Paul Mirecki has some odd ideas about freedom of speech. In this article about his “forced resignation” from his post as Chairman of Religious Studies, his statement to the press is quoted:

“The University penalized me and denied me my Constitutionally protected right to speak and express my mind.”

Hmmm… Really? It seems to me that he’s expressing his mind right now, in front of a national audience. What the University denied him was the opportunity to be paid out of taxpayer money for teaching things that the University didn’t want him to.

Let’s face it: journalists, teachers, TV and Film producers and everybody else who gets paid to provide a message to an audience do so because of PRIVILEGE, not because of RIGHT. If their employers decide they don’t like the message, their employers can AND SHOULD discipline them, or even fire them. These people can still speak their minds, but they don’t have a constitutionally-protected right to get PAID for that.

And whether or not Intelligent Design is a thinly-veiled crock of fundamentalist intellectual dishonesty, it looks pretty bad for the Chair of Religious Studies at your university to be denigrating religious people. Of COURSE you remove him. Send him off to “Social Sciences” and let him flame the “fundies” from there. But if donations to the school drop off, you might have to let him go altogether.

He’ll land on his feet. There are plenty of educational institutions that will cater to his style of teaching.

–Howard

(note: It’s possible that there is legislation with court precedent in Kansas or at the Federal level that protects teachers and their precious tenure from the fallout of their big mouths. But that’s not “constitutionally-protected” free speech.)

I saw Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe today, and loved it. I’m at the Keep right now, on wireless, so I’ll spare you a full review. That said, here are some high points:

1) C.S. Lewis’ original story was an allegory for the Atonement of Christ. The film preserves that perfectly. You don’t HAVE to be Christian to appreciate this, but it will be pretty hard to miss.

2) The child actors were awesome.

3) The effects were great. It didn’t seem like a cutting-edge effects flick, but the effects were solid enough to fully support the story. And Aslan and the beavers were the most believable talking animals I think I’ve ever seen.

I really appreciated the message of the film, especially at this time of year. Obviously, I recommend you see it in the theaters — Aslan’s roar just won’t sound right on any but the best home systems.

–Howard

The theme for this year’s Ward Christmas Party was “A Night In Bethlehem,” and they asked us to come in costumes, if possible. There was a wide variety of bathrobe shepherds and all kinds of bathtowel turbans, and the whole evening centered around the reading and play-acting of The Nativity. It was a wonderful evening. We ate, we talked with friends, we sang Christmas hymns (the ones about Jesus — not the ones about snow), and basically had a great time while not forgetting for a moment whose holy day we were preparing for.

I got to be a tax collector. Before people could file into the gymnasium (which was VERY extensively decorated to look like a marketplace in Judea — complete with hebrew text on the signs) they had to be taxed. The tax was canned food, to be donated to the Utah Food Bank. I collected the donations, and then handed out plastic coins to be exchanged for the meal and the activities. I had a large surplus of currency which I blatantly used, in true tax-collector form, to buy some extra meal goodies for my family. There was plenty of food left at the end of the evening, and everybody got seconds or thirds, so it’s not like my obvious embezzlement caused any shortages — it was just fun to get into the character, and to always have lots of little gold-plastic coins on my person when everybody else had run out.

And role-playing or no, I wept during the Nativity. It wasn’t especially well-acted, and the singing was congregational unison rather than anything with actual harmony to it, but that’s not what makes for a good Nativity play. For me, I just have to be reminded of the gift of the Atonement, and of the miracle of forgiveness. Even a thieving, embezzling tax-collector can repent and find salvation.

Last year I ranted angrily about how the Ward had put on a “Polar Express” party for the kids, with no mention of Christ at all. I voiced my complaints quietly to the Bishop a year ago, and maybe that’s why this year’s theme was so much more in line with the true meaning of Christmas. But at the party this year I was too uplifted to bother feeling vindicated. There’s no room for an “in your face” attitude when you’re surrounded by reminders of God’s forgiveness.

As an added bonus, we came home with half a box of oranges and a dozen apples. We’re not hurting for food (I just bought 4lbs of bananas this afternoon), but the kids will really appreciate some more fresh fruit. Oh, and I let my kids raid the tax-collector’s table. We’ve got fifty or sixty of these plastic gold coins now… “tackses,” Gleek calls them, overarticulating the “X.” Ah, the currency games they’ll be playing tomorrow.

–Howard

So, I’m doing the weekly ego-search over on Technorati, and I come across this blog in which the blogger says, in essence, “I read Howard’s LJ, but it’s right on the edge of me NOT reading it because I’m losing interest.”

And I thought about that. “Oh,” says me. “Maybe that’s because *I’M* losing interest.” You know, it’s hard to work up any sort of rant when you agree with the author you’re about to rant at. *sigh*.

It’s probably more of a “dry spell.” Oh, and I’ve been posting more regularly under the comic, too. And hey, Narnia opens tomorrow!

–Howard