{"id":4638,"date":"2010-07-12T07:29:53","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T07:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/hate-speech-really.html"},"modified":"2010-07-12T07:29:53","modified_gmt":"2010-07-12T07:29:53","slug":"hate-speech-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/hate-speech-really.html","title":{"rendered":"“Hate speech”? Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This item<\/a> moved over the wire late Friday. The mind boggles: <\/p>\n

\nThe University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the church’s teaching that homosexual sex is immoral.<\/p>\n

\"kennethhowell.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>The professor, Ken Howell of Champaign, said his firing violates his academic freedom. He also lost his job at an on-campus Catholic center.<\/p>\n

Howell, who taught Introduction to Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought, says he was fired at the end of the spring semester after sending an e-mail explaining some Catholic beliefs to his students preparing for an exam.<\/p>\n

“Natural Moral Law says that Morality must be a response to REALITY,” he wrote in the e-mail. “In other words, sexual acts are only appropriate for people who are complementary, not the same.”<\/p>\n

An unidentified student sent an e-mail to religion department head Robert McKim on May 13, calling Howell’s e-mail “hate speech.” The student claimed to be a friend of the offended student. The writer said in the e-mail that his friend wanted to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

“Teaching a student about the tenets of a religion is one thing,” the student wrote. “Declaring that homosexual acts violate the natural laws of man is another.”<\/p>\n

Howell said he was teaching his students about the Catholic understanding of natural moral law.<\/p>\n

“My responsibility on teaching a class on Catholicism is to teach what the Catholic Church teaches,” Howell said in an interview with The News-Gazette in Champaign. “I have always made it very, very clear to my students they are never required to believe what I’m teaching and they’ll never be judged on that.”<\/p>\n

Howell also said he makes clear to his students that he’s Catholic and that he believes the church views that he teaches.<\/p>\n

McKim referred questions to university spokeswoman Robin Kaler, who said she couldn’t comment on Howell or his firing because it’s a personnel issue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read on<\/a> for the rest. There are additional details here.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/a>UPDATE:<\/b> Comments are now closed.  <\/div>\n
 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This item moved over the wire late Friday. The mind boggles: The University of Illinois has fired an adjunct professor who taught courses on Catholicism after a student accused the instructor of engaging in hate speech by saying he agrees with the church’s teaching that homosexual sex is immoral. The professor, Ken Howell of Champaign,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\n"Hate speech"? 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