Today the Star Trib reports that Bishop Desmond Tutu won't be allowed to speak at the University of St. Thomas because his words about Israel are too "hurtful." This is the same place that welcomed Ann Coulter to campus a few years ago, only to have to repudiate her words after the visit, and who now says that she likes Rudy Giuliani because she believes he's crazy enough to nuke Iran. Welcome to modern Catholic values: Bishop Desmond Tutu, who helped stop apartheid in South Africa and who has compared the treatment of Palestinians in Israel to that treatment, is not welcome because of his views, but Ann Coulter, who says we should invade Muslim countries and convert them to Christianity is welcome. Let's just admit it: It's the Catholics who have become immoral.
BTW - when I first heard Coulter was to speak at St Thomas I contacted Doug Hennes, the university's spokesman to warn him about her views. He waved off my concerns by citing a time when St Thomas welcomed *gasp* a gay person to speak!
UPDATE: Looks like City Pages was the first with this story.
2 comments:
St. Thomas also welcomed Michelle "In defense of Internment" Malkin a few years ago.
St. Thomas also had John Yoo (Bush administration apologist for torture) come to speak at the law school. I believe it was November 2005 under the auspices of the Federalist Society. Robert Delahunty is a faculty member at the St. Thomas School of Law. Delahunty was also co-author with Yoo on an early memo arguing that Geneva Convention protections did not apply to those captured in this war.
This relatively new law school has this as a mission statement:
"The University of St. Thomas School of Law, as a Catholic law school, is dedicated to integrating faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice."
One might think that employing torture lawyers would be problematic for a "Catholic law school". Bringing in John Yoo to argue for unfettered presidential power (including torture) would seem counter to a "search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice". St. Thomas seems to be embracing an older tradition of the Catholic Church, that of the inquisition.
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