The reason that many if not most of the leading Darwinists are so passionate about suppressing critics is that they really are practicing their own religion, crusading atheism. Richard Dawkins is again on public television in the U.K. denouncing foes of the theory that seems to constitute his liturgy and his eschatology. Meanwhile, Dawkins' favorite side-kick in America--the activist who joined him in attempting to crash an invitation-only preview of the film Expelled last spring in Minneapolis--has made a public show of desecrating the Eucharist, what Catholics accept as the body of Christ. P.Z. Myers, a Darwinist cult figure in his own right, teaches and preaches atheism in the Biology Department of the University of Minnesota. From there he composes Pharyngula, said to be the most popular "science blog" on the Internet. There, too, he has just posted a photo of a consecrated communion wafer. He says he drove "a rusty nail" through it and then threw it in the garbage. He hints that there are more to come.
If you are a Catholic, this is a sacrilege. Even if you are not a Catholic, it exhibits disgusting bad taste.
To answer charges that he would not dare do any such thing to Islam, Myers threw some pages torn from the Quran into the garbage, too. Give him credit; he's an equal opportunity destroyer.
Myers is jubilant. The Eucharist is "just a cracker," he keeps writing, just as the Quran pages are just "paper." He will decide what is offensive and what is not.
What does offend him is that a large number of people have emailed him to protest and denounce him. He also says he has been threatened physically. If so, shame on anyone who did so. Even threats of that sort are against Christian teaching, not to mention stupid and possibly illegal.
However, I have been threatened for far, far less--just expressing dissenting views on evolution.
Words physically weigh less than the consecrated Host. They are "nothing". And yet words that offend Myers and his fellow Darwinist apparatchiki can drive them to deeds of vigorous punishment. Restraint and scholarly good will are for other people. The mere words that Darwin doubters have raised in schoolrooms and lecture halls incite P. Z. Myers to call for punishments of flunking for students, expulsion for graduate students and firings for professors.
So words apparently matter in those cases. What gets thrown in the trash then are normal rules of civilized discourse, followed by people's careers.
William Donohue of the Catholic League is on Myers' case. So is columnist Mark Shea. But the University of Minnesota, which normally is P.C. with a vengeance, apparently doesn't think P.C. applies to P.Z. The New York Times that loved it when Myers crashed the pre-screening of Expelled, can't find any news in this. The National Center for Science Education, whose leaders often have lauded and applauded Myers--all the while professing to assorted school boards and legislative committees that Darwin's theory is "perfectly compatible" with religious faith--now is silent.
Here is Bill Donohue's latest:
MYERS DESECRATES THE EUCHARIST
University of Minnesota professor Paul Z. Myers made good on his pledge to desecrate the Eucharist today. According to his statement on the subject, “I pierced it [the Host] with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash.”
Saying he did not want to “single out just the cracker,” Myers also tore pages from the Koran along with a few pages from Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and nailed them to the Host. He then said, “They are just paper. Nothing must be held sacred. (His emphasis.) Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:
“A formal complaint against Myers has already been made. What he did—in both word and deed—constitutes a bias incident, as defined by the University of Minnesota. The policy says that ‘Expressions of disrespectful bias, hate, harassment or hostility against an individual, group or their property because of the individual or group’s actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion…can be forms of discrimination. Expressions vary, and can be in the form of language, words, signs, symbols, threats, or actions that could potentially cause alarm, anger, fear, or resentment in others…even when presented as a joke.’
“The University must now take action and apply the appropriate sanction. We are contacting the president, Board of Regents and the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office at the school, as well as Minnesota’s governor and both houses of the state legislature; the Catholic community in Minnesota is also being contacted. Moreover, we are also contacting Muslim groups nationwide.
“It is important for Catholics to know that the University of Minnesota will not tolerate the deliberate destruction of the Eucharist by one of its faculty. Just as African Americans would not tolerate the burning of a cross, and Jews would not tolerate the display of swastikas, Catholics will not tolerate the desecration of the Eucharist.”
Contact Myers at myersp@morris.umn.edu
Contact President Robert Bruininks at bruin001@umn.edu