Posted on 11/25/2005 8:34:07 AM PST by Exton1
KU prof's e-mail irks fundamentalists
http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/religion/13252419.htm
Associated Press
LAWRENCE - Critics of a new course that equates creationism and intelligent design with mythology say an e-mail sent by the chairman of the University of Kansas religious studies department proves the course is designed to mock fundamentalist Christians.
In a recent message on a Yahoo listserv, Paul Mirecki said of the course "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationisms and Other Religious Mythologies":
"The fundies want it all taught in a science class, but this will be a nice slap in their big fat face by teaching it as a religious studies class under the category mythology."
He signed the note "Doing my part (to upset) the religious right, Evil Dr. P."
Kansas Provost David Shulenburger said Wednesday that he regretted the words Mirecki used but that he supported the professor and thought the course would be taught in a professional manner.
"My understanding was that was a private e-mail communication that somehow was moved out of those channels and has become a public document," Shulenburger said.
The course was added to next semester's curriculum after the Kansas State Board of Education adopted new school science standards that question evolution.
The course will explore intelligent design, which contends that life is too complex to have evolved without a "designer." It also will cover the origins of creationism, why creationism is an American phenomenon and creationism's role in politics and education.
State Sen. Karin Brownlee, R-Olathe, said she was concerned by Mirecki's comments in the e-mail.
"His intent to make a mockery of Christian beliefs is inappropriate," she said.
Mirecki said the private e-mail was accessed by an outsider.
"They had been reading my e-mails all along," he said. "Where are the ethics in that, I ask."
When asked about conservative anger directed at him and the new course, Mirecki said: "A lot of people are mad about what's going on in Kansas, and I'm one of them."
Mirecki has been taking criticism since the course was announced.
"This man is a hateful man," said state Sen. Kay O'Connor, R-Olathe. "Are we supposed to be using tax dollars to promote hatred?"
But others support Mirecki.
Tim Miller, a fellow professor in the department of religious studies, said intelligent design proponents are showing that they don't like having their beliefs scrutinized.
"They want their religion taught as fact," Miller said. "That's simply something you can't do in a state university."
Hume Feldman, associate professor of physics and astronomy, said he planned to be a guest lecturer in the course. He said the department of religious studies was a good place for intelligent design.
"I think that is exactly the appropriate place to put these kinds of ideas," he said.
John Altevogt, a conservative columnist and activist in Kansas City, said the latest controversy was sparked by the e-mail.
"He says he's trying to offend us," Altevogt said. "The entire tenor of this thing just reeks of religious bigotry."
Brownlee said she was watching to see how the university responded to the e-mail.
"We have to set a standard that it's not culturally acceptable to mock Christianity in America," she said.
University Senate Executive Committee Governance Office - 33 Strong Hall, 4-5169
Faculty
SenEx Chair
Joe Heppert, jheppert@ku.edu , Chemistry, 864-2270 Ruth Ann Atchley, ratchley@ku.edu , Psychology, 864-9816 Richard Hale, rhale@ku.edu ,Aerospace Engineering, 864-2949 Bob Basow, basow@ku.edu , Journalism, 864-7633 Susan Craig, scraig@ku.edu , Art & Architecture, 864-3020 Margaret Severson, mseverson@Ku.edu , Social Welfare, 864-8952
University Council President Jim Carothers, jbc@ku.edu , English 864-3426 (Ex-officio on SenEx)
Paul Mirecki, Chair The Department of Religious Studies, 1300 Oread Avenue, 102 Smith Hall, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Kansas,Lawrence, KS 66045-7615 (785) 864-4663 Voice (785) 864-5205 FAX rstudies@ku.edu
What part of 'forum' don't you understand? Golly, you're just dying to tell people what they can and can't say, aren't you?
Now, "Professor", care to debate the impact of the First Amendment on the REAL issue on this thread and the reply above you deigned to stick your up-in-the-air nose into?
I'd love to. Call me when you've finished high school.
ROFL!
Keep working on the GED, guy, and remember, threatening your teachers is not usually a good route to an A.
> Heavens to Murgatroyd, can't you people *think*?
Better than those who "feel" and go on "faith," I'll wager.
>Not "equivalent to," analogous to.
Nope. "Mythology" is not insulting, nor does it imply moral wrongness. "Perversion" does.
Woudl you be *slightly* more offended if the class topic was "Creationists, Baby Rapers and other Perverts of That Caliber?"
> However, science types also seem to be unable to perform the type of abstract thinking that is necessary to solving certain classes of problems.
True. Only an artist could have dreamed up the Holocaust. And I guess only a seminarian could have come up with the reality that was the Stalinist utopia.
Dial up, Prof. I'm 50 years old, long out of high school, and you're way out of your league.
You wouldn't understand the true Constitutional implications of this 'issue' if it bit you in your ass.
I have known far too many of your type and I am still disgusted every time I run across one of your ilk.
Don't challenge me on the Constitutional issues here, amateur.
Indeed. "Git yer ass down here to East Jesus, Kentucky, and we can settle this like men, right here in this h'yah trailer park"
Yeah yeah. Everyone's a Supreme Court Justice on the internet. Just because you're 50 doesn't mean you've finished high school. Or that you should have been allowed to.
Not everyonbe who has served cares to flaunt it either.
We could all be better, nicer, saner people.
I'm sure that someone could make me look like an a$$hole if they had full access to my e-mail account.
Full access won't be necessary, you do a fine job with your public posts.
And only a failed minor-league player for the Yankees could have turned Cuba into the socialist paradise it now is.
And only an actor could have delivered the line "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" with such conviction.
Cheers!
Not necessarily. The Axiom of Choice is a great example.
Um...are you arguing with me or agreeing with me? I agree that if you are going to offer formal proofs, you have to reveal what are the assumptions of your formal system--which you accept on faith, since you don't prove axioms, and that would include the Axiom of Choice.
You don't have to "believe" it, you just have to say whether or not you assume it.
What would be the point of assuming Axioms you don't know are true? There are important meta-mathematicians that have touted formal systems entirely divorced from domains of discourse, real or ideal, but you have been touting mathematics as the uber-cover of Everything, so I would not have thought you would be going in this direction.
It was a mistake. Thank you for your polite, straightforward and relevant correction.
"Keep working on the GED, guy"
Oh, I have a degree, and some graduate work, but I consider the ongoing study and experience I've gained since then to be much more useful.
Matter of fact, one of the densest wastes of space I ever knew had a Ph.D. (As have a number of the dense, useless wastes of space I've encountered on line.)
An educated fool is still a fool.
"Better than those who "feel" and go on "faith," I'll wager."
You'd lose.
"Nope. "Mythology" is not insulting, nor does it imply moral wrongness. "Perversion" does."
Case in point. It is blindingly obvious that it is gravely insulting to label a person's religious faith "mythology." I don't know what could account for your statement except bigotry or an inability to think.
"Woudl you be *slightly* more offended if the class topic was "Creationists, Baby Rapers and other Perverts of That Caliber?"
Actually, no, because that is so extreme that there's little danger of it being taken seriously.
"True. Only an artist could have dreamed up the Holocaust."
Really? Mao outdid the Holocaust four or five times over. Was he an artist? How about Mengele, was he an artist?
"And I guess only a seminarian could have come up with the reality that was the Stalinist utopia."
It would be more reasonable, to the thinking man, to say that only an ex-seminarian who had rejected his faith and become an atheist could have come up with the reality that was the Stalinist utopia.
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