Professor Ken Howell Reinstated

Some of you may remember my writing about Professor Ken Howell who was fired by the University of Illinois at Champaign for discussing Catholic teaching on homosexuality in a course on Catholic teaching.  I addressed this issue twice on the blog -- on July 11 and again on July 17.

It seems the threat of legal action and the outcry from students and alumni was effective because the university has now reinstated Professor Howell. The reinstatement is apparently only temporary pending a faculty review of his case. But this is still wonderful news, and we pray that his reinstatement will become permanent.

To read more about Professor Howell and what he has been subjected to, see this Chicago Tribune article: U of I Reinstates Catholic Instructor. I also suggest you check out the "Save Dr. Ken" Facebook page devoted to pesuading the university to reinstate Professor Howell.

It Ain't Over...Yet

A week ago I wrote about Professor Ken Howell who had been fired by the University of Illinois at Champaign for explaining Catholic teaching on homosexuality and homosexual activity while teaching a course on -- you guessed it -- Catholic teaching. (Click here for my earlier post.) One student apparently made an anonymous complaint, and that was all the university needed to dismiss Professor Howell. It seems, then, that the Church's magisterial teaching on moral issues has, for this publicly funded university, become hate speech.

Well, it seems the story's not over. The Diocese of Peoria has stated that it will meet with university officials on Tuesday to discuss Professor Howell's termination as an adjunct professor. As I recall from earlier coverage of this story, Howell was receiving some legal assistance on this matter since it is clearly a violation of both his constitutional rights and of academic freedom. The threat of legal action just might have encouraged the university to revisit its unjust action and discuss it with the diocese. According to a diocesan spokesperson, “The Diocese has had direct contact with the President of the University of Illinois, who has reiterated that academic freedom is at the core of their teaching and he is willing to have a review of this action so that all the details related to this situation can be investigated..” That's certainly encouraging, and we hope Professor Howell will again be teaching at the university. I'll keep you informed.

Click here to read the latest on the upcoming meeting between the Diocese of  Peoria and the university. And keep Professor Howell in your prayers.

Blessings...

Here it comes...

Well, folks, brace yourselves for the imminent arrival of the dictatorship of relativism. It's already made an appearance in academia, leaving intellectual and moral wreckage in its wake, and it won't be too long before it plows through the workplace and even the family home.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, today's relativists are not susceptible to logical arguments. Truth and justice mean absolutely nothing to them because they see these concepts as tools to be manipulated and changed as necessary to further their immediate agenda, whatever it happens to be. Here's the latest example of relativists at work in our nation, in this instance at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Professor Ken Howell, a convert to Catholicism and a former Presbyterian minister, has taught courses on the Catholic faith and the Catholic intellectual tradition at the university for years. Recently, however, he was fired because he actually had the nerve to explain Catholic teaching on homosexuality and homosexual acts during one of his courses. His comments, which were stated in terms of natural law and utilitarianism, were apparently too much for the university's Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Concerns. (Doesn't it just warm your heart that Illinois tax dollars are spent to maintain this office?) In other words, Professor Howell was fired for explaining Catholic teaching in a course whose subject matter is Catholic teaching. What a country! Academic freedom and first amendment rights to free speech apparently mean little when the subject of your speech conflicts with the current political correctness.

If you want to read more about Professor Howell, including a clear and concise statement by Howell himself, click on this link: Catholic Professor Fired for Being Catholic. And if you want to see Professor Howell's academic qualifications for yourself, just visit his page (not yet removed) on the University of Illinois website and then click on his curriculum vitae (in MS Word format).

Pray for our nation.