University of Kansas professor Paul Mirecki apologized Monday for writing in an e-mail that a KU course on "intelligent design, creationism and other mythologies" would be a nice slap in the "big fat face" of fundamentalists who want intelligent design taught as science. But KU officials — though not state lawmakers — still need to get tough on Mirecki. A chairman of a religion department shouldn’t be hostile to conservative Christianity. How about making Mirecki go through a paddling line at one of KU’s fraternities?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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40 Comments
Well, I can’t lie..I understand his frustration, but the email was unprofessional.How embarrassing.
But I don’t think it was hostile to conservative Christianity–I think it was hostile to crazy fundies like the BOE. There’s a difference, you know.
Tara,”There’s a difference, you know.”
Not really. Unprofessional is unprofessional any way you look at it. That, plus the fact, as Galahad pointed out, there were so many mistakes, one wonders if this professor is qualified to teach anything.
A paddling would be a waste of a good paddle. Remedial English would be a more appropriate punishment. Along with a course in relationship as it pertains to other religions and cultures.
It may have been unprofessional but it was only his opinion. So who cares. If you believe in ID then believe in it. If you believe in evolution then believe in it. The cause of this email and this course is the Discovery Institute and related organizations trying to push nonscience into a science class. So unprofessional yes, unwarrented no.
Paddling is against the law. Bashing Christianity is totally acceptable and meets with public approval. Says a lot about our culture, eh?
I think it says a lot more about the silly brands of “Christianity” some people espouse.
Even though it’s definitely not appropriate for someone in the religion department to write the email it points out the frustration that even the religious community as a whole finds with the religious right.
“Freedom of religion” is supposed to be protected in this country, so the “crazy fundies” as well as every religion, sect, or denomination has their rights as long as they don’t abuse the rights of others. The good Dr. has a right to his own religious ideology, but being a public servant, it is improper for him to “bash” any other ideology. Remember that it may be YOUR beliefs that are under attack next time… it doesn’t make it right just because “he was bashing them, not us”.I was hoping that cooler heads would prevail on this issue, and that seems to be the case, it’s time to forgive and move on.
And Brian… those “silly brands of Christianity” are destroying our witness. There was only one Christ and one Church.. and we Christians need to judge ourselves and get back to being Christlike. Any other way does not glorify God, turns men away from the Church, and we should stand against it.
I believe GOD has a sense of humor and Kansas is his ongoing joke. Right now he is laughing his heavenly a** off. lol
Sam,
They are indeed ruining the essence of Christianity. And not every philosophy that claims to be a “legitimate” religion is one with all of the Constitutional protections therefore provided it. The “Churches” of Jesus Christ Nazi, Jesus Christ KKK, Jesus Christ pedophilia, and all the rest are not protected. It’s too bad that the “Churches” of Jesus Christ Luddite, Jesus Christ idiot savant, and others like them, are considered legitimate by many.
I don’t understand why so many people who call themselves “Christians” are so thereatened by this professor or the concept of evolution. If you are truly secure in what you believe, does it matter what anyone else believes? If you are not fully committed to your beliefs then it does matter. I think there are a lot of “Chistians” out there who need to shore up their beliefs on the inside, not on the outside.
Brian..Great post!
Dan..You are right.. evolution shouldn’t threaten any Christian’s beliefs.
“Paddling is against the law.”
Actually there are 22 states that still allow paddling, Kansas being one of them. Missouri does also, and is ranked 10th in the nation in paddling incidents (they have to be reported).
As bad as the fundies are, you don’t offer a course to “get back at them” and ram your ideas down students’ throats.
That’s just wrong. Mireki embarrassed himself and the entire academic community that he represents.
KU should not offer this course, or if they do, someone else should teach it.
Best post so far Dan.If people want to have a spiritual relationship they should go into their bedroom, close the door, get on their knees, humble themselves and make the first move in that relationship.Standing up and espousing your particular brand of religion is the exact opposite of what Jesus asked us to do, and I know people are going to throw “The Great Invocation” back at me, but the real scholars agree that it was added to the text after the fact.If you go back and read the red letters you might agree with the scholars. Any religious and moral teachings gain converts through attraction, not promotion.
So, if the 12 appostles had just kept it to themselves everything would just be honky dory now – is that what you’re saying?Your assumptions post are so off-base and wrong, it would take too much time to go into it. Suffice it to say that when appostles come to your house today, they can clean the dirt from their shoes and move on.
NoJoCo,
I dare say you have it a bit wrong. Jesus clearly wanted to spread the WORD through the curiosity of others who WITNESSED what He did and said. Jesus is rarely pictured seeking a crowd to speak to. he is often pictured teaching the curious and inspired.
Jesus himself said:
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
And as the great saint Francis of Assissi noted, “Spread the Word of God. If all else fails, speak!”
And finally, as the hymn says…”And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…”
There is no bigger put off to the average person than to be assaulted by a salesman, be he the Fuller Brush man, a cold caller, or a religious zealot. I’m surprised evangelicals haven’t realized this.
I’d rather be assaulted by watching kansassam helping the downtrodden and unfortunate, making me feel empty but empowered at the same time.
Brian…You are welcome anytime!! But you better be careful, I’m starting to like you.. LOL!
We have a saying that no person cares what you know, unless that person knows that you care.
Thanks for your similar views Brian.At last, at last, someone who read only the RED LETTERS, and believed what they said. AMEN.The organized church is believed to have added the invocation to boost membership (read as income).
If you skip over all the stuff the priests added you get quite a different message, like Brian evidently did.
BTW NoJo, if disciples come to my home I will be far more than gracious. Just because I don’t evagelize doesn’t make me mean spirited.
Sam, Tracy,
Amen !!
Brian,Why did Christ send the disciples out on a mission to various towns to tell about himself? He told them that if their word was not received in a particular town, that they were to remove the dust from their feat and move on.
Kansassam has it correct. He is involved in a ministry that tries to help the poor physically and spiritually. He has answered the call from Christ to go out from Judea to the ends of the earth.
For you or anyone else to say that the great commission wasn’t something Christ wanted is just blasphemous at best.
TRACY,I’m not saying you’re not gracious, nor am I judging you for anything. It’s not my job.
See my post above about what I meant about the disciples and Christ’s great commision.
NoJo,
Yes, he allegedly did say that. The exact quotes are:
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.Matthew 10:13-15
And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”Mark 6:10-12
If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.”Luke 9:4-6
At a minimum these 3 are open to interpretation. It certainly doesn’t say here explicitly..”Go preach at them”. It says “leave if what you believe is not welcomed”. That can mean lots of things.
Too bad that most proselytizers don’t heed the words.
NoJoCo…Nothing at all wrong with the Great Commission, but I have to agree with Brian that it is not being carried out properly by most people. Nothing turns people off faster than being told they are going to hell by someone they don’t know! It doesn’t take people long to figure out what you are all about.. if they are not welcoming you.. they probably won’t be receptive to the message. Move on, and let the seed of your example be nourished by the Spirit and maybe harvested by someone else on another day!
This story is a small part of a larger issue. See the following from The National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/comment/boyles200511301455.aspNovember 30, 2005, 2:55 p.m.
The Descent of the Straw Man
In the Kansas evolution debate, the latest targets are “fundies” and Catholic wife beaters.
By Denis Boyles
The evolution debate seems made for liberals. It casts them as thoughtful and open-minded thinkers and conservatives as zealots and simpletons — or at least that’s how it looks through the media prism. It doesn’t matter how many times you remind people, as Jonah Goldberg once memorably did, “Your Darwin fish are safe,” the Left will still seize on the caricatures of that debate to pillory whatever other conservative initiatives are around, drowning out the rest of the conversation. It’s hard to argue the virtues of a complex issue such as school choice, for example, while all the shouting is about what a lousy science book the Bible makes.
It’s a trick as old as Scopes’s monkey. The famous 1925 Darrow-Bryan trial was a set-up, remember, an invention of the ACLU, who wanted to challenge a Tennessee law. So they found a willing “victim” in a part-time biology teacher in Dayton, a small town that volunteered to provide the venue for the famous monkey trial — until it became clear that the press was happy to make Dayton into the monkey. The case established a winning strategy forever after. It’s astonishing that conservatives still rise to the bait instead of taking the initiative to reform public education altogether.
Nevertheless, that’s what happened in Dover, Pennsylvania, and what’s happening now in Kansas. The evolution controversy has dominated the news here for months. Despite the fact that nothing the state Board of Education has done with its standards will change in the slightest what happens in Kansas schoolrooms, the ongoing controversy is giving a solid boost to the state’s “moderate” Republicans and Democrats on a wide range of issues, none of which have anything to do with evolution. The Left believes no other issue has the potential to turn this red state blue, which is why it rages on. It’s allowed the secularists to demean the religiously inclined with impunity — but also laid bare the thoughts of those who viciously revile those who hold those beliefs. The evolution debate makes anyone who touches it look terrible.
To find out how terrible, just go to Lawrence, home of the University of Kansas, one of the two areas in the state to vote for Kerry over Bush. Wading into the evolution controversy, the university has announced “courses” — really, ’60s-style teach-ins — designed to do nothing but ridicule the religious Right, each taught by a prof with an agenda.
Personally, I think it’s a good thing that universities are finally being used for satire rather than self-parody, and on this point I appear to agree with the chairman of KU’s religious-studies department, Paul Mirecki, and the campus group he mentors, the 120-member “Society of Open-minded Atheists and Agnostics” — a.k.a. SOMA.
Mirecki announced plans earlier this month to teach “the fundies” — as he referred to his theological enemies — a lesson by offering a course called “Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies.” The course announcement was instantly picked up by AP, CNN, and a bunch of daily papers and TV stations across the country. “The KU faculty has had enough,” Mirecki told reporters with gusto.
Conservatives were irate, of course, but universities — well, what can you do? The class would have passed into the archive of goofy courses all colleges offer for whatever reason. However, Mirecki had made the strategic error of using SOMA’s Yahoo usergroup to post his view that the purpose of the course was not education. It was theater:
To my fellow damned,” he wrote to the students, “Its [sic] true, the fundies have been wanting to get I.D. and creationism into the Kansas public schools, so I thought ‘why don’t I do it?’ I will teach the class with several other lefty KU professors…The fundies want it all taught in a science class, but this will be a nice slap in their big fat face…I expect it will draw much media attention. The university public relations office will have a press release on it in a few weeks, I also have contacts at several regional newspapers.
The forum post was forwarded to an ad-hoc group of conservative Kansas bloggers and writers led by John Altevogt, a former Kansas City Star columnist and a political activist. Altevogt blew the whistle and the embarrassing post caused KU chancellor Bob Hemenway — a fervent backer of the course — to blink. Calling voters “fundies” wasn’t helpful to a public university.
After nearly a week of backpedaling, Mirecki apologized for the statement: “I have always practiced my belief that there is no place for impertinence and name calling in a serious academic class,” he wrote. “My words in the email do not represent my teaching philosophy or the style I use in class.” The word “Mythologies” was dropped from the description. The chancellor said he would conducting a “review” of Mirecki’s e-mail. The university insisted the show would go on.
But the cat was out of the bag. As Hemenway was telling reporters the course was “serious,” Mirecki was telling readers of his SOMA list — at least until a few days ago apparently open to any who wished to join and read it — “This thing will be a hoot.” Conservatives had set about conducting a review of their own, sorting through and circulating the rest of Mirecki’s SOMA posts on the Internet, and they came away more concerned than ever. “These aren’t just lighthearted messages,” said Altevogt.
Mirecki seemed to enjoy adolescent outrageousness as much as the students. In one note, for example, a SOMA member suggests creating anti-Gideon pamphlets:
While the Gideons are distributing their propaganda, we would distribute a single folded page of the same height and width of a Gideon bible. The cover would contain wording on the order of “For complete assurance that your soul will be safe from the Fires of Hell…” The inside would continue ‘quit believing that FUCKING God and Jesus BULLSHIT. — Join us, the Society of Open Minded Atheist and Agnostics. “Our Bible is a quicker read.”Mirecki’s response: “I think the language is a bit strong in what you suggest, but I still like the general idea…” and went on to offer his own version. In another, Mirecki explained to students that German Christians saw “Nazism as compatible (the fulfillment of?) Christianity [sic], with Hitler as final messiah.”
In a post he published to the list last May, he wrote, “I had my first Catholic ‘holy communion’ when I was a kid in Chicago and when I took the bread-wafer the first time, it stuck to the roof of my mouth, and as I was secretly trying to pry it off with my tongue as I was walking back to my pew with white clothes and with my hands folded, all I could think was that it was Jesus’ skin, and I started to puke, but I sucked it in and drank my own puke. That’s a big part of the Catholic experience. I don’t think most Catholics really know what they are supposed to believe, they just go home and use condoms and some of them beat their wives and husbands.” Mirecki went on to explain that he was going to meet with Monsignor Vince Krishe, then at the university’s Catholic Center.
What did Msgr. Krishe remember about the meeting? Not much. Although Mirecki claimed in his posts that the two were “very good friends,” Msgr. Krishe tells me the two had met only twice, once at the Catholic Center and once at dinner. The priest could offer no explanation for the comments. “I just don’t know why he would say such a thing. I think this is a very offensive and irresponsible thing for him to say. What is it based on? Why would he say this?” Mirecki did not return a call asking for comment and clarification.
Maybe Mirecki didn’t understand how false the sense of privacy on the Internet is, or maybe it was meant to be a joke, although for Altevogt and many other conservatives, the controversy is no laughing matter. “Our concerns,” Altevogt tells me, “are simple and not related to one particular course, but to more general issues. First, we’re worried about the academic decline of the university under [Chancellor] Hemenway: KU has slipped seven places during his tenure and things like this may be one reason why. Second, we are concerned when an entire category of people — including the very students he is most likely to run into in his current assignment as an instructor teaching classes about religion — is maligned by the faculty sponsor of a university-sanctioned organization.” And third, Altevogt says, is a concern for the religious studies department itself, which, he said, has become “a hotbed of religious bigotry and intolerance.”
State Sen. Karin Brownlee says Mirecki’s SOMA comments were “consistent with the tone and attitude of his other remarks” concerning the course he wants to teach. “I think students look up to a professor, whether he’s an adviser or in a classroom…but as the head of a religion department he clearly has a disdain for those who have a Christian belief.”
When asked to comment on Mirecki’s comments regarding Catholics, a spokesman for the university simply directed me to a web posting of Mirecki’s apology for his previous remarks against Protestants.
Ask Ken Lay or Duke Cunningham why smart people do not-smart things. As a thoughtful scholar — as opposed to his new career as a polemicist — Mirecki has made valuable and important contributions to his field. Why the co-author of The Gospel of the Savior would indulge in witless Catholic-bashing — not to mention those poor Gideons! — seems mysterious, especially considering the collateral damage.
Altevogt and others, including some members of the legislature — the source of the university’s funding — are now concerned that even in red-state Kansas the university is so disconnected from the people who pay for it that somebody so apparently “lacking in respect [for religion],” as Brownlee put it, has been given charge of KU’s department of religious studies. As Altevogt notes, asking a man who believes — or is at least willing to casually write on a listserv germane to his profession — that Catholics “beat their wives” to run the religious-studies department has the feel of asking David Duke to oversee the African-American studies department.
Religious conservatives say they hope both Mirecki and Hemenway will retreat to doing what they were hired to do and leave political theater to the drama department. But the religious-studies department may not be the healthiest environment for any kind of retreat: “The majority of my colleagues here in the dept[ment] are agnostics or atheists, or they just don’t care,” Mirecki wrote in explaining, correctly, that it wasn’t the job of the department to make converts. “If any of [the other professors] are theists, it hasn’t been obvious to me in the 15 years I’ve been here.”
“Amen,” Altevogt says.
— Denis Boyles is author of Vile France: Fear, Duplicity, Cowardice and Cheese. He is presently working on a book about midwestern politics.———————————–http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/boyles200511301455.asp
See the following from John Altevogt, quoted in the National Review article. The Eagle has ALL of this. I wonder what they will do with it.
Report for Legislative Friends
John Altevogt
11/30/2005
“All the information we’ve had has come from the Internet, and so we just need to have time to talk to Dr. Mirecki and make sure things that are attributed to him are things that he actually said or were actually written and also look at the process by which all of this has come to be,” Hemenway said. Chancellor Robert Hemenway quoted in the Lawrence Journal-World several days after the story broke about a faculty member’s hateful e-mail and long after the faculty member himself had admitted the authenticity of the e-mail.
KU an institution in decline
When I was in student government during Gene Budig’s tenure as Chancellor at KU we received a copy of a private e-mail that accidentally printed out at one of the computer centers. In it a faculty member made derogatory comments about a specific student. A student recovered the printout and turned it over to me. I took it to the administration. There were no questions about where I’d gotten the e-mail, whether it was private, or public (and it wasn’t, it was supposed to be very, very private). The faculty member had an entry made in their personnel file and they were removed from any contact, real or potential, over the student in question. We didn’t have to make a big stink about it, they didn’t try to lie their way out of, they simply had the integrity to deal with it and deal with it promptly.
Under Chancellor Hemenway we now have a professor who has written hatefully about an entire category of students. The message was posted in a public location where it was designed to entice his followers into the same type of hateful conduct. And what action has Hemenway’s administration taken?
Despite the fact that they were fully aware that the e-mail was the source of the controversy they issued one deceitful pronouncement after another. For instance, from Provost Shulenberger comes this statement:
“It is unfortunate that the course title’s reference to ‘mythologies’ has been misconstrued. The terms ‘myth’ and ‘mythology’ are common in the academic study of religion and not an affront.” Provost David Shulenberger in the Lawrence-Journal World
Unfortunately, Mirecki’s e-mail said the following:
“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”.”
Even after the e-mail became a matter of public record they still attempted to deceive the public and made excuses about Mirecki’s hateful e-mail. Again from Shulenberger:
“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. (From the Lawrence Journal-World)
This is also false. The original e-mail that I received was apparently sent out from the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics by one of their own acolytes. Indeed, it caused some initial confusion since the e-mail was headed with the phrase “On Behalf of Paul Mirecki.” The e-mail itself was clearly written in the first person and provided very specific information that only Mirecki himself, or someone close to him would have known.
Based on that information I began a search to authenticate what had clearly been a publicly displayed document. I went first to Mirecki’s web site. That site contained a link to SOMA and another of Mirecki’s organizations, Kansans for Science.
Following the link to the KUSOMA site I found a link to their listserv and following that easily logged on to their Yahoo discussion group. At that time, the group was very open and publicly accessible.
Shulenberger’s “understanding” and Mirecki’s assertions of privacy are absolutely silly. Even he knows that. From Message 1258, dated April 26, 2005 Mirecki states:
“And whoever is the “FUNDY MOLE” listening in to these emails, I have one comment for you and it rhymes with “suck you”.
Cheers fellow freakoids,Evil Dr. P.”
After a week of indecision and deceit on the part of Hemenway’s administration, Mirecki made a meaningless apology and one word was taken out of the name of the course (a word that was being used incorrectly anyway, I might add). Nothing else has changed.
According to Shulenberger, “This is a serious course, and Mirecki is a serious faculty member…” However, once again, Mirecki’s comments haunt the administration’s attempts to deflect criticism. In another message to the SOMA listserv he described his method of evaluationg his students as follows:
“Heathens and Freakoids,You SOMA kids are a riot.But I knew that even before the party at Paul’s the other nite.Its been a great year for SOMA.Sandy, please email me offline, I have a quick question.Best of luck to all on finals and papers and have a great summer,Paul
PS. BTW, I don’t give finals, I think they are anti-Christian :-)” Paul Mirecki Message 1331 05/17/2005
What has become clear is that Mirecki is simply a symptom of Hemenway’s failed and incompetent administration. Indeed, turning once again to Mirecki’s e-mail, he was clearly empowered by Hemenway’s own hateful fear-mongering from just a few days earlier and that link grows even stronger when one examines the history of the Department of Religious Studies.
The Kansas Bible ChairAccording to a 1992 article from the Lawrence Journal-World the current department started out as a gift from a group of Christian women to have a place for KU students to deepen their faith and even prepare for seminary. That chair evolved into the School of Religion.
Keep in mind that the School of Religion was not a part of KU. The 1992 article quoted Allen Wiechert, president of the 15-member board of trustees of the Kansas School of Religion, as saying, “A lot of people think we’re a part of KU, but we’re really not and never have been.”
There’s a reason for that. By owning their own land they were protected from any church/state argument, no matter how rigidly construed. If they chose to give sermons there, they would be free to do so. But just 5 years later, under Chancellor Hemenway that would change and the ability to speak freely and actually do religion at what would become the Department of Religious Studies would be radically altered.
The essence of the change came in 1997 when I am told Hemenway’s administration complained that they wouldn’t continue to offer KU credits for courses not taken on state property. Regardless the motivation, The Kansas Board of Regents approved a purchase plan between KU and the Kansas Bible Chair, which owned Irma P. Smith Hall at 1300 Oread Ave. for what appears to have been the paltry sum of $1,100,000.00.
With the property in the hands of the state, Smith Hall became a place where first amendment freedoms to do religion became restricted behind the iron curtain of the alleged separation of church and state.
In real life, one suspects that these restrictions were hardly displeasing to the faculty of the School of Religion since another of Mirecki’s prolific e-mails describes the religious proclivities of the Department’s staff as follows:
“In a previous email to this discussion group, someone said that this course might be of interest to them and that they would not otherwise take a religious studies course.Maybe there is some confusion about what we do in the Religious Studies Dept here at KU. We do not teach students the “how to” of religion, that is, how to do religion or how to be religious, nor are we apologists for religion.The majority of my colleagues here in the dept are agnostics or atheists, or they just don’t care. If any of them are theists, it hasn’t been obvious to me in the 15 years I’ve been here.I often tell people outside of the dept that we take ananthropological/sociological approach (broadly speaking), rather than atheological “churchy” approach. We look at people (in the past and present) and observe what is commonly called evidence for religious belief and activity. Like an art historian who studies the history of art, and might have his/her own area on interest, each of the profs in this dept observes human religious behavior and studies how it influences personal and political decisions, as well as religion’s relation to social and political institutions (e.g., Supreme Court decisions).As I often tell my students in the first day of class “If anyone getsconverted in this class, its not my fault!”Paul Mirecki :-)” Paul Mirecki Message 458 04/18/2004
One can’t help but suspect that the collaboration these past few days between the Hemenway administration and the more radical, bigoted and intolerant elements of KU’s faculty and student body dates back to that earlier decision when the “academic freedom,” and the right to free speech of KU’s religious community was silenced in Smith Hall.
In recent years first Tim Miller and then Paul Mirecki made names for themselves as Religious Studies departmental chairs by speaking out forcefully and often hatefully against evangelical Christians and also through the selection of visiting “scholars” including John Dominic Crossans a leader of what many consider to be a heretical “Jesus Seminar.”
Recent evaluations of academic rankings show that the Department of Religious Studies isn’t the only area of KU in decline. In just one year alone KU dropped 7 positions in the rankings of academic institutions and the same benign neglect that slept through chaos in the Athletic Department and now ignores Mr. Mirecki’s misconduct most certainly is infecting all areas of KU’s campus life.
In the pages that follow I will let Mr. Mirecki and his acolytes of hate speak for themselves. Years ago, in Professor Gordon Allport’s wonderful book The Nature of Prejudice, I learned that people who hate aren’t very discerning in who they hate. I would’ve provided a quote, but in all of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties there were only two copies of this important book in the libraries and both were checked out.
However the wisdom of Professor Allport is clearly demonstrated in the following quotes taken from what I believe any rational person would consider a hate-group and its childish and irresponsible advisor. In these messages we see them bragging about harassing, insulting and baiting Christian speakers and volunteers who come to the University of Kansas. The response in most cases from their faculty advisor is not to chastise them, but to incite them. You will also see them making hateful statements about Catholics, “Zionists,” “fundies” and even those in the developing countries.
In all cases where the message is from Mirecki he is cited along with the message number and date. All students are simply designated as SOMA acolytes. These are young people and one can only hope that they actually do learn to be open minded. I have no desire to tar them with a permanent association with this despicable organization. Indeed, in at least a couple of posts they show far more compassion and tolerance than their advisor.
Throughout these posts I believe the reader will find that Paul Mirecki is a man compelled to hate. Note for instance the occasion when he feels called to insult a man who simply offered him a copy of the New Testament. These messages are not an aberration. They clearly reflect a pattern of both thought and action. To suggest that a man who couldn’t control himself in an easily avoidable social encounter could control himself when grading a student’s work, assuming he engages in that behavior in his “serious course,” once again strains credulity.
More to the point, to believe that a man who day-in and day-out spews forth this kind of venom actually means what he said in his apology, or that removing one word from a course title will make him act responsibly is simply ludicrous and is itself an insult to the intelligence of those who have raised the issue.
Thus far the so-called academic community has defended Mirecki’s hateful course as an expression of academic freedom and his vicious comments as free speech. Hogwash.
Conservatives have shown no interest in trying to monitor course catalogs for every goofy course that comes down the pike. Hundreds of such courses are taught every semester and every quarter. Part of a university education is acquiring the discernment to select courses wisely. Students must weigh those decisions and the impact such wasted courses have on their future careers heavily.
Nor does our constitution deprive Mr. Mirecki of the right to hate whomever he wants for whatever reason, or no reason at all. The state cannot compel intelligent thought and it certainly shouldn’t be in the business of regulating it.
However, the university has a responsibility to protect its students from faculty members who might behave in an unprofessional manner towards them. I believe the combined weight of Mr. Mirecki’s comments are unprofessional and suggest a proclivity to inappropriate behavior towards people of faith, i.e. the very people who would be expected to be his department’s greatest source of students.
The university also has an obligation to the taxpayers to see that extremists are not allowed to hijack the mission of an entire department and turn it upside down. Indeed, in the case of the Department of Religious Studies the real assault on speech came with the alleged coercive transfer of land from the faith community to the state.
I therefore believe that more reasonable solutions would be:
Paul Mirecki and his predecessor, Tim Miller, should, at best, be transferred to other departments, and given this latest evidence Mirecki should probably be removed from the faculty.
The remains of the Department of Religious Studies should be closely monitored for misconduct and the Department placed under new leadership, with a mission statement that reflects the original intent of the department
The land that Hemenway allegedly coerced the religious community into selling to the state should be returned to the faith community so that their rights to speak freely are restored.
Robert Hemenway should be fired and replaced with a competent administrator who can regain control of the asylum
Sincerely,
John Altevogt
“At KU, we instruct our teachers to create a classroom environment that encourages intellectual inquiry and civil discussion that helps students master the subject matter.” Provost David Shulenberger, Lawrence Journal-World
“(Mirecki) said that in his 16 years at the university, he had practiced civil discourse, which he said was vital to democracy and must be followed in a college setting.” Topeka Capitol-Journal
“But here’s my take on the Senate Meeting in general. I felt like I was on some sort of FOX News show being cross-examined by Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.And notice how sad this agenda is:
1. Students getting ripped off on bball tickets.2. No funding for an atheist speaker.3. The Deano putting real estate development on the backs of students.
CLUSTERfuck!!!” Paul Mirecki Message 730 10/28/2004
“Dear fellow Heathenistics,I agree with Bruce about the crusading parasite. I’ll ask Jim Baker, and some of you might also want to, about whether we can have our own little box every week with our comments on the daily faith theme. Apart from that, the article was very positive for SOMA.Y’know, I’ve never liked this new editorial device of “boxes”, they keep intruding on my monitor as “pop-ups” and are the latest fad in textbooks, but Rev. Jerk’s box was akin to an invasive Blitzkrieg. You can catch him on late-nite local TV, he’s living in the 4th-century, yet enjoys all the comforts of modern science.Its a crock of shit.” Paul Mirecki Message 483 05/02/2004
“Hey any one pick on the guy who was preaching on wescotoday? I did between classes…always gives me alaugh.” SOMA acolyte Message 207 09/10/2003
“Oh, is that was it was? A guy preaching? I thought it was a bloated elephant with a bad case of gas and diarrhea.” Paul Mirecki’s response contained in Message 209 09/10/2003
“I was not thinking hard enough earlier about how one might answer the Gideons; here is an approach that would ridicule them while promoting ourselves: While the Gideons are distributing their propaganda, we would distribute a single folded page of the same height and width of a Gideon bible. The cover would contain wording on the order of “For complete assurance that your soul will be safe from the Fires of Hell . . .” The inside would continue “quit believing that FUCKING God and Jesus BULLSHIT. – - Join us, the Society of Open Minded Atheist and Agnostics. ‘Our Bible is a quicker read.’ Upcoming meeting and events are . . . . .’” SOMA acolyte Message 1643 11/04/2005
“I think the language is a bit strong in what you suggest, but I still like the general idea. I’ve played in the past with making my own versions of “anti-Bible tracts” that could be handed out and maybe that is a good way to approach this, sort of low-key. I’ve made one already and can distribute copies to the damned if you’d all like to check it out.Evil Dr. P.
BTW,Have you all heard one of Johnny Cash’s last songs before his death? Its an apocalyptic song called “When the Man comes Around” all about the second coming (revealed to Cash in a dream). I suggest we make this SOMA’s theme song, at least for the rest of this year. Heh, heh.” Paul Mirecki’s response contained in Message 1644 11/04/2005
“Holy crap. All the guys on campus today were FREAKING ANNOYING!!! Iwas offerred a New Testament 4 times. And I only had 1 class today!! As I was walking past one of them, he’d left his station, and was walking across the street. A) I totally had to restrain myself from doing something to that whole box of little green insanity. B) I suddenly wished I smoked, so I could light the whole box on fire :P” SOMA acolyte Message 275 10/22/2003
“Yeah, I was offered one and asked the guy why he wanted the “dark ages” to return… he just smiled at me with that inane look of the “convinced”. pmirecki” Paul Mirecki’s response contained in Message 277 10/23/2005
“Through the generosity of the Beren Foundation, the Sabatini family and the St. Lawrence Center, generations of students will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the religious and cultural traditions that have shaped our civilization.” Chancellor Robert Hemenway quoted in a 2003 edition of KU connection on the receipt of 2.4 million dollars for professorships at the Department of Religious Studies in Roman Catholic Thought and modern Jewish studies.
Mirecki and his acolytes on Zionists, et. al.
“This could possibly cause a major political problem between Muslim Fundamentalists and Zionists who want to rebuild the temple and sacrifice red heifers; the joy of fundamentalism.” SOMA acolyte Message 3 01/15/2003 On the occasion of the discovery of an ancient Israeli artifact.
“Yeah, here’s another attempt by the right-wing to “prove” the Bible and their mythology by suddenly accepting the scientific method and evidence. These people have a major disconnect in their brain waves… but it will sell among the “convinced”.” Paul Mirecki’s response contained in Message 4 01/15/2003
Mirecki and his acolytes on Catholics, et. al.
“Yeah, but I had my first Catholic “holy communion” when I was a kid in Chicago, and when I took the bread-wafer the first time, it stuck to the roof of my mouth, and as I was secretly trying to pry it off with my tongue as I was walking back to my pew with white clothes and with my hands folded, all I could think was that it was Jesus’ skin, and I started to puke, but I sucked it in and drank my own puke. That’s a big part of the Catholic experience. I don’t think most Catholics really know what they are supposed to believe, they just go home and use condoms and some of them beat their wives and husbands. I’m having dinner with Monsignor Krische of the Lawrence Catholic Center tomorrow nite, probably at Zen Zero … anyone have any questions I can ask him?Evil Dr. P.” Paul Mirecki Message 1336 05/18/2005
The following series comes from a thread entitled:
“Vatican Gives Catholic Politicians Guidelines”
“wow. This is an absolutely blatant disregard of the separation of church and state…” SOMA acolyte Message 8 01/16/2003
“Yeah, for them Da Church is Da State.” Paul Mirecki message 9 01/16/2003
You’d think that they’d be happy with the extreme control they already have, but apparently they thought the leash needed to be shortened. SOMA acolyte Message 10 01/16/2003
“Yup, its world domination they are after… see Matthew 28:18-20.” Paul Mirecki Message 11 01/16/2003
“..it’s simply not ethical and plain illegal for politicians to take on a prescribed list of platforms just because a corpse in a funny hat wearing a dress says so. Freedom of speech and freedom to express ones views is one thing, but with the amount of Catholics that exist voting for politicians who are Catholics as well is and will in the future be a very unsettling issue…” SOMA acolyte Message 12 01/16/2003
“”a corpse in a funny hat wearing a dress”… I love it!
I refer to him as J2P2 (John Paul II), like the Star Wars robot R2D2.
pmirecki ;-)” Paul Mirecki Message 13 01/16/2003
And they’re not terribly fond ofpeople of color either.
Now, the Roman Catholic Church has long since stuck to some very outdated principles, but most of their constituents ignore those principles. For example, Boston isn’t teeming with Catholics, because they obviously practice birth control. Now if only the second and third world nations could learn that trick too. SOMA acolyte Message 1324 05/16/2005
Mirecki and his acolytes on themselves:“Right, then we need to be ready for the accusation that we are “insensitive” to other cultures. In that case, I’d say keep the debate on track, as we are focusing on religion in general, not a criticism of various cultures.” Paul Mirecki Message 576 09/07/2004
“Personally I find a lot of the things said by SOMA as a whole insensitive. I started attending meetings because I was interested in being around others who had found through self reflection and research their own path that mirrored my own to an extent. As SOMA has gone on though I’ve found it distasteful that the goal seems to be provoking people and all around bashing religion. I’m just not comfortable with more or less bad mouthing and slandering others beliefs.” SOMA acolyte Message 577 where child becomes father to the man 09/07/2004
“Two members have indicated that SOMA is being overly in-your-face and continuously derrogatory toward religion. Granted I haven’t been a member as long, but from what I’ve seen we’ve always done our best to be as accommodating and understanding to other groups as possible. Are there some specific instances in which SOMA was being overly aggressive? There is already a disclaimer in the brochure that indicates that not everything said during meetings will necessarily reflect the views of the group, only the individual saying it. I put that in there for this reason specifically, so people would not assume that some members’ outspoken style was necessarily representative(although it IS valuable.) It’s a tough line to walk from being a kind and gentle SOMA to not being taken seriously.” SOMA acolyte Message 583 09/08/2004
“The SOMA meetings I’ve attended have tended to show SOMA as primarily reactive to conservative Christianity and Republicans, with a lot of ridicule (though well-deserved). For visitors and newcomers this shows SOMA to be a bit intolerant, despite what is officially written down and what appears on the website. We often degenerate into silly giggling rather than serious discussions of issues and planning.” Paul Mirecki Message 588 09/08/2004
And, of course, following his adviser’s advice to focus on religion we find this missive in today’s messages:
“I don’t have anything against Jesus. Just his fan club that treis to constantly martyr themselves. If they got it right and actually started nailing eachother to crosses and dying en masse, I don’t think I’d have a problem, but this whining like petulant school children has got to stop.” SOMA acolyte Message 1731 11/29/2005
Finally, only portions of Mirecki’s source internet posting has been reported in the media.This is the full text of that posting. (Sorry about the formatting. This is what happens with a copy/paste.)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kusoma-discuss/message/1675From: Paul Mirecki
Date: Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:27 pm
Subject: Re: [kusoma-discuss] I.D. & Creationism class to be taught at KU this spring! pmirecki@…
The course will be offered this spring. It’s not on the books (KU enrollment system) yet, so I’ll let everyone know when they can enroll.EDP.
On 11/19/05 9:07 PM, “Paul Mirecki” wrote:
> To my fellow damned,>> Its true, the fundies have been wanting to get I.D. and creationism into the> Kansas public schools, so I thought “why don’t I do it?”>> I will teach the class, with several other lefty KU professors in the> sciences and humanities. Class is:>> REL 602 Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationisms and> other Religious Mythologies.>> Tuesdays 7:00-9:30pm. Smith Hall room 100. Open to undergrads and grads.> Enrollment limited to about 120. 3 credit hours.>> 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”. I expect it will draw much media attention. The> university public relations office will have a press release on it in a few> weeks, I also have contacts at several regional newspapers.>> Of course, I won’t actually be teaching I.D. and creationisms, but rather> I’ll be teaching ABOUT I.D. and creationisms as modern mythologies,> indicating that these ideas have no place in a public school science class,> but can certainly be analyzed in humanities classes for their function in> society. Basic approach is my usual: anthropology with a focus on religious> thought and behavior.>> Any ideas for textbooks, guest lecturers and panels would be appreciated. So> far, six faculty have eagerly signed up to lecture. I can probably pull> Chancellor Hemenway into this also, especially in the light of his public> comments supporting evolution.>> Doing my part to piss of the religious right,> Evil Dr. P.>> Yahoo! Groups Links—–
I guess blogging and turning the other cheek don’t seem to attract the same type of people huh?
CKD,With all due respect, please provide a short summary of an article and provide the URL (link) next time.Thanks.
Y’know, it’s interesting; the evangelicals have been in attack mode for some time. Thomas Paine, “that filthy little atheist,” Darwin, women, gays, liquor, Jews, the civil rights movement, rock music, any political view left of Gengis Kahn, and any other cause they think they can use to draw a crowd have all been on the receiving end of their wrath. But let anybody stand up to them, or even worse, treat them as a joke, and they run off crying about how everybody is attacking christianity! Sounds just like the schoolyard bullies I had the displeasure of knowing.Mirecki has the right to teach his class, and certainly has the right to offend offenders, so let him. If the course has anything to offer, other than the opportunity to bash the bashers, it will survive. Otherwise, it will be ignored and dropped. Let it go!
My first comment: it looks like Cindy is back . . .
Jed,I am not happy with my tax dollars supporting the dissemination of Mirecki’s viewpoints any more than I would want my taxes supporting Jerry Falwell’s agenda. I would like to see not only a seperation of church and state, but also a seperation of anti-church and state.
While I support the first amendment rights of both Falwell and Mirecki, I don’t want their messages supported with my tax dollars.
The following is a comment from a critic of SOMA on their website:
“By preaching the word of atheism SOMA is going against the element of faith, which may appeal to some but in the long run is a wasted effort. Through this approach SOMA is doing the same thing as the apostle Paul.”
This person’s comment is what I had in mind in the above post. I remember discussions at the Cannabis School of Sociology (joke: there is no such place, and there never was at any university in Kansas during the 1970’s :-)) there were discussions about the “circular continuum”. An example: Some on the left, like the Weathermen, were fighting the right so hard, and violently, that they were becoming just like them. My sense is that Mirecki has become just like the Evangelicals he claims to dispise. My argument is that neither he nor his enemies should expect me to support them with my tax dollars.
“”Freedom of religion” is supposed to be protected in this country, so the “crazy fundies” as well as every religion, sect, or denomination has their rights as long as they don’t abuse the rights of others.”
How about the rights of children to be free from religious indoctrination in public schools?
That is what Dr. Mirecki is railing about, quite clearly: the attempt by “fundies” (and we all know we exactly who they are what Seattle think thank employs them) to get their religious beliefs (including their bigotry towards gays, scientists and atheists and whatever other group they find convenient to point fingers at) taught in public schools as scientific fact.
Dr. Mirecki has every right to be ticked off and to express himself. He’s not a politician lobbying for votes. He’s a professor in a university. His views should matter MORE because they are based on his expert understanding of the world and its inhabitants and their religions. He’s not trying to get votes.
He was made a “public servant” not because he was able to parrot the beliefs of a majority of the population in a pleasing way, but because he had a brain and used it.
There are hundreds if not thousands of professors in this country who regularly express opinions that are far more reprehensible and far less defensible than Professor Mirecki’s. These other professors espouse opinions that demean groups of people not for their beliefs — which, after all, we CHOOSE and can change at will — but for their very nature.
And where are those other professors employed, for the most part?
At this country’s Christian fundamentalist colleges.
Correction of paragraph 3:
That is what Dr. Mirecki is railing about, quite clearly: the attempt by “fundies” (and we all know they are and what Seattle think thank employs them) to get their religious beliefs (including their bigotry towards gays, scientists and atheists and whatever other group they find convenient to point fingers at) taught in public schools as scientific fact.
Bob:
I think that an attempt to defend Mirecki’s immature, reprehensible conduct is bound for failure. I’m not sure why anyone would even try.
Your attempt mentions nothing of the fact that his whole purpose for the course was apparently to stick it to a group of students. His motivation was malice. That is not something that we, as taxpayers, should tolerate from someone in his position.
Your point about professors at Christian Colleges goes nowhere, since it is an apples and oranges comparison. Last time I checked, KU was a public university.
Well, Phillip:
It looks like you got your wish. With the assault of Dr. Mirecki, Kansas is no longer merely a laughing stock, it’s now a place where people are at risk of being attacked for not subscribing to your religion.
I’m sure you’ll be backpedalling like crazy for the next couple of days, but the damage is done. You called for violence, and a couple of redneck assholes took you up on it. Live with it, you self-righteous prick.
-jcr
Phillip Brownlee, be ashamed. Heaven, if its real, holds no place for you:
Kansas University religious studies professor Paul Mirecki reported he was beaten by two men about 6:40 a.m. today on a roadside in rural Douglas County. In a series of interviews late this afternoon, Mirecki said the men who beat him were making references to the controversy that has propelled him into the headlines in recent weeks.
“I didn’t know them, but I’m sure they knew me,” he said.
Attacking those that disagree with you is a hallmark of all major religons always has been. I can’t wait to see what Leno And Jon Stewart have to say about this Much of the country already think were a bunch of intolerant bumpkins.
“How about making Mirecki go through a paddling line at one of KU’s fraternities?”
You basically got your wish. How does that make you feel?
Wow! It’s true what they say: people in Kansas really are stupider than the rest of us!
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