*Kenneth Howell Was Hired By The University of Illinois To Teach About
Catholicism: * So he taught about Catholicism. And then the university
fired him for teaching what he was hired to teach
<http://article.nationalreview.com/438935/facebook-saves-a-teacher/kathryn-jean-lopez>.
If that sequence seems a little mysterious, you just have to remember
that Catholic doctrine is politically incorrect in many areas, including
homosexuality.
David French, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is
representing Howell, underscores an important point: "Dr. Howell's
case illustrates the absolute intolerance that has long been
emerging on campus towards any kind of dissent or disagreement
against the prevailing sexual orthodoxy. It's as if the university
community views traditional Christian ethics as the moral equivalent
of racism and treats Christians in the same way it would treat a
white-sheeted bigot."
Old-fashioned liberals would have defended Howell on the academic
freedom grounds, but there aren't many old-fashioned liberals left in
our universities, and those that are left are not always willing to
speak out on such a sensitive subject.
Professor Howell has been reinstated, which will please almost all of
his students. The University of Illinois /may/ have learned something
about the 1st Amendment's protections for freedom of speech and
religion, which will please most of us.
But what strikes me about this incident is how routine it sounds ---
until we get to the reinstatement. Everything happened as if the people
involved were following a much-used script, from Howell's innocuous
statement of Catholic doctrine, which triggered the anonymous "hate
speech" charge, to the panicked firing. We've seen this all before, but
usually it does not end as well as it has in Howell's case.
Because these cases are so common, we now have --- and need ---
the Alliance Defense Fund
<http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/main/default.aspx>, established in
order to defend religious freedom, even on college and university campuses.
(FWIW --- not much to administrators at the U of I --- Illinois is one
of our more Catholic states.)
- 7:42 AM, 2 August 2010 [link]
<http://www.seanet.com/%7Ejimxc/Politics/August2010_1.html#jrm8989>
From Jim Miller on Politics
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