…and this is a 
Fight back against Bill Donohue!
Category: Kooks • Personal
Posted on: July 10, 2008 4:18 PM, by PZ Myers
So far today, I have received 39 pieces of personal hate mail of varying degrees of literacy, all because I was rude to a cracker. Four of them have included death threats, a personal one day record. Thirty-four of them have demanded that I be fired. Twenty-five of them have told me to desecrate a copy of the Koran, instead, or in some similar way offend Muslims, because — in a multiplicity of ironic cluelessness — apparently only some religious icons must be protected, and I would only offend Catholics because they are all so nice that none of them would wish me harm. I even have one email that says I should be fired, that the author would like to kill me, and that I only criticize because Catholics are so gentle and kind.
Oh, and of course, the university president's office has also received lots of mail demanding my immediate ouster (keep in mind, though…Catholics are no threat to anyone at all.) I don't know how much, but since Donohue published the president's email address and not mine, I imagine it's much greater than what I've seen. Those lovely Dark Age fanatics at the Catholic League have started a write-in campaign to start up an inquisition.
So no poll-crashing today. Instead, I would appreciate it if you would write a short note to President Robert Bruininks in support (he's going to hate me for this). I have to ask for a few constraints, though: only do so if you are willing to sign a real name to it — most of the complaint mail I'm getting uses fake names, making it much less persuasive — and that, unlike the religious screeds I'm seeing, you take the time to proofread and send him something that at least looks like a high school graduate wrote it, which will put you way above the level of the hate mail. Be polite and rational, too!
If you really want to impress, send him regular mail at this address:
President Robert H. Bruininks
202 Morrill Hall
100 Church Street S.E.
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Bill Donohue has a loud, braying voice, and he's already trying to stir up a witch hunt. We need a counter-campaign from the secular community.
Whoa, this one is getting heavy traffic and we need to close it down and reroute. Continue the discussion here, if you must.
Education & Careers
Politics
Comments
No more Wheat Thins for Bill.
Posted by: Danley | July 10, 2008 4:21 PM
"I even have one email that says I should be fired, that the author would like to kill me, and that I only criticize because Catholics are so gentle and kind."
...I loled. A lot. These folks are so much deep in their own asshole they can't see what the hell they are typing.
Posted by: Michelle | July 10, 2008 4:24 PM
Hey PZ,
I'll send along a letter to your President asap. Keep up the good (critical, rational, civil) fight!
--james
Posted by: James Sage | July 10, 2008 4:26 PM
Pope Benedict XVI restored the practice of indulgences to the Holy Roman Catholic Church. You may be able to buy your way out of this mess.
Posted by: Reginald Selkirk | July 10, 2008 4:27 PM
Unfortunately, my real name is Spanky P. MacFucklestein, so my message might come off as a joke...
Nah, I'll do it up right. Hang in there, PZ. Fuck these fucking fucks. I'm going to eat a whole box of Cheez-Its tonight.
Geoff
Posted by: Geoff | July 10, 2008 4:27 PM
I'd be happy to send a fan letter to your pres. But for my peace of mind, please tell me you don't really need it... you've got tenure right? And it means something?
Posted by: Becca | July 10, 2008 4:28 PM
Unfortunately, my real name is Spanky P. MacFucklestein, so my message might come off as a joke...
Nah, I'll do it up right. Hang in there, PZ. Fuck these fucking fucks. I'm going to eat a whole box of Cheez-Its tonight.
Geoff
Posted by: Geoff | July 10, 2008 4:29 PM
Tardfires are wafting over the Internet. I wonder in Ben Stein likes Honey Grahams? Stein and Donohue could have a smores eating contest with the holy ghost.
Posted by: Epicurus | July 10, 2008 4:29 PM
Don't let it go to your head, PZ.
Must be the most fun you've had since being expelled from Expelled, though.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
P.S. You can do whatever you wish, of course, but it's still in bad taste (and offensive to a lot of grannies) to desecrate the host.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | July 10, 2008 4:30 PM
Dude, you fully have my support. Fight the Power! (Not that Catholics are any real threat, as you said!)
Posted by: Greg | July 10, 2008 4:30 PM
...I loled. A lot. These folks are so much deep in their own asshole they can't see what the hell they are typing.
Really? And PZ can't see the harm he does? Why doesn't he write what he does about gays? or blacks? or jews? No, it is always the stupid, hate mongering, murdering Christians.
This is not up to the people complaining nor is it up to those who support PZ. It is up to his employers.
I for one hopes he doesn't get fired and is allowed to show his opinion on here as much as he wants. He hurts a lot of peoples feelings when he pulls out his little hate bits on Christians. But he doesn't hurt my feelings and it gives me insight on how you athiest clowns think.
Good luck PZ... and I am sincere about it.
Posted by: Starbuck | July 10, 2008 4:31 PM
The link to your university president is dead (for me, that is.) Is it working for others?
Posted by: Logicel | July 10, 2008 4:33 PM
I'll get a letter out, too.
I suggest also sending one to Webster Cook's school -- wasn't the last word that they were going to be acting as the Catholic Church's enforcers? (And, no, I won't be inflammatory, I promise.)
Posted by: Chiroptera | July 10, 2008 4:35 PM
For what it's worth, you've instilled in me an appreciation for - and modest understanding of - biology that ... 23 years of education couldn't manage.
So thank you.
Posted by: Sili | July 10, 2008 4:35 PM
As soon as I get home in the AM I will email the pres.
Posted by: firemancarl | July 10, 2008 4:35 PM
Hmm why does P.Z. pick on the Christians? Maybe because in his country they're the biggest problem, the most vocal and the most influential? And why the fuck would he attack gays or blacks, just because a man dislikes all this superstitious bullshit doesn't make him a racist or a homophobe, two things I can assure you he is not.
Posted by: Jon | July 10, 2008 4:36 PM
I am not concerned about my job -- tenure! -- but when I get calls from the administration, I'd rather it were to tell me that a whole lot of people like what I do rather than that strangers who never read the blog before and don't know me want my head on a platter.
Posted by: PZ Myers | July 10, 2008 4:36 PM
Damn, all of this just for a stupid cracker? This is crazy, even speaking as a former Christian who was somewhat Catholic and Protestant.
Posted by: IBY | July 10, 2008 4:37 PM
Starbuck "PZ can't see the harm he does"
We have stood by too long suffering under the harm that religions have done interfering with the state of the planet. Believing that their god will fix everything including overpopulation.
No, we will no longer be passive and put up with the BS. It has to stop, it has screwed up the planet and our lives.
No more pandering to stupidity. No more "you have to be considerate".......
Posted by: Chris P | July 10, 2008 4:37 PM
PZ,
I'll be sending my letter of support tomorrow.
Everyone else,
I highly recommend that you desecrate a holy cracker in public. It's a statement that I made a little over a year ago when I took The Blasphemy Challenge (I wanted to do a Catholic version of it). I wonder if I send the video to Bill Donohue if he'll try to get my YouTube account shut down. ;-P
~Javier
Posted by: The Science Pundit | July 10, 2008 4:38 PM
Email sent.
Posted by: Luke O'Dell | July 10, 2008 4:38 PM
The brain-dead, immoral Catholics think that having sinful thoughts is the same as doing the sin so I suggest that we all think about desecrating transubstantiated crackers. Just imagine, you dipshit Catholics, thousands all over the world having sinful thoughts aimed at your stupid crackers.
Posted by: Logicel | July 10, 2008 4:39 PM
This kerfuffle gives the jokey expletive, Christ on a Cracker, much more weight.
I'll always stand by a fellow z-fish researcher!
Posted by: caynazzo | July 10, 2008 4:39 PM
Really? And PZ can't see the harm he does? Why doesn't he write what he does about gays? or blacks? or jews? No, it is always the stupid, hate mongering, murdering Christians.
Ah yes, those stupid, hate mongering, murdering gays!
Posted by: Nick Gardner | July 10, 2008 4:39 PM
I'm frankly not shocked, but I'm certainly nauseated.
I'll show my moral support by decimating a box of Ritz crackers this evening.
Posted by: James Sanner | July 10, 2008 4:39 PM
"Really? And PZ can't see the harm he does? Why doesn't he write what he does about gays? or blacks? or jews? No, it is always the stupid, hate mongering, murdering Christians."
He's pretty pro-gays (speaks a lot against biggots), he is not racist, and I think he spoke a few times against them crazy jews.
Stop it. That argument is getting old and it is just not valid. He is not doing any harm at all. It's just that the crazy folks decided that he is making a terrible harm... A harm so terrible that Donohue can't think of something more harmful and hateful.
...And somewhere out there a woman's getting raped, I bet.
Posted by: Michelle | July 10, 2008 4:40 PM
He got one from me. (Yes, signed with my full real name.)
Posted by: s9 | July 10, 2008 4:40 PM
I'm in; will alert the Canadian contingent as well (as I am sure others will as well).
Posted by: steve murphy | July 10, 2008 4:41 PM
Done!
Posted by: Aaron | July 10, 2008 4:41 PM
What could be a worse thing to do to a eucharist wafer than eating one and turning it into poop? I don't get it.
Catholic boys should be dressed in eucharist-print underpants. Maybe that'd protect them.
Posted by: Jon H | July 10, 2008 4:42 PM
Just sent the following.....a bit stilted, but conveys what I want to get across......
Dear President Bruininks,
I write to add my voice of support for PZ in the face of the witch hunt launched by the Catholic League simply because an opinion was voiced which they do not agree with. Prof Myers is a bastion of common sense and rationality - something much lacking in the world these days. To take any form of censoring (or other) action against him at the urging of any extremist cult would be to capitulate to their irrational bigotry and distorted world view.
My name is John Paul Hands, and I live in Ireland. I'm perfectly willing to be publicly identified as supporting prof Myers.
Than you for your attention.
Paul Hands
Posted by: Paul Hands | July 10, 2008 4:43 PM
Uhhhh...He didn't do anything to any Christians.
He made fun of a glorified cookie, and of the people who get their panties in a wad over said cookie. The vast majority of my Christian friends don't really give a shit about what so-and-so says about a cracker. People like you, however, seem to think it's acceptable to compare making fun of a hysterical flap over a cracker to racism, hate crimes, etc. It's quite indicative of your mentality and of the way you view your fellow humans.
Posted by: Wes | July 10, 2008 4:43 PM
PZ, you have my full support on this. A letter to your Uni Prez is on the way. Reason will prevail.
Posted by: Danio | July 10, 2008 4:43 PM
Firstly,
Congratulations to PZ for his new daily death-threat record. Hip, Hip, Hoo-ray!!
Second, I don't know whether the president will appreciate it or not, but I will send a proper letter of support, all nicely written and spell-checked.
(He doesn't need to know I am a (severely lapsed) protestant from Northern Ireland, and tomorrow is our traditional "kick-the-Pope" celebration, were we burn effagies of his holiness on bonfires across the north!
Hip, Hip, Hurray for the medi-evil mindset!)
Consecrated wafers would sell like hot cakes at the bonfires here.
If feels good to kick the pope again, even though I'm now an atheist.
Posted by: DavidR | July 10, 2008 4:43 PM
Was Bill D. the cracker you were rude to? I imagine he has a pointy hood a few bedsheets for dress up (with black latex undies and fishnet stockings, natch) and a cat o' nine tails too.
I support you PZ. You are a personal hero of mine.
Posted by: j (not J) | July 10, 2008 4:43 PM
Email sent.
I am celiac, so would you all please munch a wafer for me ?
thanks you kindly
Posted by: Britomart | July 10, 2008 4:44 PM
Oh and Starbuck... I'd like you to read this over again. And think it over.
"I even have one email that says I should be fired, that the author would like to kill me, and that I only criticize because Catholics are so gentle and kind."
Posted by: Michelle | July 10, 2008 4:45 PM
100 Church Street S.E.
The irony! lol
Consider the letter in the mail, PZed!
Posted by: minusRusty | July 10, 2008 4:45 PM
Done.
Posted by: Sidheag | July 10, 2008 4:46 PM
I've just sent an e-mail to the Pres. I've got my fingers crossed that he's a sensible man.
Posted by: Sean Wills | July 10, 2008 4:48 PM
Starbuck:
You need to brush your teeth... the shit stains are showing.
Posted by: J (not J) | July 10, 2008 4:48 PM
Dah crakkher o' da tupid Bill iz bad cuz da Christ iz goood.
Posted by: TSC | July 10, 2008 4:49 PM
Well my real name is Geoff and I'm sending a letter through to the president. You have my support. Don't let these douche bags get you down.
Posted by: Geoff | July 10, 2008 4:50 PM
It's only a cracker, but it's also only a job. If you don't see any harm in attacking the former, then there should be no problem with attacking the latter (especially if you're cloistered in tenure).
Posted by: logos | July 10, 2008 4:51 PM
Message sent, saying that I don't agree with PZ's stated intent to "commit sacrilege", the whole thing should be allowed to die out of its own meaninglessness--and other things.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: Glen Davidson | July 10, 2008 4:51 PM
I just sent my letter off. This is utterly ridiculous, and we need to show there are more people who support PZ than there are morons who oppose the first amendment.
Posted by: sabrina | July 10, 2008 4:51 PM
I am a former altar boy who was my extended family's #1 choice for a priestly vocation (smart enough to learn Latin, useless enough around the ranch to be spared). This apple, however, rolled pretty far away from the tree. Most of my family remains devout and occasionally they rue the "fact" that anti-Catholicism is the only form of bigotry still tolerated by society at large. There's not a lot of substance to this claim. Most current criticisms of Catholics and Catholicism are aimed at the Church's intrusion into politics and its encroachment into health services (Catholic Healthcare provides excellent service as long as you don't want any form of birth control; dogma trumps client choice).
I'm embarrassed for the members of my former faith that they are so often represented in the mass media by that cretin Bill Donohue, who has made being a noisy jerk into a full-time job. (He does, admittedly, have the perfect skill set for such an occupation.) I could not resist twitting Donohue in a post I wrote back in 2005 on anti-Catholicism. It concludes with some of Donohue's fulminations about the supposed "war on Christmas" and I reproduce Donohue's perfect quote about his relationship with Jesus: "I've never met him." (Eaten him, yes. Met him, no!)
Posted by: Zeno | July 10, 2008 4:52 PM
PZ, I sent my letter by snail mail. On nice stationary too, with a watermark.
Starbuck, there's no point in detailing the foolishness of your comment, you wouldn't understand the reasoning anyway.
Posted by: Ryan | July 10, 2008 4:52 PM
Sending my letter off as soon as I get home and put a stamp on the envelope! I have followed this whole thing lurking and reading... and it's effin ridiculous. I would gladly stand beside you and desecrate a cracker with you any day of the week. Keep up the good fight PZ. Rationality wins.
Posted by: zer0 | July 10, 2008 4:53 PM
"Good luck PZ... and I am sincere about it.
Posted by: Starbuck | July 10, 2008 4:31 PM"
No, you aren't.
Posted by: Jody | July 10, 2008 4:54 PM
Javier: too bad you didn't come up with anything more "brutal" than eating the damn cookie (sorry if I spoiled it for someone).
I have a bunch of ideas, but no cookies (my cat must've eated them)...
Posted by: KK | July 10, 2008 4:54 PM
PZ if you're still reading these comments I would suggest to you that you send those death threats into the FBI along with the corresponding IP addresses they came from.
Posted by: Drew | July 10, 2008 4:54 PM
Who says the Dark Ages are history?
Consider my small candle missive to the UM prez declaiming your enlightened public service done and done.
All will be well and all will be well and all will be well. /snark
Posted by: Annie | July 10, 2008 4:54 PM
PZ, some sites actually have a "hate mail" page, where they publish the really ugly stuff that flies in over the transom. I suggest that you consider doing the same.
If you get a drool-bedewed snail mail full of abuse, scan it and post the image. If an email, cut and paste the sucker, complete with signature and all headers.
Exposing the vileness of these outbursts of authoritarian-aggression-by-proxy in the full light of day seems to me to be altogether fitting and proper.
Posted by: Ktesibios | July 10, 2008 4:55 PM
The religious people who are getting all sinfully wrathful about this have a pretty low opinion of their god.
Posted by: Numad | July 10, 2008 4:55 PM
I also like the idea of a hate mail section
Posted by: drew | July 10, 2008 4:56 PM
I'm sorry you recieved hate mail. I really hope nobody actually acts on any of the threats against you.
My friends and I debate theology all the time. We learned early on that if you actually want to convince somebody of something, you have to respect thier opinions first, and keep the argument on the level of the intellectual, not personal.
Please respect my beliefs.
Posted by: Cathy Gill | July 10, 2008 4:56 PM
E-mail sent! Hope it helps.
Posted by: Mickey Mortimer | July 10, 2008 4:57 PM
Hey PZ, did you get my interview request about this incident? Please contact me at simon.bloggasm@gmail.com -- I'd love to do an article.
Posted by: Simon Owens | July 10, 2008 4:57 PM
I love that liberals are all about tolerance, until it comes to something they don't like--like religion. How very, ummmm, tolerant of you all.... (Insert eye roll here)
Posted by: Jennifer | July 10, 2008 4:57 PM
Email sent.
Thanks, PZ, for being a beacon of reason in an increasingly Dark Age.
Posted by: MrGadget | July 10, 2008 4:58 PM
- "I was viewed as a wafer terrorist .."
- "If you have insulted a cracker, that's it - your career is over."
- "Just stand up and insult crackers. You'll find out how risky that is!"
Posted by: infidel.michael | July 10, 2008 4:58 PM
Just e-mailed the following over my real name and University affiliation:
Dr. Bruininks:
Despite what you are apparently hearing from the followers of Mr. Donohue of the Catholic League, your faculty member Dr. P.Z. Myers does not need to be fired or disciplined in any way. Although I do not personally agree with everything Dr. Myers posts on his well-known weblog Pharyngula, I have great respect for him as a biology educator. As one myself, I can recognize in Dr. Myers's clear and well-written posts concerning scientific topics that he must be a fine teacher and a scientist fully current in modern biology. That he chooses to spend some of his free time on the internet goring the sacred cows of various religious groups clearly has nothing to do with his effectiveness in teaching, research, and service to the university, profession, and community. Please ignore the calls for his head and be assured that he is, in my opinion, an asset to UMM.
Sincerely,
[Sven DiMilo]
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | July 10, 2008 4:59 PM
Respectful, full-name-and-phone-number-included letter of support sent.
Posted by: craig | July 10, 2008 5:01 PM
Jennifer, #60: I love that liberals are all about tolerance, until it comes to something they don't like--like religion. How very, ummmm, tolerant of you all.... (Insert eye roll here)
Yeah. How dare secularists express outrage at death threats directed at a kid who pulled a prank that harmed no one. We sure are an intolerant bunch!
Posted by: Chiroptera | July 10, 2008 5:01 PM
Here's my letter:
President Bruininks,
I'm writing to you in support of Prof. Myers, who you no doubt know has come under considerable attack for his statements about Catholic altar bread, photos, and UCF. Since his statements did not occur on a UMM hosted site, and since his views are no doubt well known to you, I assume that there is already an understanding in place that Prof. Myers can use his SEED blog to express personal opinions. I urge you to stand by that, even in the face of the incoherent anger of people like Bill Donahue and the Catholic League, whose major complaint seems to be that he is insufficiently deferential to their particular religion.
Thank you for your time,
Joe Blubaugh
Undergraduate Student, Purdue University
Posted by: JoeBlu | July 10, 2008 5:02 PM
@ 36
I briefly dated a celiac and did a good bit of research on what was and wasn't safe for consumption. She and I broke up before it really became an issue...regardless I'm sure we can come up with a proper wafer for you to munch!
Something peanut based perhaps, or soy? :D
I'll be dropping a real life, hand written letter of support in the mail tomorrow.
Personally I can't see a major university firing a prof. for something like this, talk about negative P.R.
Posted by: Hessenroots | July 10, 2008 5:02 PM
A nicely formatted, well-written, congenial letter of support and identical email will be in the works tonight and sent out tomorrow.
Posted by: DBC | July 10, 2008 5:04 PM
What the fuck is wrong with Bill's rotten, nasty-ass teeth? I'd hate to be a cracker in his house. Oh fuck, that would be goddamn terrible.
Posted by: TSC | July 10, 2008 5:04 PM
Nicely written note of support for you, PZ, to President Bruininks from me, will be sent in tomorrow's mail. Your blog keeps me sane. Carry on, sir!
Posted by: dieselrain | July 10, 2008 5:05 PM
I will do a snail mail letter for you PZ. This whole scenario is just so utterly ridiculous.
Posted by: Justin | July 10, 2008 5:05 PM
"Really? And PZ can't see the harm he does? Why doesn't he write what he does about gays? or blacks? or jews? No, it is always the stupid, hate mongering, murdering Christians."
Um, maybe because they weren't the ones that went bat shit nuts and started attacking some kid for taking a CRACKER? And just for the record, there is ZERO harm in taking your precious jesus cracker.
Posted by: Boosterz | July 10, 2008 5:05 PM
Hello PZ Myers, i would have gladly sent a mail to the president, but i'm not confident enough in my writing skills.
Furthermore, the whole thing is ridiculous to a point i'm not sure what to write ("Mr President, please don't fire PZ Myers, because the cracker is not really the Christ.")
I live in France, and most people here are catholics. While we have our own bunch of crazy extremists, i don't know or heard of anyone who do really believes that the cracker is the Christ's body. Even the priests here will tell you that's symbolic.
I hope you don't get into any trouble because of this crazy bunch of idiots.
Posted by: Kougaro | July 10, 2008 5:08 PM
Bring 'em on!
Posted by: George W Bush | July 10, 2008 5:09 PM
prof: i sent a brief email of support to your prez. now you can continue your work of destroying the gays and the blacks! muahahaha!
wait, that's not what you do at all.
Posted by: garth | July 10, 2008 5:09 PM
I apologize if this has been done already. Here is a link to a place that sells communion supplies. I might just buy a few dozen pounds of wafers and use them for kitty litter. I wonder if I can get a batch of wafers blessed somehow.
Posted by: Alex | July 10, 2008 5:10 PM
I sent this e-mail to President Robert Bruininks:
Posted by: RWHouchin | July 10, 2008 5:11 PM
zero #49: I would gladly stand beside you and desecrate a cracker with you any day of the week. Keep up the good fight PZ. Rationality wins.
I'm Spartacus!
(Or, in Monty Python mode: I'm Brian, and so's my wife!)
Letter on way from Blighty.
(Mind you, if you got fired for this, the universe would probably come to a grinding halt as rationalists go on strike.)
Posted by: Papilio | July 10, 2008 5:11 PM
Done and on its way to sunny Minnesota via snail mail. :-)
Posted by: Steve in MI | July 10, 2008 5:11 PM
Re: In Support of Dr. Paul Z. Myers
President Bruininks,
As you are well aware, Dr. Myers has managed to inspire some outrage regarding a post on his blog, Pharyngula, regarding the desecration of Roman Catholic communion wafers. The post in question was inspired by the highly overzealous and unreasonable reaction to an incident where a Roman Catholic communion wafer was taken from mass after it had been consecrated.
This letter is to inform you that I strongly support Dr. Myers' freedom of speech regarding religious issues, including religious issues and opinions that some, or even many, might find highly offensive. His blog entry was not done as an official part of the University of Minnesota, nor as part of his official duties as a Professor, nor is it hosted on any University computer servers, and therefore, there should be no need for any formal review or action against Dr. Myers from the University. I also don't think that there should be any suggestions made to Dr. Myers regarding altering the content of his Pharyngula posts, past or future. (Provided, of course, that such posts are within the legal bounds of free speech, rather than, say, illegal threats against persons or property.)
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[-me]
Posted by: minusRusty | July 10, 2008 5:13 PM
PZ --
I am a senior at The Ohio State University and I am planning on attending University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) for grad school. It was your blog that got me interested in the school in the first place, and I am so grateful because U of M is an absolutely INCREDIBLE school and I cannot wait to get started there. I have you to thank for that.
I'll draft a letter right now to send to the President of U of M (Morris). I'll specifically state that without you, I would not be moving to Minnesota nor attending U of M. As crazy as that sounds, it's honestly the truth. I had little knowledge of the school until reading your blog. Thank you for everything you do. As exaggerated as it sounds, it is true when I say "your blog changed my life"!
Posted by: Chris (in Columbus) | July 10, 2008 5:13 PM
Here's what I wrote:
Dear President Bruininks:
I assume you've already been deluged by emails on this subject, so I won't waste your time by repeating the details.
I would just like to say that Catholics are within their rights to treat a cracker with as much respect and reverence as they wish. But when they demand that anyone who doesn't respect their crackers as much as they do must be punished, then *they* are the ones who are out of line, not those who criticize them for it.
Thank you for your time,
-Jeff Dee
Austin, Texas
Posted by: Jeff Dee | July 10, 2008 5:13 PM
Whoops.
communion supplies
Posted by: Alex | July 10, 2008 5:13 PM
Sent something as soon as I noticed that there was an email address on the hate site's page. I expressed the hope that the University would take the high road by saying that your opinions are your business, and are neither supported nor opposed by the U. Good Luck!
Posted by: Paul | July 10, 2008 5:14 PM
Ok, this is craziness. I'm Catholic, and when I first read the story, I thought "Yeah, that guy was a bit rude for just taking the Eucharist like that", and that was it. No death threats. No calls for people to be fired. No demands to have the host back (for what reason?? There are stacks and stacks of them in any church!!). Just a bit of a headshake, and that's it. Why people are making such a huge deal about this, I have no idea. They've got nothing else on the go I suppose. It stories like this that don't make me feel great about my beliefs at all. I don't always agree with what your blog says when it comes to religion, but this time, I do.
Posted by: Josh | July 10, 2008 5:14 PM
This may not a good time to say this, but how many presidents of a large university want their mailbox and inbox spammed about one professor and his personal (I assume) blog? That said, I'll go think up some nice things to say...
Posted by: Anna | July 10, 2008 5:15 PM
Emailed sent, in support of PZ, with pleasure.
Have also fired off unflattering (but not rude) feedback to the Catholic League... can't stand those sabre-rattlers.
Posted by: MS | July 10, 2008 5:16 PM
I just posted the message below in the "anti catholic bias" comments section on the Catholic League website.
"You guys started the inquisition and murdered Giordano Bruno for believing there might be planets around other stars and you have the audacity to worry about anti catholic bias. I am more concerned about anti reality bias and the Catholic Church(TM) is the biggest offender."
LONG LIVE PZ!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Steven H | July 10, 2008 5:16 PM
My letter!
"Dear Mr. Bruininks,
I write to you with regards to the copious amounts of (probably illiterate) mail that you have recently been receiving, urging you to fire or otherwise discipline Prof. PZ Myers from Morris University, on account of his threatening to physically and psychologically abuse a cracker. I turst I do not need to remind you that Cracker Abuse is not a crime, and Mr Myers should therefore be allowed to abuse as many crackers as he wishes, without having to worry about losing his job. Indeed I believe that, under the circumstances, it would be highly appropriate for yourself and Mr Myers to unite in a joint display of public cracker desecration, in order to show these professional moaners that their cracker-loving protests are falling on deaf ears.
Yours faithfully,
John Yates, Scotland."
Hope it gets you off the hook, PZ! ;)
Posted by: John | July 10, 2008 5:17 PM
Email sent...
Dear President Bruninks,
I'm writing to show my support for one of your one, Paul Zachary Myers. A wonderfully articulate and thoughtful human being under attack by a horde of hypocritical, anti-intellectual troglodytes for merely pointing out the absurdity of a group of superstitious miscreants. Criticizing religion or anything for that matter is something that enables all of us to engage in critical thought and pursue discussions that can help us all advance as individuals and as a species. Criticizing things that are blatantly absurd and CRUEL (http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=912931E6387D06E86603288C86CA66A1?contentId=6932236&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1) should be rewarded, not punished.
For reference, I have no problem giving my name and standing up for the RIGHT cause here... and that is the truth that folks like PZ speak and seek...
Gregory D. Johnson
Syracuse University Graduate (BS in Computer Science - 1999)
Thanks and please don't ever let the hysteria overtake the truth,
Greg
Posted by: sterge | July 10, 2008 5:18 PM
I think I'll hand-deliver my letter! Morrill Hall is right next to the physics building here on the Twin Cities campus...
@Alex #83,
Sure you can buy them, but I doubt they've been consecrated so they're just crackers.
Posted by: asad | July 10, 2008 5:18 PM
Dr. Myers:
You really should see a shrink. Normal people do not go around pissing in the faces of total strangers and explaining that they do it because they are mad at somebody who is not there.
What the hell your antics have to do with the promotion of science is beyond me. But, of course, here in your cocoon of Bright sycophants, pointing that out will have no effect. Proceed with the juvenalia.
Posted by: Mark P. Shea | July 10, 2008 5:18 PM
"This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the
purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves." [Robert G. Ingersoll]
Posted by: Alex | July 10, 2008 5:19 PM
If you subscribe to the crazy e-mails from Human Events you will find, apart from the daily offers of magic drugs and