Violence as an acceptable way to defend Intelligent Design?

Picked up from Red State Rabble and Pharyngula is the news that the Chair of Religious Studies at KU, Paul Mirecki, has been attacked by a couple of Kansans who who thought Mirecki was simply too scary to attack alone.

Mirecki was in the news recently for wishing to teach the controversy of ID in a mythology class. He backed down following a storm of protests following a private email where he implied that fundamentalists were socially undesirable. However, this was not well received by those who felt the only true Christians are rabid fundamentalists. State Sen. Kay O’Connor, R-Olathe, said “I’m surprised that something more severe isn’t happening to this teacher who obviously has a hatred for Christians.” I don’t know if a punishment beating is sufficient or if O’Connor would like to see other things happen to Mirecki. O’Connor believes that academics should take public responsibility for private statements. Presumably she’ll be displaying her integrity by taking responsibility for her public statement.

In good news, K-State has picked up the ID as myth ball.