(Who Would Jesus Beat Up With a Metal Object?)

Our friend Stephanie in Kansas shares the news that the professor who recently announced a course called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies" has told police that he was attacked along a rural road late last night and beaten by two men, who were quite clear that his opposition to Christian fundamentalism the cause of the attack.

This is precisely the kind of thing that gives being even vaguely conversant with history or having the slightest ability to reason the delicious tingle of danger.

Granted, Prof. Mirecki himself isn’t infallible, as he showed in an email which referred to his proposed class as a "nice slap in [the fundamentalists’] big fat face."  After the controversy — triggered because, as we all know, most fundamentalist ministers are as skinny as supermodels, just glowing paragons of physical health — the professor decided that the class should be cancelled out of fairness to all concerned.

I agree.  Not one televangelist I can think of has enough double-chins to give his head its own scrotum.

OK, well, one.

Actually, five.  Wait, no.  Seven.  Hmm.  Anyhow.

Naturally, there are already people on the right — I won’t dignify them with links, but you can find them easily enough — who have already decided that the professor staged his own attack.  Well, certainly.  Because beating themselves up in the middle of nowhere is the kind of thing rationalists do.

I don’t know if the local District Attorney plans to prosecute this the same way they would if two atheists beat the crap out of a minister, specifically for his beliefs.  But they should.  I’m gonna send them an email in a minute and say so.

And this Kos diary suggests making a donation to Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Prof. Mirecki’s name, as a specific show of support for him and a deterrent to future similar attacks.  Not a bad idea.  I’m gonna go chip in a few bucks myself.