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Partridge
12-06-2005, 04:32 PM
Professor beaten; attackers cite KU creationism class
Associated Press (http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/living/education/13337930.htm)

A professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he sent e-mails deriding Christian conservatives was hospitalized Monday after what appeared to be a roadside beating. University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said that the two men who beat him made references to the class that was to be offered for the first time this spring.

Originally called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies," the course was canceled last week at Mirecki's request. The class was added after the Kansas State Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.

"I didn't know them," Mirecki said of his assailants, "but I'm sure they knew me."

One recent e-mail from Mirecki to members of a student organization 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." Mirecki has apologized for those comments.

Lt. Kari Wempe, a spokeswoman for the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, said a deputy was dispatched to Lawrence Memorial Hospital after receiving a call around 7 a.m. regarding a battery.

She said Mirecki reported he was attacked around 6:40 a.m. in rural Douglas County south of Lawrence. Mirecki told the Lawrence Journal-World that he was driving to breakfast when he noticed the men tailgating him in a pickup truck.

"I just pulled over hoping they would pass, and then they pulled up real close behind," he said. "They got out, and I made the mistake of getting out."

He said the men beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object.

Wempe said Mirecki drove himself to the hospital after the attack.

Mirecki told the student newspaper, the University Daily Kansan, that he spent between three and four hours at the hospital. He said his injuries included a broken tooth.

"I'm mostly shaken up, and I got some bruises and sore spots," he told the Lawrence Journal-World.

Wempe said Mirecki described the suspects as two white men between 30 and 40 years of age. One of the men was described as wearing a red, visorlike ball cap and wool gloves. Mirecki said the men left in a large pickup.

Wempe said the department would investigate "every aspect," but couldn't discuss specifics.

Andrew Stangl, president of the Society for Open Minded Atheists and Agnostics at the university, described the attack as "bizarre and terrifying." He said Mirecki, who is the group's faculty adviser, was adamant that the beating was related to the recently canceled course.

"That absolutely shocked me," he said, "because people don't do that in a civilized society."

State Sen. Kay O'Connor, a Mirecki critic, said there is no excuse for someone physically assaulting the professor -- regardless of their politics.

"I have zero tolerance for thugs," she said. "There is never an excuse to behave in such a manner. This was just thugs. They used a flimsy excuse, if they had one, to behave as thugs. They can talk about the ID (intelligent design) course if they want to, but that's not an excuse."

jetsetlemming
12-06-2005, 07:10 PM
Aw, poor baby. You insult anyone's religon and you're asking for trouble. The same as insulting someone's ethnicity or race.

Partridge
12-06-2005, 07:30 PM
Aren't Xtians supposed to FORGIVE? Isn't that the essence of Xtianinty? FOR-GIVE-NESS. And non-violence in the face of provocation (I believe this was called 'turning the other cheek' in around 31BC, by some rambling rabble rousing carpenter-preacher whose name slips my mind at the moment...)

Oh yeah, Jesus, that was the guy.

jetsetlemming
12-06-2005, 07:34 PM
You can't forgive someone who's not repentant. There's a news story around my area at the moment about a guy who murdered someone for a racial joke the guy made seven years ago.

Partridge
12-06-2005, 07:35 PM
Whats gay marriage got to do with this? I'm thinking you ment to post this in the other thread about investments.

jetsetlemming
12-06-2005, 07:36 PM
It's not like the church supported beating that guy up, anymore than the naacp supported killing the guy who made the race joke. People are still people, they don't always go by what a group they're a member of says.

[Partridge: my apologies, I hit 'edit' instead of 'quote'. Ooops. Fixed now]

jetsetlemming
12-06-2005, 07:37 PM
Whats gay marriage got to do with this? I'm thinking you ment to post this in the other thread about investments.
Yeah, I misread the title. They're both about christians. I edited my post.

Partridge
12-07-2005, 02:04 PM
It's not like the church supported beating that guy up, anymore than the naacp supported killing the guy who made the race joke. People are still people, they don't always go by what a group they're a member of says.



A few things.

1) I never said the Church (whatever Church these neanderthals belong to, if any) condoned this.

2) One's race - be it black, white, jewish, arab, indian or anything else - does NOT prohibit any specific actions. There is no moral code attached to any particular race. Whereas if you subscribe to a religion - which is a personal choice one makes (one cannot choose one's race) - you are supposed to adhere to the tenets of that religion, otherwise whats the point in subscribing to that world-view? Not every black person is a member of the NAACP, but every Christian, by definition, is a member of Jesus' Church.

3) The point of posting this article was, aside from highlighting the issue, to show the blatant hipocrisy of the people who carried out this attack. They are idiots, thugs and now criminals - not Christians.

ThotPolice
12-07-2005, 02:09 PM
Hasn't killing for god always been OK...the crusades?

Partridge
12-07-2005, 02:23 PM
That's my point - these people that call themselves Christians are nothing of the sort. Rather they are 'pick and choose Biblists'. If you want to join a real Christian group, try the Catholic Worker Movement - non-violent direct actionists against war and poverty.

Note: I don't consider myself a Christian (though Jesus had some pretty cool ideas) so I don't have to subscribe to non-violence. And I don't subscribe to it as a fundamental tenet of my life philosophy.

ThotPolice
12-07-2005, 02:29 PM
I think god also told the hebrew people to slaughter those native to the hebrew promise land?

Then god himself is always smiting and killing the wicked, turning them into salt and what not.

God committed genocide when he flooded the earth too.

Maybe these guys are more christian than they appear.

Partridge
12-07-2005, 02:39 PM
Noooo. You see Christians are supposed to take the teachings of Christ above all else - at least that's my understanding of it, else why would they call themselves Christians? Christians see Christ as God on Earth (the Holy Trinity), therefore if Jesus says "turn the other cheek" - surely that must trump all that has gone before?

It's like someone calling themselves a 'Marxist' when they base their philosophy on Hegel.

ThotPolice
12-07-2005, 02:55 PM
Noooo. You see Christians are supposed to take the teachings of Christ above all else - at least that's my understanding of it, else why would they call themselves Christians? Christians see Christ as God on Earth (the Holy Trinity), therefore if Jesus says "turn the other cheek" - surely that must trump all that has gone before?

It's like someone calling themselves a 'Marxist' when they base their philosophy on Hegel. You are right...and clever too. But the creationism debate has more to do with god than jesus. God is a thug you don't like what he says then boom you get smited!

Partridge
12-07-2005, 03:27 PM
Well, heh, but God and Jesus are one and the same according to Christians. And who knows, it may be God's perogative to smite infidels and naysayers - but that's 'God's Will' - not the will of some nutters. (Then again they say God created man in his own image - wonder if thats why humans can be such bastards to each other?)

But a funny thing is, if a serial killer kills a load of people and says 'God told me to do it', he's considered 'crazy person'. When Bush says the same thing ("God told me to strike Al Qaeda and Iraq"), he's a Man of God - according to the religious right anyway.

ThotPolice
12-07-2005, 03:37 PM
Yeah it's almost like a tool of control to be used by the elite or somthing. ;)

Partridge
12-07-2005, 03:39 PM
Never!

jetsetlemming
12-07-2005, 09:37 PM
I think god also told the hebrew people to slaughter those native to the hebrew promise land?

Then god himself is always smiting and killing the wicked, turning them into salt and what not.

God committed genocide when he flooded the earth too.

Maybe these guys are more christian than they appear.
The main reason God decided to kill off the moajority of the people then was because of a tolerance of murder. I just thought I should mention that. Yep, there are plenty of people that, while being part of a religon, don't bother to follow the rules of that religon that they choose to ignore. the IRA killed people, while claiming to be Catholic, the islamic terrorists are blowing up everything western they can get their hands on, while Islam teaches peace, the Isrealites and Palestinians are constantly fighting each other, while they're resecptive religons are supposed to teach peace.

ThotPolice
12-07-2005, 10:12 PM
The main reason God decided to kill off the moajority of the people then was because of a tolerance of murder. I just thought I should mention that. Yep, there are plenty of people that, while being part of a religon, don't bother to follow the rules of that religon that they choose to ignore. the IRA killed people, while claiming to be Catholic, the islamic terrorists are blowing up everything western they can get their hands on, while Islam teaches peace, the Isrealites and Palestinians are constantly fighting each other, while they're resecptive religons are supposed to teach peace.Yes the power behind the messege is the tool, not the messege itself, this hypocracy is what makes it so wrong.