labels someone as a religious zealot. Meanwhile, folks like the prof mentioned in this article thinks that ladies and genetlemen of faith are evil people. My word, what an extraordinary thing to posit!
Phew. Feel better now!
"I can't imagine any student wanting to major in sociology at the college. Would the sociology faculty retain their jobs if no students signed up for their classes?"
In many colleges, department heads have a role extending beyond their discipline, such as serving on influential faculty committees, hiring/firing other professors in related disciplines, and being thesis advisors with and "up or down" vote over an individual student's most original work.
Shortell has written in an online academic publication that the devout "are an ugly, violent lot. In the name of their faith, these moral retards are running around pointing fingers."
He would have had a point if he had made it clear that he was talking about muslims—although he would have had to append the words "and cutting off heads" to the end of his sentence.
"America has become so secularlist ...that the simple act of attending mass regularly labels someone as a religious zealot. Meanwhile, ...the prof mentioned in this article thinks that ladies and gentlemen of faith are evil people."
I've noticed that 90% of what liberals say is the mirror image of truth. Exactly backwards, but it looks so real...
Well said, AW!
Thank you for posting a picture of this little fella. I see that he has quoted Bertrand Russell, "In a democracy it is necessary that people should learn to endure having their sentiments outraged." One hopes he has adopted a prescription for his own future.
This guy would be loading us into cattle cars right now if he could. Typical liberal.
Sociology does consider the role of religion in society, so these views are more important than if he were the math chair.
The atheist communists who killed millions in pursuit of utopia were not "violent."
Nice resume. I love it when people are parodies.
The guy is just being an opportunist. After seeing how Ward Churchill got a career boost after saying outrageous things, he figured it would be a good career move for him as well.
LOL!
Based upon the evidence of hundreds of archived Terri Schiavo threads the professor has a point.
It's probably required. It was for me. The poor students have no option but to put up with this posturing fool.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.