KU's Pauk Mirecki - At Least He's Honest! Matt's new AgapePress Column
Bothered by Mirecki of the University of Kansas? We have worse problems...
posted by Matt Friedeman @ 7:25 PM
9 comments
Thursday, December 01, 2005
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'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world. (William Booth)
9 Comments:
I know exactly what you mean. I attended Carson-Newman College (a Southern Baptist School) in the late eighties and early nineties. There were some strange theologies coming from some of the faculty and religion students there. I was surprised to hear some of the beliefs of faculty that did not line up with scripture. Just because you say you are a Christian does not make it so. I suppose just because it espouses itself as a Christian institution does not make it so either. Only God knows that, and if you are lead by the Spirit, God will help you determine the difference.
Hello there, I just read your editorial on the U. Kansas professor & recent happenings. I largely agree with your statments. I agree that the scarier and probably more demanding war is that which is going unnoticed in our Christian schools across the nation; however I do have one clarification I'd like to ask you about. You stated that we should not necessarily have a problem with this Professor and his statements. Biblically speaking, I would think that we should have a problem with it, and that it should be addressed. In Acts 17, Paul went to Mars' hill to preach to the leaders of thought because there was a problem with what they believed. He declared unto them the Unkown God- and that's our duty as Christians also, isn't it? To maintain a pure church (ie, school) ...yes... but also to add to it. Wouldn't that mean we should have a definite problem when someone attacks our faith in the manner this prof. did? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue should you have the time. Thank you!
~MP
Great Article Matt!
It's high time we in the Church held our colleges and seminaries responsible for accepting and promoting the authority of scripture! Parents sending their children to Christian elementary and high schools should also be aware that the same issues you raise about nominally Christian professors apply to nominally Christian teachers. Whether a parent is home shooling or sending their chid to public or private school, parents need to pay attention to what's being taught spiritually as well as mentally.
Additionally, while I agree with the anonymous commenter who indicates we need to address issues at secular universities such as those raised by Dr. Mericki; I appreciate the fact that at least the athethist Professor is honest about his position. Provided he's willing, we can carry on a civil discourse with him - and if he's not willing, at least we know which side he's on. The same can not be said for the false teacher who denies the God's authority while claiming to be a believer.
Thanks for the good column. I am not afraid of Mr. Mirecki. I DO have a problem with him. I have two KU degrees. My wife is a grad. I am a taxpayer. My dad paid taxes in Kansas for forty years. With all due respect, sir, I won't take it or leave it. The University of Kansas belongs to the people of Kansas not to the "lefty KU professors" referred to by Mr. Mirecki. His alleged bigoted comments against German Christians have no place at a public institution. KU should be ashamed and this man should be allowed to exercise his first amendment rights from a soap box on a street corner after being relieved of his duties. Merry Christmas to all!
Paul Mirecki is the head of the Department of the Religious Studies Dept? This is like the fox guarding the henhouse! The Agape Press article on him made me ill. It is scarry to know that if your Conservative Christian child goes off to college (and to a State College which is for all residents of a state let alone a private college), they will encounter bias, hatred, possible failing grades from an ultra-liberal atheist. It is pretty bad when a state school takes on the atmosphere of intolerance to anyone who is not of that ilk. My youngest son is at an AG campus where he can be a Christian without attack. But is true that there are hidden non-Christians in Christian Schools, so parents need to beware! I hope that people in Kansas look at this situation and voice their concerns.
Mr Friedeman,
I graduated this past May from Houghton College, a small liberal arts college in NY that is associated with the Wesleyan Church. Perhaps my school was in the minority but I don't recall ANY professor there who would not readily admit to being a Christian. And beyond that admission, it was evident in their lives. There were however, a wide variety of opinions on political and social issues, and even on scriptural interpretations. I'm sure some of your regular readers would be shocked to hear that some professors there even voted for Kerry in the last election. To be honest sir, I was very grateful to have that cross-section of political, social, and even religious thought. What that fostered for me personally, was an environment where I was presented with a variety of opinions and views and was given the freedom to make my own interpretations and decide which stance I wanted to take on issues. All the while, my spiritual life was nourished and encouraged and is stronger now than it has ever been. My advice to you would be to not underestimate the ability of Christian college students to make educated and informed decisions, to think for themselves, and to examine life through the lens of Biblical truth.
I can tell you for certain that I would have had very little patience for a campus where a prerequisite for a faculty position was adherence to a pre-fabbed set of hyper-conservative doctrine; where everyone walked around patting eachother on the back for having life figured out and collectively mourning all the poor souls outside of their walls that were so lost. Disagreement and dialogue are normal and healthy and add a lot to a learning environment. That is, afterall, the point of colleges, to be a learning environment, not a four-year brainwashing session.
Furthermore, for Christians who are brave enough to attend a secular campus, I think that developing what you call "survival skills", namely "keep[ing] your head down" and, "sav[ing] your breath in debate" are the last thing they should do. That will hardly work towards facilitating the change that you indicate is needed on our college campuses. If you have the truth, then share it. You're right though, public resistence will not be rewarded.....in this life anyway.
-David Steele (Houghton College Class of 2005) E-mail: red_let_ed7@yahoo.com
Wow, are you are a christian? It's hard to believe by your comments. You made a comment where you said, "sheepishly apologize for a remark that was way too close to the truth." What do you mean by this, that intelligent design and creationism really is a myth? Does that mean you don't believe in these two things? Does that mean you really don't believe the Bible?
So you back him up and protect him with his violent and evil intentions and you turn around and attack christianity? I have to question your motives and where you stand.
You actually think it's o.k. to have these kinds of people in the public colleges. It obvious that liberal dogmas have been injected into your blood.
You don't talk like a christian so according to what the Bible (which is my only authority) says, I have to judge you by your actions since I cannot see your heart, only God can. You must be practicing your own religion (superstition).
Now I don't backup or protect any of those liberal schools either but I also don't backup or protect those liberals on the outside either.
It's seems to me that you cannot decide whose team you are on. God does not believe in gray areas or fence sitters. You are either on God's side or the devils.
You pick.
(sorry I posted this in the wrong place by accident previously)
Man. that was absolutely incoherent. want to try again?
Matt,
Will you now be writing a column with the title: "KU's Paul Mirecki-At least we got to beat the crap out of him!"
-----------------------------------
Professor treated for roadside beating
Tuesday, December 6, 2005; Posted: 11:38 a.m. EST (16:38 GMT)
University of Kansas' Paul Mirecki was hospitalized after a roadside beating.
LAWRENCE, Kansas (AP) -- A college professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives said he was beaten by two men along a rural road early Monday.
University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said the men referred to the class when they beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
"I didn't know them," Mirecki said of his assailants, "but I'm sure they knew me."
Messages left by the Associated Press on Mirecki's cell phone were not immediately returned.
Sheriff's Lt. Kari Wempe said Mirecki reported the attack just before 7 a.m.
The professor said he confronted the men after they were tailgating his vehicle along a road south of Lawrence. "I'm mostly shaken up, and I got some bruises and sore spots," he said.
Mirecki planned to offer a spring course called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies" after the Kansas Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.
Last week, Mirecki asked the university to cancel the class after he created a furor by sending an e-mail to a student organization mocking Christian fundamentalists.
Mirecki had referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face." He has apologized for those comments.
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THIS is the problem that I have with evangelical Christians. I live in a small town in central Mississippi. I'd like to be able to "come out of the closet" as an atheist, but at what price? I've found that when you call into question the beliefs of the Religious Right, all that sweet "Jesus loves you" talk goes out the window. Then the violent hate that lies at the heart of all fundamentlist movements comes out in full force. I can't spend the rest of my life laid up in the hospital or hosing down a burning cross in my front yard. So I simply avoid the topic of religion and pass for a believer in every day life.
What happend to Paul Mirecki is the REAL reason that most of America rejects fundamentlism.
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