Professor Cancels "Nice Slap In Their Big Fat Face" Course

Well, before I even had the chance to comment on the class and Professor Paul Mirecki's public statements, it has been canceled. The original name of the course was "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and Other Religious Mythologies." From the Washington Post article:

Mirecki recently sent an e-mail to members of a student organization in which he referred to religious conservatives as "fundies" and said a course depicting intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face."

He later apologized, and did so again Thursday in a statement issued by the university."I made a mistake in not leading by example, in this student organization e-mail forum, the importance of discussing differing viewpoints in a civil and respectful manner," he said.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway said Mirecki's comments were "repugnant and vile."

"It misrepresents everything the university is to stand for," Hemenway said.

Sounds like Mirecki may have attended the PZ Myers school of civil discourse.

Even though I am not a university professor, I am going to make every effort never to use the phrase "Darwinian Fundies."

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The full Kansas University statement is here.

The full text of the "nice slap in their big fat face" email can be found here. Several other posts on the episode can be found on the Telic Thoughts blog.

The National Review Online has this article, which discusses some of Mirecki's other statements.