The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the church’s teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.
“Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY,” he wrote in the e-mail. “In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.”
“Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY,” he wrote in the e-mail. “In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.”
An unidentified student sent an e-mail to religion department head Robert McKim on May 13, calling Howell’s e-mail “hate speech.” The student claimed to be a friend of the offended student. The writer said in the e-mail that his friend wanted to remain anonymous.
Teaching a student about the tenets of a religion is one thing,” the student wrote. “Declaring that homosexual acts violate the natural laws of man is another.”
Howell said he was teaching his students about the Catholic understanding of natural moral law.
My responsibility on teaching a class on Catholicism is to teach what the Catholic Church teaches,” Howell said in an interview with The News-Gazette in Champaign. “I have always made it very, very clear to my students they are never required to believe what I’m teaching and they’ll never be judged on that.
What do YOU THINK? Should he be fired? Please read the whole article before responding, there's a lot more there.
HERE is where you can send an email to the school voicing your opinion.
Thanks, R.O., my friend
z
35 comments:
It's not about whether or not the professor was right or what he said was true or not... it's all about empowering gay people with the power to trample upon their opposition's supposedly inalienable rights.
After all, what rights man giveth, he can just as easily take away.
Of course he didn't need to be fired. Imagine the hypocrisy involved here!?
Please, teach us about the belief system of the Catholic religion. But don't actually tell us about what Catholics believe because it might offend someone.
I wonder what the response would be to a Muslim teacher who offered an in depth look at Sharia? If a Christian were to protest a point, it is likely he would have been told to stop making a stink because no one was forcing him to agree. Just suck it up because we need to be tolerant and respectful of what all religions teach.
“Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY,” he wrote in the e-mail. “In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.”
Right there is the problem, because Catholics identify as "Christian" and REALITY is grounded in the very nature of God Himself. Can't have anyone feel uncomfortable about their behavior running counter to what God says is good, right?
H
Well, the fags can't all be priests. They'll have to settle for being hairdressers, florists, and film critics.
Joe is right, it is never about truth. It's about making sure you do not favor a protected class (you know, anyone who is not a white conservative). His crime was not speaking his mind or telling he truth, it was offending one of the little sissies.
So, this is America now, huh? I was somewhat shocked, but not altogether, when I heard about this. Freedom of speech is going to become nonexistent...for Christians.
Of course he shouldn't be fired! Why does someone who is anonymous taken seriously?
I agree with previous commenter's, it is about taking away rights of the 'white, conservative, Christian.'
My word verification is 'truthr'!
Howell's statement was made at the college level.
Aren't universities supposed to explore dissenting views anymore?
I guess not.
And thus ends any real higher education.
They don't reproduce, they recruit. So much for freedom of speech & an opinion different from the powers that be. Shame on the university!
Silvrlady
I suspect there was a lot more going on here.
Was he teaching the Church's position on conscience and dissent? There would have been no reason for the student not to voice an opposition opinion.
For instance, I think the Church's opposition to gay marriage is due to their fear it will lead to married priests.
There was more going on here.
Nice pic with the cute Norman Rockwell scene, z. Sorry, that's thankfully all gone. And there was more to this teachers dismissal.
Keep it classy Beamish. Any truth to the rumor that you and Beak are looking for a summer rental in P-town?
Let's hear about the other issues of the firing, Ducky.........link it, please. I'd like to know.
I ask you, if a muslim were presenting their disdain and subsequent murdering or stoning of adulterers or homosexuals..or Americans, for that matter, should that professor have stayed because all he was doing was teaching Islam's beliefs??
Have you seen this video. And the tea party is the crazy one?!?!?!?!
By the way, Ducky "there would have been no reason for the student not to voice an opposition opinion."
No. But the man was FIRED, DUCKY. GET IT?
As for the image, you're right...those lovely days when a teacher had students who listened and paid attention and LEARNED are over...thanks to the Left's indoctrination. YOu sound so pleased...what a terrible way to be.
thanks, FrogBurger...but, wait!
The man tells Megyn Kelly that he can't speak for the Panther's racism but he has no problem speaking for and condemning the Tea Partiers?
By the way, what was their proof the TPs are RACIST? I've a feeling this has all been planned ahead of time...Funny, Glenn Beck predicted they'd have to go to RACISM six months ago "when things get tough and they start to lose in the polls, wait for calls of RACISM!" It's eerie...he was right again.
I sure didn't seem any racism at the one TP event I went to, particularly with the Blacks there :-)
I couldn't watch more than half the video, I started giggling; they're like a caricature of nutty little boys building a tree house fortress against the nutty little boys in the next street...it's almost cute, if it weren't so very dangerous for our country.
See any Black leaders trying to calm the rhetoric DOWN?
no.
See THESE guys making the Napolitano/Pelosi TERROR LIST like they did with the whites ..who...I'm not sure what they did...joined a Tea Party?
no, apparently calling for dead white cracker babies isn't terror.
The Professor was hired expressly to teach about Catholicism, and was doing just that. The fact he agreed with the church's position on homosexuality, shouldn't have been a big shock.
What should he have done? Pretend this aspect of Catholicism didn't exist? Shouldn't he have the right to his belief? After all he wouldn't have been hired to teach this if he wasn't qualified, and the chances are pretty good he's a believer.
If one disagrees with the Catholic church he doesn't have to join it. If he's offended, he ought to get over it. No one is forcing him to be a Catholic.
The University is cowardly. Do they fire professors in response to every complaint? How ridiculous. No group deserves extraordinary consideration and that includes Gays.
Pris
Ducky
Was he teaching the Church's position on conscience and dissent? There would have been no reason for the student not to voice an opposition opinion.
Opposing opinion isn't the problem. People are going to disagree. That's life.
The problem was the subsequent punishment of someone who took seriously the invitation to openly share his religious perspective.
I suspect there was a lot more going on here.
There's always more to a story than meets the eye.
If I was to make a trip to the supermarket and, while following all the rules of parking-lot etiquette, got my leg broken by someone who irresponsibly ripped out of his parking space---there are dozens of peripherally related details that probably wouldn't make it into my account.
And hopefully you wouldn't automatically assume I was deliberately baiting the driver just for fun.
Absence of certain facts doesn't necessarily mean the person relating the story is offering a misrepresentation of reality.
The concept of "tolerance" does not extend indefinitely and it's only a matter of time before granting of rights to one group means negating the rights of another.
H
Just seems like there was more here, z.
He might not be a very good instructor. He brings up the matter of Church doctrine and its alliance with natural law. Now when the Church got into bed with science it caused problems (you do remember Galileo, no?)
So when he says that he personally finds homosexuality unnatural that doesn't cut it. Science (i.e. natural law?) has a more complex view of human sexuality.
I hope this guy doesn't teach Aquinas. But at any rate he has some issues. It would have been better if the student had more knowledge and took this lamer to the mats but that didn't happen.
Personally finds it unnatural? lol!
Form follows function.
Now when the Church got into bed with science it caused problems
Doggone right!!!! That caused all kinds of problems because people have started to try to worm around what the Bible actually says with "new-found scientific data".
What an amazing development! We've become so smart we don't have to feel guilty about anything anymore as long as we can find "scientific" justification.
Maybe, eventually, the Church will stop trying to play footsie with secular evolutionary atheism and just learn to trust God's Word when there appears to be a discrepancy between the Bible and science.
One can always hope.
H
"See THESE guys making the Napolitano/Pelosi TERROR LIST like they did with the whites"
Just as soon as the all "brave" shabazz's start becoming suicide bombers I suppose.
Don't kid yourselves folks...too many blacks believe this crap.
Major
Ducky
Science (i.e. natural law?) has a more complex view of human sexuality.
Sadly, those who view science as the final word often don't recognize that they are simply discovering and examining that which God has determined as reality.
Additionally, the way things "are" is not necessarily the way things "ought to be", due to the introduction of sin into the world. That makes finding the truth to be a bit of a challenge, particularly when people refuse to consult their Maker.
H
“The e-mails sent by Dr. Howell violate university standards of inclusivity, which would then entitle us to have him discontinue his teaching arrangement with us.” — Ann Mester, Associate Dean
Ah … so in the name of inclusivity, a college professor cannot provide students with the reality of Catholic doctrine, even though he is teaching a class on Catholicism. Go figger; and if he does present the official Catholic view, he’s in violation of university standards and fired. And, according to the article, one student’s complain resulted in the termination of an award-winning professor.
Allowing that adjunct professors are without tenure and easily disposed of, was the university’s decision motivated by corporate profit margins? Or is this simply an example of typical progressivism, where leftist whackos desire to stifle any view other than their own, which always argues on behalf of inconsistent sexuality. No matter —we can only suppose the university’s faculty handbook was only kidding when it reads, in part, that teaching staff are entitled to freedom in the classroom.
As an aside, the same leftist pukes who insist upon tolerance for Moslem ideology and queer behavior pretend that Iran’s final solution for homosexual activities is no more than western propaganda. Plus, it’s Bush’s fault.
Yo mama Tea Partiers...take note:
Yes, white citizens voicing their opinions all out in the open and everything is certainly a “threat to democracy.” Democracy is ebonics for “getting what we blacks want and suppressing complaints from the whites who pay for it all.”
Word up....
Alert...T Party Racism in full view along with vicious, racist partiers!
Not for the squeamish....rated R!
http://tinyurl.com/2dy8llx
Major
I'm having a hard time understanding how a professor teaching Catholicism gets fired for teaching the tenets of Catholicism.
Would a professor tasked with teaching islam be fired for teaching the horrendously discriminatory tenets of islam?
Unbelievable.
Major Alert...T Party Racism in full view along with vicious, racist partiers!
Not for the squeamish....rated R!
That was pretty nasty.
Now I gotta go disinfect my eyeballs
:P
H
Major, I do NOT believe many Blacks feel the way the Panthers do and I want to direct the conversation back to the subject, please.
I will admit, however, that I, too, have been a little curious about where they get RACISM out of ANY Tea Parties.
Anyway, that's enough on that.
I hope that something happens for Prof Howell and I hope you all clicked on my second link in the post and sent that email to his bosses. THANKS
VERY sad news is that Rick Barber lost his Alabama Congressional primary. The only good news is that, obviously, another Republican won. We need to start supporting her. Darn
We don't support forcing people to choose between competing bigotries.
You lost me.
How is it bigotry to point out that certain bodily openings are designed to be exits for undigested waste matter and that it is not a natural use of such an opening when it is engaged in homosexual activity?
Science and the Bible don't happen to disagree on that point, btw.
Heather, Ducky is a fruit loop. He is not only incapable of rational thought, he is a bigot and a liar. If you don't believe me, just read his trash at this and other blogs. He convicts himself.
Personally, I don't understand how Z puts up with his hateful and irrational behavior. No matter how many times she asks him to be civil, he refuses. He is the most disrespectful individual I've ever met. Ergo, he doesn't deserve any respect from others.
My opinion, of course ...
Mustang:
Ducky is a fruit loop.
Well, my daddy always said "Everybody's got to be something".
I'd have to agree with you that much of what Ducky says here appears to be antagonistic and doesn't make a lick of sense.
Much appreciate the heads-up. As I don't have the history you all do and I don't have time to follow the cyber-trail of duck droppings, I do hope I don't offend anyone for being slow to include "bigot and liar" in my assessment of his character. Not arguing with you one way or another. Just haven't been able to come to a conclusion on my own yet.
My hat is also off to Z for being such a gracious blog host! The commentary dynamic here is unlike any other I've ever seen and she puts up with me pretty well, too. :)
Heather
Keep it classy Beamish. Any truth to the rumor that you and Beak are looking for a summer rental in P-town?
Nope. You'll have to go it alone, Ducky. Unless your priest can get off work on Sundays.
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