An Interesting Libel Suit Against PZ Myers

Author Stuart Pivar filed a libel and slander law suit last year against PZ Myers. The suit centered around Myers calling Pivar a "crackpot" on his blog. The lawsuit was dismissed by plaintiff Pivar less than two weeks after it was filed.

But here are some interesting tidbits from the filing:

First, how nasty some of the Board of Directors (as stated in the filing) to the parent company, SEED MEDIA GROUP, are/were that hosts the Myers' blog:

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein in June was sentenced to 18 months in prison and now is registered as a sex offender.
James Watson, whose extreme "culture of death" views I described in a previous post, and whom had to step down from Long Island's Cold Spring Harbor Science Lab for racist statements.

But here is something that speaks more to the issue of PZ Myers. The complaint says Myers receives a monthly stipend for having his blog on scienceblogs.com (pg. 6 #26). So when he was presumably posting all those times during his 3-hour science labs while he was supposed to be teaching, he may have been moon-lighting, and making money. This also brings up many questions of conflict of interests if he is doing both of these at the same time. Which job gets his priority and attention?

Moreover, now it appears Myers is an employee of SEED MEDIA GROUP while blogging, so this corporation can be brought into this mess.

Finally, my Irish grandmother in her brogue would frequently say there is always something in life to laugh at.

The University of Minnesota claims Myers' anti-Catholic postings are soley his personal business. Apparently, it might be anything but that. (Again, UMM's inability to have any clue as to what is actually going on).

There is a possibility that he is collecting two salaries from two employers at the same time while posting. First, if he does post during that 3-hour science lab, as his posting times would make us think, he is collecting an university salary. In addition to this possibility, he would be collecting a salary from SEED MEDIA GROUP at the same exact time if the lawsuit information is accurate. Maybe Myers is not that dumb.

PZ Myers Cites His Blog in His Tenure Review

An Anonymous Poster to VCR this morning drew our attention to a PZ Myers' post in 2005, where he mentions that his blog is referenced in his tenure review. It is getting more and more dishonest for Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson to state this blogger and his vile opinions are separate from the University when he is citing it in a professional review with the University and it is officially in his file:

"I think my website might have gotten two sentences in there. A couple of the reviewers also mentioned it. But it was a miniscule part of the whole story. That will probably change a little bit when I update it."
-P.Z. Myers

I wonder how much it is referenced after his update?

Best of VCR: 334 Blog Posts by PZ Myers Funded by Taxpayers

8/12/08 Note: Click here to complain to the Minnesota Board of Regents in regard to P.Z. Myers' Catholic bigotry and Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson's ineptness.

Jacqueline Johnson, the chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Morris, recently refused to take corrective actions against P.Z. Myers, a biology professor under her supervision who publicly desecrated both a consecrated Eucharist and the Koran. Myers posted a picture of the desecration on his blog joking, "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."

Johnson has issued multiple statements saying that Myers’ sacrilege was done by Myers "the individual" and not associated with the university. According to Johnson, no punitive actions were warranted.

Unfortunately, if Johnson were empathetic enough to the Catholic community to expand at least a moderate effort to investigate this offense, it would be clear the facts do not support her statement.

When considering only the days UMM was in session for the spring semester of 2008 and cross-referencing these with standard university hours (8a.m. to 4 p.m.), during this time Myers posted 334 times to his blog. That is Three-Hundred Thirty-Four Posts! He averaged close to five posts a day to his blog during university hours. Note to the chancellor: This information was there for the taking. I did not even have easy access to his Internet records as the university does.

Now, this gets a little more interesting when looking at Myers’ class assignments. Many times Myers posts just before class as well as in-between classes. Frequently there are posts during a three-hour biology lab that Myers was in charge of. Sort of, "I’ll keep the students busy and post on my blog." His professional duties obvious were secondary to supporting his hobby and hate-mongering.

U.S. News and World Report puts the yearly tuition of UMM at near $10,000. I wonder how the sacraficing parents struggling to pay tuition, trying to provide a better life for their children, would feel about the dedication in which Myers approaches his job?

Specifically, on Jan. 30 during university hours Myers engaged in Catholic-bashing with a post: "I’m just finding the old boy [Pope Benedict XVI] increasingly irrelevant as he continues his reactionary slide into medieval thinking. More and more it’s like hearing reports of what some random homeless man in a Philadelphia subway station ranted about."

On Jan. 25, also during university hours, he added to his sacrilegious offenses by posting a picture of a light switch depicting Christ with children that he inferred looked like Christ was aroused. Myers again joked, "I dare you to look at it and not have wildly inappropriate thoughts skitter through your brain."

Back to Chancellor Johnson. It shows a great dereliction of her duty not to access Myers’ Internet records to see if any of this nonsense has been going on during university hours and with the taxpayers' dime.

The correct questions for Johnson to have asked during this time were two-folded. First, and foremost, did any of this bigotry happen on university time and with university equipment? Secondly, if not, can any of these diatribes in anyway be connected back to the university? What Chancellor Johnson did in her actions was to completely skip the primary, most important question and jumped to the lesser, secondary question, in which the university took down a link from their Web site to Myers’ blog.

The ineptness of handling this situation now turns the focus to Johnson. She now comes across as coddling a bigot and not investigating fully as opposed to being a fiduciary to the university acting appropriately. Her defense of Myers that these bigoted views were his personal views and not related to the university no longer carries weight or truth. Yes, they were his views, but they were posted from the university grounds, with university property and, many times as it appears, during class on the taxpayers’ dime.

When coupling the bumbling of this situation with UMM’s past history of not being sensitive to the Catholic community’s outrage by putting on an anti-Catholic play last year, a new reality is obvious.

The time has come for Chancellor Johnson to be replaced with someone who can handle these offenses professionally, thoroughly and act appropriately in the best interests of the university, the 60 million Catholics in America and the people of Minnesota who are funding the chancellor's salary.

If You Think Our Faith is Not Under Attack...

From DelawareOnline:

"Thieves broke into St. Michael the Archangel in Georgetown last weekend, tore the tabernacle from the wall, took it outside and threw it on the ground. Communion wafers were scattered around, and a chalice and monstrance were stolen.

The church has been defiled and has been closed to worship," said Joan Ilgenfritz, administrative assistant at the church at 202 Edward St.

It will be reopened after the pastor, the Rev. Daniel J. McCloskey, can sprinkle the sanctuary with holy water and offer a special set of prayers to resanctify the space, said Monsignor Joseph Rebman, vicar general of the Diocese of Wilmington."

Police said they were looking for cash, but the poor boxes were not hit. I will write the local police and tell them to go over to Pharyngula and check patrons who live in Delaware. It, in my opinion, will shorten their search.

PZ Myers' Reaction: 1,300,000 vs. 6,000

To align every one's scorecard, let's review the scope of organizations that have alerted their membership to PZ Myers' sacrilege so they can contact UMM Chancellor Johnson's office:

Critical of PZ Myers' bigotry#; stating he should be fired*:
American Life League* - 300,000 members
The Catholic League* - 350,000 members
The National Catholic Register# 70,000-100,0000 Readership
St. Cloud, MN Diocese* 150,000 Members
Catholics in the Diocese of Dallas that read Ron Dreher's column* 500,000
Christian Anti-Defamation Commission* ?
Confraternity of Catholic Clergy# 600 members
Totaling over +1.3 Million people

For PZ Myers' bigotry:
Myers' friend, Annie Laurie Gaylor, at the family-operated Freedom of Religion Foundation: Per their 2005 report: "6,000 members and growing..."

There was a recent comment from the UM-Morris that the majority of the contacts to the university have been against Myers. ...YA' THINK???

American Life League Calls for Myers to be "Fired"

I don't know how I missed this one... The American Life League, representing its membership of 300,000, issued a Press Release demanding that P.Z. Myers be fired:

"Following the hate-filled blog rant of Paul Zachary Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, Judie Brown, president of American Life League, called upon university administrators to fire him."

It's one thing for someone to express an opinion on a matter," said Brown. "But Paul Myers specifically called on his readers to participate in a deliberate and malicious act of violence against the very center of Catholic worship. That is hate speech, and he should be fired for it."

Add The Center for Catholic and Jewish Studies to the List...

An inter-faith denouncement of PZ Myers from the Center for Catholic and Jewish Studies:

"...Catholics have already begun deep personal prayer and reparation to God for such grievous actions. At the same time, we should all be aware that persons who say and do such things as we have seen and heard obviously do not value or for some reason are not able to value the rights or beliefs of others. Therefore, we also hold the perpetrators of such acts in our prayers, calling upon the Spirit to lead them to a conversion of heart and mind, even as we seek justice. We join all persons of good-will who value a free society where people of different faiths thrive together in a wonderful and passionate pursuit of justice, peace, tolerance and mutual respect. We envision a new world where all live as brothers and sisters. Catholics and their friends do not seek retaliation, but a sense of contrition and reparation so that healing can continue. We long for the day when such actions against any religious person will be seen as a true hate crime against all humanity."

Gardner's PZ Myers' NCR Interview

I think Jeff Gardner's National Catholic Register's piece on Myers is worthy of praise and an individual post as well. Gardner skillfully prevented Myers' delusions from defining the situation and/or the interview:

" That Myers has the equivalent of a junior high school education in religion is glaring. He understands little about the history and function of the Catholic Church and even less about the place of the Eucharist in the lives of Catholics. When I told him that many have laid their lives on the line to protect the Blessed Sacrament, he recoiled in disbelief, saying, “Really? People really do that!?”

...I decided to call [Myers'] bluff. “Has Christianity contributed anything to humanity?” I asked him.

“Well,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone, “there is this general property of religion — it’s great at building community. Religion has been a good thing for many individuals; it has brought them together and given them comfort. But over all, religion … holds back humanity.”

What, I asked, about the Church’s role in founding the first Western hospitals, universities, banks and even many breakthroughs in science? He interrupted me, irate and incredulous:
“No, people made those contributions to Western Civilization.”

That the Church was involved in the very foundations of our Western culture is, according to Myers, irrelevant.

...I asked Myers, “You have, throughout your blog, described Catholics as stupid, stupider, scary, dark age fanatics” and words that we can’t print. This language doesn’t strike you as bigoted?”

“Why should it?” he replied. “I am making honest characterizations of individual people.”

“But in desecrating the Eucharist,” I continued, “you have insulted and hurt thousands of Catholics. What do you have to say for that?”

Myers’ answer was true to form: “The whole silly part of this whole episode is that I’ve got so many people writing me and saying that I have seriously hurt them. But what have I done? I have thrown away a cracker.”

I think Myers greatly underestimated Gardner based on the civility Gardner extended to him on the Catholic Radio International interview.

The best thing Gardner did in this piece was to ask the right questions that let Myers define [read incriminate] himself. There was also no wiggle room in the article that would let Myers interpret or exploit the piece for his benefit. Gardner also kept bringing the interview, and Myers, back into reality. This is no small task. Trying to pin Myers in the realm of reality is like trying to nail jello to a wall.

Atheists Denounce Myers

Atheist Matthew Nisbet, Ph.D, is a professor in the School of Communication at American University, and a blogger on Scienceblogs, the site hosting P.Z. Myers' vile.

Yesterday morning, he distanced himself from Myers' bigotry understanding how much fanatic extremists like Myers hurts their atheist cause. Surprisingly, he draws attention to Jeff Gardner's piece at the National Catholic Register in regard to focusing on the damage Myers has done within the faith-based community and its byproduct of deteriorating society's overall perception of Atheists:

Atheists have a major image problem. There's a reason that when people ask me what I believe I have to say with a smile: "I'm an atheist...but a friendly atheist."

...These "new atheists" are the dark under belly of atheism. In books, blogs, and public statements, they sell us ideological porn, sophomoric rants that feed our dark sides and reinforce our own unfair stereotypes about the "other," i.e. the religious.

Yet all of this does far more harm than good. The addictive nature of their rhetoric radicalizes us and leads us to an ever more closed off conversation about how we are superior and everyone else is delusional.

In the process, we miss out on working together with religious communities around shared common values and problems. And when their self-promoting atheist punditry is picked up by either the mainstream press or the religious media, we as a community of atheists incur deep self-inflicted wounds, with news coverage feeding the stereotype that we are a bunch of intolerant and arrogant eccentrics.

Consider this recent article at the National Catholic Register. Titled "The Face of the New Atheism," it profiles PZ Myers and his rants against the Eucharist and the Catholic community. Notice the key words emphasized. The dominant image of atheism portrayed in the article is one of "hate," "contempt," "dogmatism," "a junior high level understanding of religion," "irate," "incredulous," "bigoted"...the list goes on.

Is this how we really want Catholics to view us? Do we really want a group of moderately religious Americans--who polls show otherwise prize science, reason, and stand for many of the same values that we hold dear--to think of us through the prism of PZ Myers?

The image of atheism doesn't have to be this way....

The points of emphasis for the rest of the public should be on "strong community member and leaders," "teachers," "listeners," "working with others on common problems," "tolerant," "engaged," "open-minded," "pragmatic," "improving society," "cares about people and social issues..."

This is the "new atheism" that we should promote, not an image of attacks and intolerance.

National Catholic Register Checks In on Myers

The National Catholic Register this week addressed the PZ Myers' sacrilege. They have a readership about 70-100,000, mostly very devout Catholics, so expect more calls to Chancellor Johnson.

VCR friend, Tom Hoopes, editor of the NCR, does a five-star job in his editorial defining the heart of the atheist mentality, whether government or university sponsored:

"But what the Chinese regime and the cranky professor do have in common is their atheism — and their behavior in both cases is a direct result of the same source.

Atheists would have you believe that Christians are the intolerant ones... They will even look to excesses from centuries ago (the Inquisition, the Crusades, witch hunts) as typical Christian behavior. (Blogger Note: Myers called my previous post listing all his posts on university time a "witch hunt".)

Yet, in our own lifetime, we have seen more murder perpetrated by atheist persecutors than the Church has been guilty of in her entire history. It is the atheists who have killed tens of millions of Christians in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Mexico, and elsewhere. In China they killed more than they have anywhere else — and have not necessarily stopped.

It’s the government in Beijing that is cracking down on opponents... and it’s atheistic science professors like PZ Myers who go out of their way to belittle and offend those who disagree with them...

That’s because the logic of atheism is self-centered, by its very nature. Most atheists, of course, don’t lash out at their opponents. But with nothing to restrain them but the limits of their own ferocity, it’s not uncommon for atheists to grow violent and hateful.

Atheists want to believe that they live in a world that wasn’t created. They define the world, decide what truth is and isn’t, on their terms, and in a sense become their own creators. Their moral choices and actions aren’t limited by anything but their own imaginations and self-restraint.

The atheist mentality will thus see any appeal to a higher power as an attack on its own egoism, a threat to the world it has created. There is no special reason for an atheist to believe that he should temper his anger or the force he uses to respond to it."

Kudos, Tom. You should have majored in psychology.

Special Guest Appearance by PZ Myers

Paul Myers enjoyed my below post on his excessive postings during university hours so much that he posted it on his blog. I will save you wading through the cesspool over at his blog and give you some highlights:

Let me share the humor with you of some of his comments.

First, he tries his best to make us believe that these posts were set to go off while he was in his class because they were on “auto-post”, despite the completely random times throughout: 10:16AM, 10:41AM, 11:03AM. etc... I saw only two occasions with round number postings (11:00AM, 12:00PM, 1:00PM) that could make someone believe that this auto-posting was the case. But here is the irony and absolute humor in his excuse. PZ Myers believes everything in the universe and everything that we see in front of us is an act of complete randomness - - without a Divine Creator, except his posts with random-looking times. They had an intelligent design behind them as to when the best time was to create and post his vile and post them exactly when he is scheduled to be in a science lab. Too funny. Ya gotta laugh at the irony. Sell it somewhere else.

Second, he states that the university would never check his personal posts to determine they were done on the clock and open “that can of worms”. Myers, the can-of-worm-opener extraordinaire, honestly believes the tables could never be turned on him. He greatly underestimates the thousands of complaints (read: headaches) the school has received on him, and this is an easy way out for the school. Don't discipline him for his racist rants, get him for goofing around. Through the Freedom of Information Act, I can even request these Internet records. You better hope the university doesn't check these. With this, you can easily be disciplined or dismissed. By the way, Myers, it is safe to say if you are posting during a time when you are supposed to be teaching, it would be easy to determine for the University what is your free time, and what is your professional time.

Third, he calls my efforts in recording his blogging times an "effort in futility". He's so arrogant he doesn’t even see the possibility of this creating problems for him. He states this within the first second of seeing this information, not waiting to see, or possibly reflecting on the possibility, if this has any teeth. Arrogant people always underestimate and never see the oncoming cause of their demise. Al Capone thought it was only an income tax annoyance. Today, I had 4 different hits on my blog from the University of Minnesota-Morris. I know Myers was one (during university hours, of course). The important question Myers should be asking himself is who are the other people????

Finally, not to ever correct an esteemed and learned university professor, but wouldn't my efforts be considered a "Warlock Hunt?" Not to point out the obvious, but witches are female, warlocks are male. Too much time with the zebrafish.

334 Blog Posts by PZ Myers Funded by Taxpayers

Jacqueline Johnson, the chancellor of the University of Minnesota-Morris, recently refused to take corrective actions against P.Z. Myers, a biology professor under her supervision who publicly desecrated both a consecrated Eucharist and the Koran. Myers posted a picture of the desecration on his blog joking, "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."

Johnson has issued multiple statements saying that Myers’ sacrilege was done by Myers "the individual" and not associated with the university. According to Johnson, no punitive actions were warranted.

Unfortunately, if Johnson were empathetic enough to the Catholic community to expand at least a moderate effort to investigate this offense, it would be clear the facts do not support her statement.

When considering only the days UMM was in session for the spring semester of 2008 and cross-referencing these with standard university hours (8a.m. to 4 p.m.), during this time Myers posted 334 times to his blog. That is Three-Hundred Thirty-Four Posts! He averaged close to five posts a day to his blog during university hours. Note to the chancellor: This information was there for the taking. I did not even have easy access to his Internet records as the university does.

Now, this gets a little more interesting when looking at Myers’ class assignments. Many times Myers posts just before class as well as in-between classes. Frequently there are posts during a three-hour biology lab that Myers was in charge of. Sort of, "I’ll keep the students busy and post on my blog." His professional duties obvious were secondary to supporting his hobby and hate-mongering.

U.S. News and World Report puts the yearly tuition of UMM at near $10,000. I wonder how the sacraficing parents struggling to pay tuition, trying to provide a better life for their children, would feel about the dedication in which Myers approaches his job?

Specifically, on Jan. 30 during university hours Myers engaged in Catholic-bashing with a post: "I’m just finding the old boy [Pope Benedict XVI] increasingly irrelevant as he continues his reactionary slide into medieval thinking. More and more it’s like hearing reports of what some random homeless man in a Philadelphia subway station ranted about."

On Jan. 25, also during university hours, he added to his sacrilegious offenses by posting a picture of a light switch depicting Christ with children that he inferred looked like Christ was aroused. Myers again joked, "I dare you to look at it and not have wildly inappropriate thoughts skitter through your brain."

Back to Chancellor Johnson. It shows a great dereliction of her duty not to access Myers’ Internet records to see if any of this nonsense has been going on during university hours and with the taxpayers' dime.

The correct questions for Johnson to have asked during this time were two-folded. First, and foremost, did any of this bigotry happen on university time and with university equipment? Secondly, if not, can any of these diatribes in anyway be connected back to the university? What Chancellor Johnson did in her actions was to completely skip the primary, most important question and jumped to the lesser, secondary question, in which the university took down a link from their Web site to Myers’ blog.

The ineptness of handling this situation now turns the focus to Johnson. She now comes across as coddling a bigot and not investigating fully as opposed to being a fiduciary to the university acting appropriately. Her defense of Myers that these bigoted views were his personal views and not related to the university no longer carries weight or truth. Yes, they were his views, but they were posted from the university grounds, with university property and, many times as it appears, during class on the taxpayers’ dime.

When coupling the bumbling of this situation with UMM’s past history of not being sensitive to the Catholic community’s outrage by putting on an anti-Catholic play last year, a new reality is obvious.

The time has come for Chancellor Johnson to be replaced with someone who can handle these offenses professionally, thoroughly and act appropriately in the best interests of the university, the 60 million Catholics in America and the people of Minnesota who are funding the chancellor's salary.

Non-Catholic Christian Groups Now Demand Action Against Myers!

Super-Catholic Leticia over at Causa Nostrae Laetitiae posts Gary Cass' press release on Myers' disgraceful actions. This is noteworthy because now non-Catholic Christians are standing along side the Catholic Community in support of action against this desecration even when they don't believe in the actual Transubstination. They are saying, enough is enough by this man:

"Professor Meyers needs to be disciplined if not fired by the University Board of Regents for his unnecessary, provocative and inflammatory actions directed against Christians," said Dr. Gary Cass, Chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. "Had Professor Myers engaged in similar such egregious acts, like burning a homosexual flag or painting swastikas on a synagogue, or burning books in front of the library, he would have been terminated on the spot. Because Meyers merely offended Christians, he goes unpunished.

This reinforces the perception of hostility towards Christians on secular university campuses and brings disgrace on the University itself for condoning this provocation by their silence.” Bias against Christians within secular Universities is not new. Last year Gary Tobin, President of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research, published a survey of 1,262 faculty members from 712 public colleges and universities. Christians scored the highest unfavorable rating among university and college professors.

TAKE ACTION: Contact the Board of Regents and ask for them to discipline Professor Myers for his unnecessary and vicious attack against one of Christianities most revered sacraments. Call: 612-625-6300"

Dallas Morning News Editorial Trashes PZ Myers

Rod Dreher, editorial writer for the Dallas Morning News, brought more focus to Myers' hate mongering. Another 5 million people made aware of this sacrilege. Tons more e-mails and letters to UM will follow demanding for his dismissal.

"There's something about these new atheists, for whom P.Z. Myers is a folk hero, that's profoundly inhuman. "The ridicule is [their] goal; the contempt is the end; the sheer fun of sanctimony, self-righteousness and loathing are the purpose," writes a nonreligious blogger named Freddie (lhote.blogspot.com), distancing himself from the rancid preening of the Myers mob. "This is classic adversary philosophy: I think this thing is true because in its being true it debases you and elevates me."

Dr. Myers' university says he will not face sanction for his acts, even though he clearly has violated the university's code of conduct, which commits employees to "the highest ethical standards" and requires them to be "respectful, fair and civil" in dealing with others. Except, apparently, religious believers. What kind of fairness can Catholic or Muslim students in Dr. Myers' biology classes expect now?

If Dr. Myers had carried out a similar extreme act of contempt against homosexuals or racial minorities, for example, does anybody doubt that he'd be shown the door? And should have been. It's absolutely defensible to advocate for unpopular doctrines, especially within a university. But to engage in such shocking and unhinged acts of spite is to strike at the core of what makes a diverse community possible."

Local Diocese of St. Cloud Condemns Myers' Act and Calls for His Firing

The pastor of the Catholic parish in Morris and a spokeswoman for the Diocese of St. Cloud have urged Catholics to contact the University of Minnesota-Morris to express their anger about a professor who desecrated a host reported to be consecrated.

Catholics should "share their outrage that the school continues to employ someone who so blatantly attacks the Catholic Church's beliefs and what she holds to be most holy," said Rebecca Kurowski, director of communications for the St. Cloud Diocese, which includes Morris.

...We want people to know we find this offensive," Father Baltes [Pastor] said. "At the same time we want to react appropriately and give witness with our lives in how we respect the Eucharist and live out what we celebrate in the Eucharist."

Catholic Priests Defend Eucharist Against PZ Myers

Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (a national association of 600 priests & deacons) issued a statement on PZ Myers. They state exactly the essence of what is happening and reprimand both Myers and UM University officials. If Myers, or anyone, thinks this issue is going to die without punitive measures, they are sadly mistaken. Htip The Catholic League.

"We find the actions of University of Minnesota (Morris) Professor Paul Myers reprehensible, inexcusable, and unconstitutional. His flagrant display of irreverence by profaning a consecrated Host from a Catholic church goes beyond the limit of academic freedom and free speech.

...Lies and hate speech which incite contempt or violence are not protected under the law. Hence, inscribing Swastikas on Jewish synagogues or publicly burning copies of the Christian Bible or the Muslim Koran, especially by a faculty member of a public university, are just as heinous and just as unconstitutional. Individual freedoms are limited by the boundaries created by the inalienable rights of others. The freedom of religion means that no one has the right to attack, malign or grossly offend a faith tradition they personally do not have membership or ascribe allegiance.

...A biologist has no business 'dissing' any religion, rather, they should be busy teaching the scientific discipline they were hired to teach. Tolerating such behavior by university officials is equally repugnant as it lends credibility to the act of religious hatred. We also pray that Professor Myers contritely repent and apologize."

Kudos for Mark Shea!

Ok, back to being serious...

I have been exposed to Mark Shea through my beautiful National Catholic Register connection, and have seen more of his work now that I am a blogger. He covers PZ Myers' sacrilege more articulately and focused than I ever could with my pudgy calculator fingers. It is a perfection post. Praise to Mark!

A few points he mentions in this masterpiece that are worth noting:

"Myers and Co. are enmeshed in these lies because they have chosen evil. It is evil -- archetypally evil -- to desecrate the Eucharist. It's the sort of stuff archetypal bad guys in the movies do. And despite Myers' lies, it's completely unnecessary and gratuitous evil. Myers can do all the blasphemy he pleases on his blog (though not on the taxpayer's dime, as he often has, judging from the posting time and date of many of his entries). But the curious thing is that he cannot rest with mere verbal blasphemies. He has to get a host in his hands and destroy it with a savage glee that, curiously, places him not among scientists but among the most magical-thinking Bronze Age fanatics. "

Give credit to Shea for calling a spade a spade. Evil is evil.

I also see that Myers hides behind his good fortune of an intellectual occupation, and the "search of science" excuse that godless men have used as the rationale for some of the most horrible crimes against humanity, when the real underlying purpose of his psyche is to tear any notion of a God to shreds with his all-consuming hatred. Shea also hits a point squarely that I have been saying. Many of Myers posts are time and dated during university hours. The fact that he was spewing this hatred supported with taxpayers money is sufficient legal protection for the University to bounce him.

Forgiving and fighting not only may but must be done at the same time. If you doubt that, just look at Jesus: He forgave His impenitent killers at exactly the moment He was fighting (and winning) the most important battle ever fought against all the powers of hell. St. Paul likewise forgave his persecutors but was absolutely ingenious in making use of everything (including civil law) to fight them and advance the gospel... I have no problem with Catholics pointing out that many a Pharyngula post has been made on the taxpayer's dime and that misuse of state monies should be punished. I likewise have no problem with Catholics lobbying the university to have this bigot canned as radically opposed to the university mission statement... just as St. Paul had no problem at all asking the civil power to protect him from persecution when some mob threatened him or one of his churches...

New York's own Cardinal Francis Spellman rightly stated, "Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man."

We will pray that this man reconciles himself with God for the sacrilege he did, as we all must do for our own indiscretions, but we will work tirelessly to have him not poison any other minds, trapped collegians needing credits or naïve spectators, until this time of reconciliation by standing witness the truth with our voices and demanding he does not exist in an educational environment.

I Stand Corrected...

Sadly, I think PZ Myers missed his strongest proof for evolution and one that would end all arguments:

No disrespect meant to the chimp. Unfortunately, the chimp doesn't have tenure but Myers would vote for him without reservation because the chimp supports the theory, I mean the science, of evolution.

PZ Myers: Hypocrite at Large - Part III & IV

Two more findings on PZ Myers' hypocrisies:

In April of 2004, Myers wrote on his blog that a professor promoting Intelligent Design should not get tenure:

"I get to vote on tenure decisions at my university, and I can assure you that if someone comes up who claims that [Intelligent Design] 'theory' is science, I will vote against them. … If someone thinks fairies live in their garden and pull up the flowers out of the ground every spring, I will vote against them. Tenure decisions are not pro forma games, but a process of evaluation, and I'd rather not have crackpots promoted."

You have to be amazed by the absolute hypocrisy of the existence of Myers.

Understanding that both Intelligent Design and Evolution are both theories, and theories can not be proven, only disproven, in reading Myers' posts he constantly treats his theories as absolute proven sciences underscored by his complete intollerance of anyone else's views other than PZ Myers'.

Moreover, a person like Myers who is hiding his vile bigotry behind freedom of speech, and the free exchange of ideas, and most of all wrapping himself in the protection of his tenure, turned absolute Fascist when a colleague needed to be judge by the same tenets. I would have to agree with ASSOCIATE Professor Myers in regard to never having crackpots promoted.

Which brings us to the second portion of his post. Myers said:

"… It's a matter of whether [their views] screws up their ability to do their job. …but when they're advocating lunacy in their profession, then it's bye-bye time."

And that brings me to my second find:

On RateMyProfessor.com, a web site where students rate their college professors, Myers over the past few years has received an average score as a college professor. In the 3.5 range out of 5. He’s average, nothing more; nothing less. There are a few students that think he is great, there is an equal amount that don’t. But the last student to rate him on his review, done after this controversy, offers insight to this situation and speaks of his ability to never again be viewed as a legitimate college professor going forward:

"Really disappointed in this guy. He obviously has no respect for his students beliefs that might be different from his own. Read Pharyngula and you'll see what i mean. Scary"

These are the words from a University of MN Morris student. Not my words. Nor the Catholic League's.

Think of the sad situation you are in if you are one of his students and you have to give second thoughts about wearing a crucifix necklace to his class, or a Muslim woman student worried about wearing a hijab headscarf, and the implications it could have on her grades based on his vile hatred of religions and physical actions to support this hatred. I ask what is easier to do, desecrate religious articles to incite public outrage, or fudge a grade in private based on the same hostility? Myers has done the former, the more difficult one. The educational ripples and concerns from his behavior are deep and obvious.

I think it is safe to say, Myers’ little tantrum for attention has so completely compromised his position to be viewed as a scholarly educator that he can no longer do his job effectively and it is "bye-bye time."

Well said, Mr. Myers.

UMM Chancellor Scolds PZ Myers Publicly

Catholic News Agency Reports that UMM Chancellor Jacqueline Johnson wrote a response to their inquiry in regard to the actions of PZ Myers:

I have given you her quote, then what she really meant.

“I deeply regret that the postings have been so upsetting to so many people and that this has, in turn, caused some individuals to question the values of civility, respect, academic inquiry and critical thought that are the hallmark of this institution.”

Translation: We have no control over this whack-job, his views are void of any academic value or discourse, please... please, I beg you, do not take him as the standard of our University.

"She said personal and intellectual engagement at the school is done in “in the framework of intellectual and critical inquiry, not from a platform of name-calling and derogation.”

Translation: PZ Myers offers no intellect or critique of value in his recent tantrum. It was more like a pre-schooler acting up. She even references the term "name-calling" to convey the intellectual esteem they have for Myers. This term is something a teacher uses to write home about when disciplining a second-grader. (It is obvious they are fed up with his antics.)

"In her message, Chancellor Johnson voiced her expectation that faculty and staff “interact and engage in a civil and respectful way in the workplace, and it is my hope that this demeanor would extend beyond the boundaries of their University responsibilities and commitments.”

Translation: PZ Myers did not live up to the University's expectations of personal character off the clock. They are embarrassed by him.

I give Ms. Johnson strong credit. I don't think this correspondence could have been more diplomatically direct with the University's outrage of this professor's actions.

Now what is the purpose of this harsh correspondence? It could be an offering to the Catholics that complained about him, I guess. A sort of, I understand your outrage. Or it is a message meant for Myers to let him know through the media that he is on thin ice? Or, it is laying the groundwork for his dismissal down the road?

But a correspondence like this would never go out without the President of the University's blessing and text approval. So why is he not signing it personally?

Maybe it is such a bad situation, he is politically distancing himself from it and getting someone else to do his dirty work. Maybe he is letting the Chancellor issue it because it is her school, although the outrage has been seen nationally -- not just at her campus. Or... maybe he has to look impartial so that when he hands down the final discipline it looks like Myers had a fair hand.

Daniel Wolter, the News Service Director in the Office of University Relations at the University of Minnesota, issued an e-mail to CNA saying, "no disciplinary action has been taken against Professor Myers.” Here is the insight. This sentence is written completely in the present tense. It does say, "no disciplinary action WILL be taken again Professor Myers." It says no action has been taken...yet... It is all about the nuances, but if you look for and recognize them, it tips the University's hand.