Posted on 12/06/2005 12:59:08 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A college professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives said he was beaten by two men along a rural road early Monday.
University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said the men referred to the class when they beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
"I didn't know them," Mirecki said of his assailants, "but I'm sure they knew me."
Messages left by the Associated Press on Mirecki's cell phone were not immediately returned.
Sheriff's Lt. Kari Wempe said Mirecki reported the attack just before 7 a.m.
The professor said he confronted the men after they were tailgating his vehicle along a road south of Lawrence. "I'm mostly shaken up, and I got some bruises and sore spots," he said.
Mirecki planned to offer a spring course called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies" after the Kansas Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.
Last week, Mirecki asked the university to cancel the class after he created a furor by sending an e-mail to a student organization mocking Christian fundamentalists.
Mirecki had referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face." He has apologized for those comments.
University Cancels Class on Creationism [Professor Paul Mirecki, chairman of religious studies...]
Professor Kerri Dunn vandalized her own car and then led student protests against "hate".
It didn't take long for the police to discover that the vandalism was Dunn's own handiwork.
What I'm saying is, I think this professor Mirecki beat himself up.
I bet the cops have figured out the same thing.
nice slap in his big fat face.
As I was reading it, I did not think it passed the smell test either.
-Dan
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
Remember "Dirty Harry?"
[How do we know you didn't beat him up?
Because he looks too damn good.]
But by whom?
This fellow sounds unbalanced.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/06/mirecki_treated_after_roadside_beating/?city_local
Mirecki said in a phone interview that the incident happened as he was “going out for breakfast, taking a drive and thinking about things.” He declined to say exactly where it happened, and the sheriff’s department did not release the location, except to say it was south of Lawrence.
Mirecki said that when the pickup truck began tailgating him, he stopped his vehicle hoping it would pass. Instead, the men pulled up directly behind him, he said.
“They got out, and I made the mistake of getting out,” he said.
Mirecki said the beating began almost instantly. The men punched him about the head and shoulders and struck him with a metal object, he said.
(snip)
The sheriff’s office is classifying the case as an aggravated battery. On Monday afternoon, the office asked for the public’s help finding the suspects. Mirecki described them as two white males between the ages of 30 and 40, one wearing a red visor and wool gloves and both wearing jeans.
(snip)
“The information that we have is pretty basic,” Lt. Kari Wempe said. “Our investigators are working on it right now.”
(snip)
When told that some people were questioning the truth of his report, Mirecki fired back.
“The right wing wants blood, period. They’re not going to stop until they see blood. They’re not into anything else,” he said. “Whatever I do, whatever I say, they don’t believe anything because that’s the way they are... I know what happened. I got the hell beat out of me. They can say what they want.”
(snip)
How very interesting.....
Thanks for the post.
I agree with your assessment - he beat himself - or had someone else beat him up.
In the article:
KU religious studies professor Tim Miller said he saw Mirecki on Monday and that he looked “scraped up.”
Also -
“This whole incident is starting to cast doubt that I can actually share my thoughts effectively without someone waiting for me at my car,” said Kansas University student Andrew Stangl, president of KU’s Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics.
One of Mirecki’s most vocal critics, conservative activist John Altevogt, said he couldn’t imagine anyone he knows doing such a thing...
But Altevogt said he was skeptical about whether Mirecki’s report was legitimate.
“He (Mirecki) has very little credibility left,” Altevogt said. “The one thing that could save his bacon is to become a martyr of sorts, or to elicit sympathy from being the victim rather than the persecutor.”
Could this be another hoax?
I did not see your post under the article before I wrote mine... LOL!!
Its also a serious arguement against the notion of 'survival of the fittest'.
I remember Morton Downey, Jr. tried a stunt like this at SFO to gin up his TV ratings.
Time to start packing Prof. Amen.
My first thought as well.
Roger that. Who, in their right mind, stops to "confront" two people tailgating them?
I have no doubt that there are people out there who would do something like this, but I have a hard time believing this one. If two guys go to the trouble of stalking him at 0630 and get their chance to dance on his face at roadside he would be more than "scraped up". He claims he pulled over to let them pass then gets out of the car when it is clear they want a piece of him. BS - I don't believe he is that stupid, but I do believe he is gutless enough to arrange for ridiculously minor injuries in order to save his sorry keister in the media.
I thought the same thing.
Especially some wimpy liberal!
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