Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Greg Lukianoff, the director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a group I strongly support, says that he has multiple sources who have told him that the Oklahoma legislature, or some members of it, are "investigating" Richard Dawkins' appearance at the University of Oklahoma recently.
I have received indication from numerous sources that the Oklahoma legislature is pressing ahead with an investigation of the event, probably to divine if any state funds were used. Dawkins, for his part, adamantly denies accepting a single cent for the speech. He specifically waived his normal honorarium, because this would be a mainly student audience. Even if he had taken money, however, the University department that invited Dawkins would have been perfectly within its rights to pay him. If this investigation is indeed taking place, what the state legislature needs to understand is that in court cases dating back to the days of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, even investigating clearly protected speech on the basis of its viewpoint violates the First Amendment.Think about it: If every time a student or faculty member invited, say, Rick Warren to speak on campus, they knew they would be subjected to a thorough and time-consuming investigation by state officials, you can all but guarantee that schools across the country would think twice before inviting Rick Warren. This would be a great way for state legislatures to chill speech they dislike without ever having to find the speaker guilty of a single thing. Talk about your un-American activities.
Given the fact the legislature clearly is concerned with nothing other than Dawkins' viewpoint, such an investigation is improper and should end immediately.
I couldn't agree more. Lukianoff is trying to find out more at this point, but I haven't seen any update yet, either on the Dawkins site or on FIRE's blog. I'll keep an eye on this.
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Let's hope we can at least get confirmation of the activity, and the names of any legislators involved (although I can probably guess at a few...).
Cheers.
Posted by: FastLane | March 18, 2009 11:03 AM
Fucking troglodytes. Republicans across the country, as they grow more into a rump party for the far right, are shooting themselves in the foot every day. There are a lot of stupid assholes in the country, but explicitly appealing only to them all of the time does not a governing majority make.
Posted by: Chuck | March 18, 2009 11:06 AM
Not a single county in Oklahoma went for Obama in the presidential election and this is the only state where this happened. Need we say more.
Posted by: DobyGS | March 18, 2009 11:30 AM
Well that’s why they call it the heartland, as opposed to say, the brainland.
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 18, 2009 12:13 PM
That should be a short investigation, seeing as how his appearance was recorded and all.
Oh, right, by "investigate" they mean "hold a show trial where all the usual suspects whine about how much their poor delicate feelings were hurt in order to justify punishing the university." Silly me.
Posted by: Martian Buddy | March 18, 2009 12:22 PM
You'd think those right-wingers would have learned from another right-winger, Jeb Bush, that "investigating" people they don't like, only to come up with nothing actionable, really doesn't help their cause. Jeb tried that several times on Michael Schiavo, and only drew attention to the total emptiness of his cause.
Posted by: Raging Bee | March 18, 2009 12:56 PM
Quoth Raging Bee:
I see your mistake right here.... =)
Posted by: FastLane | March 18, 2009 1:54 PM
The heart: an organ whose only function is to mindlessly twitch. "Heartland" sounds about right.
Posted by: jpf | March 18, 2009 2:35 PM
I'm going to steal that, if you don't mind.
Posted by: DaveL | March 18, 2009 5:33 PM
Thank you Abby, nothing like a good giggle in the morning to clear the heart, er...brain.
Posted by: John Monfries | March 18, 2009 6:51 PM
Oklahoma--still America's Iran.
Posted by: Josh | March 18, 2009 7:01 PM
Oklahoma used to elect people who weren't complete troglodytes, like Carl Albert.
What in the hell happened there in the last 30 years?
Posted by: Chris Krolczyk | March 18, 2009 7:45 PM
I can just about picture the looney Okie legislators, upon hearing Dawkin's name evoked, throwing up their arms and hissing like Dracula when he's exposed to direct sunlight.
Posted by: Raymond Minton | March 18, 2009 8:22 PM
The good news is, they can't pretend to ignore him anymore. Once you've made ominous noises about "investigating" someone, you're past pretending he's not important.
Posted by: Raging Bee | March 18, 2009 10:22 PM
O.K., bash Oklahoma if you wish, but during the past 10 years we have been able to defeat EVERY bill and Textbook Committee action calling for creationist crap, including two so far this session ('Academic Freedom Act' and a 'Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act.') Texas, Kansas, Louisiana and others can not say the same. The Religious Viewpoints Antidiscriination Act, for example, is now LAW in Texas.
This success so far has been due to the very strong opposition of many individuals, as well as state and national organizations that have weighed in. Some of the history of these battles are linked on the Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education (OESE, http://www.oklascience.org/ ).
Beware, if your state has not received such bills in the legislature or creationist asttempts in local school boards, they may well come. Be ready to help defeat them.
Posted by: vhutchison | March 18, 2009 10:58 PM
Abby and Josh: I just might have to steal your comments and quote them on my Facebook page.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | March 19, 2009 12:36 AM
Abby - does that make Texas America's Afghanistan? ;) -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | March 19, 2009 2:36 AM
Texas maybe Afghanistan. Does this look like a bill from a sane legislator?http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/03/16/0316creationinstitute.html
Posted by: taz911 | March 19, 2009 6:48 AM
With secularism at the very heart of the foundation and constitution of the United States of America, it appears that recently religion is creeping ever nearer into the running of certain institutions not withstanding the government itself.
You also have a worrying trend of legal cases where religion is overturning or challenging existing legislature in a country that was supposedly built on the notion of keeping church and state completely separate.
Very worrying indeed and moreso when you throw in 'other' religions such as Islam.
Posted by: Ken Evans | March 19, 2009 9:10 AM
Vic, as a current resident of Kansas (Let me very clear...I'm not from hee!! =P ) and the VP of KCFS, I can assure you we are aware of the actions of our sister group in OK.
It's still fun to poke at the okies though. But that's ok, I still refer to Kansas as Dumbfuckistan.
You know why it's so windy in OK? Cuz Kansas sucks.....
Cheers.
Posted by: FastLane | March 19, 2009 9:10 AM
.....and Texas blows.
Posted by: carlsonjok | March 19, 2009 9:48 AM
Fastlane: The wind is doubly strong in OK. Not only does Kansas suck, Texas also blows. :)
All in good fun. Seriously, we all know how important groups like KCFS have been in this battle across the country. It is good to see that other states are now organizing similar groups.
Posted by: vhutchison | March 19, 2009 9:49 AM
Go right ahead DaveL and Sadie. DJ, you should ask Josh. He's the expert on Mid-East to Mid-West transpositions.
Hmm, I never noticed they’re both "mid" regions. I wonder if that’s significant, like a geographic middle child syndrome. They fight to receive attention from other regions because they feel many times they are being ignored or written off as being the same as another region. They attempt to create an individual identity by acting out. Feeling marginalized in their continental unit they embrace religion is a way of both differentiating themselves and attaining a feeling of value.
Nah, probably just a coincidence. Then again... [wanders off, lost in thought]
Posted by: Abby Normal | March 19, 2009 10:06 AM
As a proud Oklahoman, who voted for Obama, let me say that these few people do not represent the state. Nearly everyone else isn't giving it a second thought...and all I've heard about the event are the people who were sad they couldn't get there. My step-daughter is a student at Oklahoma and bought Dawkins' book. So, please do not lump everyone in Oklahoma with these few legislators.
Posted by: dc | March 19, 2009 10:54 AM
dc: Just a point. Don't these representatives in the legislature by definition represent Oklahoma?
Posted by: Cheeto | March 19, 2009 12:04 PM
dc: By one definition those representatives represent those who voted for them in their districts. We also have some sane legislators, mostly Democrats, who represent their districts that oppose the insane (mostly Republican) bills. Unfortunately, the sane ones are now the minority.
Posted by: vhutchison | March 19, 2009 12:39 PM
Therein lies the inherent shortcoming of the kind of democracy as currently practiced here in the USA.
Did the Federal legislator represent YOU when they voted for attacking Iraq?
Can we really say that elected officals represent those who did NOT vote for them?
Did these OK legislators even check if anyone else in the State felt this was a good idea before they started their "investigation"?
Posted by: ChimeInAnyTime | March 19, 2009 12:44 PM
So a biologist comes to a university zoology department to talk about evolution, and some legislators get upset. I would like to know what these legislators think a life sciences department is supposed to talk about.
Posted by: Blue Nine | March 19, 2009 12:46 PM
Did somebody mention BRAINS!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fr%C3%BChjahrslorchel.JPG
Posted by: ZombieAttack | March 19, 2009 12:48 PM
On March 18, 2009 10:58 PM, vhutchison posted:
This success so far has been due to the very strong opposition of many individuals, as well as state and national organizations that have weighed in. Some of the history of these battles are linked on the Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education (OESE, http://www.oklascience.org/ ).
Can someone from another state join the Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education? If religious people from outside California can contribute to Proposition H8, why can't pro-science and secular people help each other across state lines?
Posted by: |
Posted by: Blue Nine | March 19, 2009 12:52 PM
ZombieAttack - your post is just 'im-morel' - :) DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | March 19, 2009 12:58 PM
What's especially galling about the resolution proposed by Todd Thomsen (R-Hell on Earth, apparently) is this li'l ol' passage:
WHEREAS, not only has the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma been engaged in one-sided indoctrination of an unproven and unpopular theory(...)
Go ahead and argue the false "unproven" part of that, if you want; the fact that Thomsen is apparently crapping his pants over the unpopularity of the ToE is either grounds for satire or having him locked up for 90 days for psychiatric evaluation.
Posted by: Chris Krolczyk | March 20, 2009 5:15 PM
"an unproven and unpopular theory"
It's also worth pointing out that it's actually very popular, even among laypeople, in most industrialized, highly educated countries outside the U.S. Not to mention that 50% or so of the U.S. population accepts it, which makes it arguably fairly popular here, depending on how you define that vague adjective. So even Thomsen's attempt to make an argumentum ad populum fails.
Posted by: MPW | March 21, 2009 8:30 PM