"Error Enjoys All the Rights" by George Neumayr

Error Enjoys All the Rights | George Neumayr |  Catholic World Report editorial | August/September 2010

The firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell

Note: The following editorial was written in early July. On July 29th, the University of Illinois released a letter reinstating Dr. Howell, "a day after the deadline when his lawyers said they would sue the university for violating his academic freedom if administrators failed to reinstate him," according to chicagobreakingnews.com.

Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim professor with ties to terrorist activity whose visa was revoked in 2004, returned to American campuses this spring after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lifted his travel ban. Liberal intellectuals cheered Clinton’s decision, calling it an important victory for “academic freedom” and “tolerance.” Boston College’s Alan Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, declared that “every academic should welcome his presence here.”

Such is the grimly buffoonish character of American academia that radical Muslims today enjoy greater freedom on campuses than do orthodox Catholics. A controversy in July, now almost routine in American public life under aggressive secularism, illustrated this once again: Kenneth Howell, a Catholic who taught religion courses at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was fired from his position for simply defending on the basis of reason the Church’s teaching that homosexual behavior is contrary to the natural moral law.

The controversy began with an exam-related e-mail Howell had sent to students in his Introduction to Catholicism course. In the e-mail preparing students for a test, Howell explained the Church’s teaching on the morality of homosexual acts and contrasted it with regnant theories of utilitarianism.

“Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY,” read a paragraph in the e-mail. “In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same. How do we know this? By looking at REALITY. Men and women are complementary in their anatomy, physiology, and psychology. Men and women are not interchangeable. So, a moral sexual act has to be between persons that are fitted for that act.”

Read the entire editorial...

Comments

[lee faber]

Saying that Tarik Ramadan has ties to terrorist activity is an overstatement. He donated to a charity later banned in the US for its monetary support of Hamas, which isn't the same thing as implying he's involved in terrorist activities himself.