It’s Academic.
It is indeed heartening to see academe defending the goal of academic freedom of inquiry that has been a hallmark of Western civilization since the monks established the university system.
A University of Toledo faculty member has been fired after she wrote a column in the “Toledo Free Press” that questions whether homosexuality should be touted as a civil right issue. Crystal Dixon, associate vice president of human resources, wrote that “as a black woman” she took “great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are civil rights victims. Here’s why. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a black woman. I am genetically and biologically a black woman and very pleased to be so as my Creator intended.”
That violated the canon of the University which fired her, declaring her values “do not accord” with those of the school. Toledo is one of 13 state universities in Ohio and declares in its website that it respects diversity of all kinds.
Not the diversity that Crystal Dixon attests to, Judeo-Christianity however.
Congress Targets.
It’s heartening to learn that the U. S. Congress is targeting ministries that it suspects of violating the IRS nonprofit rule. Guess which ones? Trinity United Church of Christ which under Jeremiah Wright cursed America and hustles votes for liberal Democratic candidates? St. Sabina’s under Fr. Michael Pfleger which hits whitey and urges the election of Barack Obama for president? Rev. James Meeks who is both pastor of Salem Baptist church and a Democratic state senator and who regularly mixes political agendas with theological ones?
No. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has launched a probe of six conservative televangelists which, Grassley said, “share the same branch of evangelicism and…promote socially conservative and public policy positions.” Meaning pro-life and anti-homosexual rights.
Last Nov. 6, Grassley, the ranking Republican on Senate Finance, asked for detailed financial information from Paul and Randy White’s Without Walls International Church, Benny Hinn Ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, Kenneth Copeland Ministries, Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Creflo Dollar’s World Changers Church International. Only Joyce Meyer met the original 30-day deadline—but Grassley stiffened the committee’s investigation and got the chairman of the committee, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) to co-sign subpoenas. When the March 31 deadline passed, only Copeland and Creflo Dollar stayed defiant. Copeland has since launched a counter-offensive, demanding an IRS audit under the Church Audit Procedures Act of 1984 (CAPA) which Grassley co-authored.
If Grassley wants information, he said, he should ask the IRS for it. It’s a clever strategy because IRS audits are confidential and take at least five years to complete.
So far Grassley and Baucus and the U. S. Senate see nothing further amiss from the other ministries across the land. Isn’t that comforting?
Peggy Noonan.
Judging from her columns in the “Wall Street Journal,” get ready for Peggy Noonan to be the next to defect to Barack Obama. The White House, you see, didn’t make her director of communications despite her taking a leave to campaign for Bush in 2004…so the posy, highly artificial scribe who is a gifted wordsmith grew discontented and started kicking about the callousness and political obtuseness of the White House. At the same time she has been very caustic about Hillary Clinton, almost to the point where her rants against the first woman to make a serious run for the White House seem like gender self-hatred.
Her gushiness about Obama seems very like the early “thoughtful” parsing Doug Kmiec did for Obama before he defected. Not a word from either on the great dichotomy between Obama and pro-life, an issue which both Kmiec and Noonan profess adherence to. The war…the economy…the need to ingratiate ourselves with foreign nations and not be hated…global warming—all seem of equal weight which means that if they are all equal, it’s easy to come down on the side of Obama on sheer numbers of equal issues alone.
Watch for Dear Peggy to follow the exit route and shake her golden tresses in the limelight as an Obama devotee.
I have been wondering why Peggy Noonan seems to have lapsed into a confused state. Her usual principled insight is gone and her attacks on George W. Bush are personal -bordering on mean-spirited, not professional nor principled. Your suggestion that she is a woman scorned makes sense. It is a sad time indeed when Pro-life Catholics embrace a champion of the culture of death and nihlism for reasons that are petty, superficial or insignificant. At some point many will realize the errors of their ways. Yet, I fear what calamity must befall them before they reconnect with the truth and wisdom of the Catholic faith.
ReplyDeleteNoonan was one of my must-read columnists for a long time. Her warmth, insight, and generosity of spirit really moved me. About a year ago I noticed some real clunkers. Having written plenty of clunkers myself I figured she was just occasionally off her game. A few month ago I dropped her a note asking what was going on - everything seemed to be clunkers these days and the largeness of spirit was gone along with most of the insight. I haven't read her for over a month now...the columns themselves just got too unbearable...and particularly unbearable when she once meant so much to me.
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