Dave Berry, Insurrectionist????????

You know that academia has taken a dive off the deep end when a quote from Dave Berry is deemed Politically Incorrect. According to a TownHall.com article by Fred Thompson (Banning Dave Berry) the head of Marquette University's philosophy department had the following quote removed from the office door of Ph.D. student Stuart Ditsler: "As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government."

OK, the only reason someone would find Dave Berry's comments offensive is if he or she believes that the federal government should be "Big Brother" & is super thinned skinned about their views being made fun of. (OK, that covers about 90% of college professors & most of the Democratic Party.) Anyone with a bit of common sense & a knowledge of history knows that all he is doing is making a bit of fun of the longstanding (231+ yrs) tradition of not fully trusting the US government. Also, as a big fan of Dave Barry over the years, I would never consider him to be dangerous to either the political left or right. A bit of an anarchist at times, but not someone who is trying to start an insurrection.

The fact that it is Marquette (a Jesuit institution) explains some of it to me. It is OK to have a theology professor (Daniel Maguire) who has been corrected by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). They said that his teachings "cross the legitimate lines of theological reflection and simply enter into the area of false teaching." Those teachings say that abortion, contraception and homosexual marriage are OK according to Catholic Teaching. ( Has he read the Catechism lately?) Marquette has refused to do anything about him in the name of academic freedom. Also, at this year's commencement they gave Former Wisconsin Secretary of State Vel Phillips an honorary degree. (She supports homosexual marriage, is pro-choice, chaired pro-abortion U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore's 2004 campaign, including helping her secure substantial funding from EMILY’s List.) Never mind that Ex Corde Ecclesia & USCCB rules forbid such things.

So, I guess it is OK to let your faculty lead the souls in their care into the danger of eternal damnation of those souls, but it isn't OK to allow free speech that is "patently offensive" only to those who's liberal viewpoint it challenges. It says to me that we only want academic freedom when we want to challenge the very Catholic teachings that we were founded to uphold & proclaim. But, when what we believe, however heretical, is challenged then we support censorship & tactics that would do Stalin proud. What Marquette is doing is anything but "academic freedom", it is academic licence to drive on the Highway to Hell.

(More on how Marquette is falling short of being truly Catholic can be found here on the Cardinal Newman Society website.)