I'm wondering if this guy is faking a "hate crime".

A college professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives said he was beaten by two men along a rural road early Monday.

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said the men referred to the class when they beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.

It's not like it hasn't been done before, after all.

The Simon article is thought-provoking, but also lacks focus. Kerri Dunn warns that faked hate crimes will discredit real ones, and make people doubt that racism is real. Conversely, she also seems to be saying taht faking them will convince people that hate crimes--and therefore racism--is everywhere. So what is it?

These claims, and certainly the faked claims, are most common on university campuses, and I doubt that false reports are going to have much effect at discrediting real hate crimes unless they happen frequently. The reason is that college campuses have little corporate memory. The undergraduate population is completely replaced every four years, and so if a controversial "hate crime" is exposed as a fake, there will be nobody in the undergaduate population to remember it after four years. Therefore, one could conclude that there is a fair amount of logic to faking these crimes. It certainly has a good chance of achieving the desired effect.

Sad to say, but that was my first thought too. Seems a little too pat, couple of rednecks, probably on their way to blow up an abortion clinic, make a pit stop to punch out some obnoxious college professor. Looks like something you might see on Lifetime.

Probably his wife beat him about the head after making a total balls up, in public no less. Marecki would obviously say a couple of Fundies jumped him, rather than say his wife beat him for being such a dumb sh!t.

Christians are such wimps. A real fundy would have slit the guy's throat and left a note to make sure everybody got the message.

"A real fundy would have slit the guy's throat and left a note to make sure everybody got the message."

It's too bad that nobody is into televised beheadings these days...

I think this speculation is as ridiculous as imagining that, say, Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking would have tried a stunt like this.

Paul Mirecki is not a fringe kook like Ward Churchill. He is an editor of "The Gospel of the Savior" and is highly regarded in his field.

If I sound disgusted, it's because I am.

Did Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking talk about the "fundies" and "sticking it in their fat face"?

A giant in his field...Paul Mirecki, a self-confessed atheist, is not just in the dept of Religious Studies, but the head of it.

Nothing against atheists, but this is like making John Kerry the head of the RNC. Or Hugh Hefner the national spokesman for Chastity, or making the Pope a paid lobbyist for the porn industry.