[Bill,
July 10, 2008]
Tolerating hate speech, 'cuz that's what we do
Finally, there is a somewhat analogous case to the Mohammed cartoons controversy. As you may recall, some Danish cartoonists created cartoons of Mohammed, the founder of Islam. Because creating images of Islam is forbidden by the Koran, Muslims were offended. My argument was twofold: The cartoonists have a right to publish the cartoons, and Muslims have a right to be offended. Even demand an apology. They don't, however, have a right to act violently or murderously, issue threats of violence, or seek to suppress the publication.
Now, a Minnesota college professor, PZ Myers, has asked, on his personal blog, for someone to collect a consecrated communion wafer, known as the Eucharist, from a Catholic Mass and send it to him. Next, Myers says he plans to desecrate said Eucharist. Bill Donohue of the Catholic Something-or-other League has declared himself outraged and demanded the University of Minnesota punish Myers in some fashion. Apparently, Myers links to his personal blog from his faculty home page, and Donohue's complaint is that this somehow drags UMinn into the whole thing.
This whole kerfuffle is analogous to the Danish cartoon controversy in the sense that Myers wants to do something extremely blasphemous and offensive to Catholics — and some Catholics want to shut him up. Just because PC is often used against conservatives and Christians and males and whites, doesn't mean our answer should be to turn around and become a new grievance group, too. That's losing the whole war — which is that we need to get rid of the whole concept of "hate speech," stop trying to censor each other, and move on. The whole idea is to get away from grievance-mongering.
Note: Some Catholic commentators have taken a different approach. Taking a Eucharist could involve interrupting a religious ritual (you must eat the host immediately) and that presents a whole different set of arguments. I'm not versed in them and won't comment. Taking a consecrated wafer could also constitute theft, but I'm not a lawyer.
And even if that's true, it doesn't matter — yet. The professor hasn't done anything but write a blog post. Just said he's gonna do something. As long as that's not advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government or a personal threat on a person's life, that's perfectly legal. On his private blog, it's his business.
UPDATE: Now that I think about it, there is an argument to be made about protecting your good name when you have an employer; that is, your private blogging can get you dooced.
But I would distinguish Myers case from the Amanda Marcotte case in this way: Myers is a biology professor, and is NOT employed as a blogger. (Marcotte was hired by John Edwards' campaign as a campaign blogger, but had many indefensible and obscene statements on her blog. Just on the matter of obscenity, Edwards was correct to fire her for not presenting the right image for his campaign.
However, if someone made a counter-argument that Myers' anti-Catholicism would interfere with his ability to teach Catholics in his science classes, I'd be open to listening to it.
******
Alas, now, what do we think of Prof. PZ Myers? First of all, I ran into him years ago in comment boxes in a couple of places. Thought he was smart, but arrogant and spiritually retarded.
Now, as Christians, we're supposed to hate the sin but love the sinner. So I shouldn't judge him. What Jesus said was this — all blasphemies against the Son of God will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.
This tells us that some sins are forgivable in the next life — we Catholics get the concept of purgatory from this scripture. (Whew!) One sin that is not forgiven is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This, I think, is an obstinate refusal to recognize one's sins (and repent of them, though I'm not exactly sure how penitent you have to be--if it's perfect contrition, I'm in trouble; if it's "Have mercy," I'm OK) and persistence in this obstinacy until the end.
Which means for all the horrible blasphemy by PZ Myers, and his obvious delight in taunting Catholics, all can be forgiven if he would turn his heart to God. Same goes for those who engaged in the horrific cacophony of mocking, scoffing and ridiculing in the comments.
That said, my sins are just as scarlet as theirs. God have mercy on us all.
Now, a Minnesota college professor, PZ Myers, has asked, on his personal blog, for someone to collect a consecrated communion wafer, known as the Eucharist, from a Catholic Mass and send it to him. Next, Myers says he plans to desecrate said Eucharist. Bill Donohue of the Catholic Something-or-other League has declared himself outraged and demanded the University of Minnesota punish Myers in some fashion. Apparently, Myers links to his personal blog from his faculty home page, and Donohue's complaint is that this somehow drags UMinn into the whole thing.
This whole kerfuffle is analogous to the Danish cartoon controversy in the sense that Myers wants to do something extremely blasphemous and offensive to Catholics — and some Catholics want to shut him up. Just because PC is often used against conservatives and Christians and males and whites, doesn't mean our answer should be to turn around and become a new grievance group, too. That's losing the whole war — which is that we need to get rid of the whole concept of "hate speech," stop trying to censor each other, and move on. The whole idea is to get away from grievance-mongering.
Note: Some Catholic commentators have taken a different approach. Taking a Eucharist could involve interrupting a religious ritual (you must eat the host immediately) and that presents a whole different set of arguments. I'm not versed in them and won't comment. Taking a consecrated wafer could also constitute theft, but I'm not a lawyer.
And even if that's true, it doesn't matter — yet. The professor hasn't done anything but write a blog post. Just said he's gonna do something. As long as that's not advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government or a personal threat on a person's life, that's perfectly legal. On his private blog, it's his business.
UPDATE: Now that I think about it, there is an argument to be made about protecting your good name when you have an employer; that is, your private blogging can get you dooced.
But I would distinguish Myers case from the Amanda Marcotte case in this way: Myers is a biology professor, and is NOT employed as a blogger. (Marcotte was hired by John Edwards' campaign as a campaign blogger, but had many indefensible and obscene statements on her blog. Just on the matter of obscenity, Edwards was correct to fire her for not presenting the right image for his campaign.
However, if someone made a counter-argument that Myers' anti-Catholicism would interfere with his ability to teach Catholics in his science classes, I'd be open to listening to it.
******
Alas, now, what do we think of Prof. PZ Myers? First of all, I ran into him years ago in comment boxes in a couple of places. Thought he was smart, but arrogant and spiritually retarded.
Now, as Christians, we're supposed to hate the sin but love the sinner. So I shouldn't judge him. What Jesus said was this — all blasphemies against the Son of God will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.
This tells us that some sins are forgivable in the next life — we Catholics get the concept of purgatory from this scripture. (Whew!) One sin that is not forgiven is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This, I think, is an obstinate refusal to recognize one's sins (and repent of them, though I'm not exactly sure how penitent you have to be--if it's perfect contrition, I'm in trouble; if it's "Have mercy," I'm OK) and persistence in this obstinacy until the end.
Which means for all the horrible blasphemy by PZ Myers, and his obvious delight in taunting Catholics, all can be forgiven if he would turn his heart to God. Same goes for those who engaged in the horrific cacophony of mocking, scoffing and ridiculing in the comments.
That said, my sins are just as scarlet as theirs. God have mercy on us all.