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It isn't "leftism" to put religious mythologies in a mythology class. It would be leftism, however, to "feel" for the other side, be politically correct, and allow unscientific stories be taught as science.
"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?"
Funny to see the right use the language of the hated left. Is Sen. O'Connor going to campaign for hate speech rules next?
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What's not to mock?
Its a science class, no room for fundies.
Just so you know where Sen. O'Connor is coming from, she also believes women should not have been given the right to vote, because it damages family values.
Seems to me if she were consistent, she'd be cooking her man a meal, rather than bothering her head with this legislative stuff.
"His intent to make a mockery of Christian beliefs is inappropriate," she said.
Senator Brownlee sure paints with an enormously large brush when she assumes to speak for "Christian beliefs". She sure as hell doesn't speak for Christianity and comes across as rather pompous and arrogant for attempting to do so.
For starters, Senator Brownlee can exclude the Catholic Church from her broad strokes. The mythology of creationism is not part of Catholic doctrine.
It belongs, if anywhere, under Philosophy.
Mirecki needs to have a well documented criticism placed in his administrative files and if he doesn't have tenure, strongly question his eligibility. This being said, not on the grounds of any one particular viewpoint, but rather within the realm of 'religious studies' there are many different perspectives on the matter which take different perspectives on the human spirit.
If the Director, as it appears, has such a distaste for 'creationism', does he have an equally charged disgust for rationalism or empiricism?
One would think that a professor of Religious Studies would welcome an opportunity to teach all the different perspectives on the issue which have been strongly believed over the years. The jump to label creationism as a myth is just as ignorant of religious study as favoring rationalism over empiricism. His quotes indicate the thinkings of a very shallow mind that has allowed itself to become preoccupied with himself rather than his profession.
This raises a second question regarding the Provost. With such a glaring example of academic fraud in the thinking of a Director of a department, why would a Provost fool himself into thinking the course could be planned, let alone taught with any semblance of professionalism.
I wouldn't be surprised if the word gets around the campus that there will be no prerequisites and anybody who signs up, basically gets an A, while the academic administration ignores their 'profession'.
Yeah. Sure. Right. "Professional". Check.
F**king idiots. Fire 'em all and start over.
Part of right of passage is for the young to be exposed to whatever in college. Professors can and should teach courses with a point of view. College kids are not delicate china. They can handle it.
"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."
Oh come on you moron.
Anybody can sign on to a Yahoo message board unless your board had restricted membership. And even then, you just have to request permission and 9 times out of 10, you will get approved without any effort or having to prove who you are.
The idea this was unethical is ridiculous.
FYI, it took almost zero effort on my part and guess what, this is the group he was a part of:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kusoma-discuss/
just for professors, just atheists. According to a person posting on another site, until recently, the messages WERE VIEWABLE BY ANYBODY GOING TO THE SITE.
As of now, they are restricted to members only.
For those interested, here is his full post, with some cussing removed:
"Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005
Subject: I.D. & Creationism class to be taught at KU this spring!
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 (expletive deleted) of (sic) the religious right,
Evil Dr. P."
As it is, only Christianity is expressly forbidden to be practiced by the state, while criticism/bigotry is only allowed against Christianity.
Related thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1531931/posts