Kenneth Howell
What outrageous, blind, blazing irony!
Kenneth Howell was told after the spring semester ended that he would no longer be teaching in the UI’s [University of Illinois] Department of Religion. The decision came after a student complained about a discussion of homosexuality in the class in which Howell taught that the Catholic Church believes homosexual acts are morally wrong.
And just what led to his firing? An email to the department head, Robert McKim, including:
“Teaching a student about the tenets of a religion is one thing,” the student wrote in the e-mail. “Declaring that homosexual acts violate the natural laws of man is another. The courses at this institution should be geared to contribute to the public discourse and promote independent thought; not limit one’s worldview and ostracize people of a certain sexual orientation.”
[From Instructor of Catholicism at UI claims loss of job violates academic freedom | News-Gazette.com]
To “contribute to the public discourse and independent thought” just might mean to “not limit one’s worldview and ostracize people of a certain [religious/epistemological/philosophical] orientation.”
Could McKim not see that?
Via First Thoughts
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The lack of response to this idiocy may well be that in university settings this looks a lot like “dog bites man”. Do we expect anything more than this kind of flawed thinking from the powers that be in our institutions of higher learning? Not really.
BillT:
Don’t despair: let yourself be used in some small way as an instrument of the Maker… even if it means the Cross.
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”