What Would Jesus Censor?


Cary Nelson has an interesting op-ed about his experience of being banned from teaching about religious poetry at a religious group's secular program. The program, sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Council, is supposed to protect free expression, but the Reverend in charge decided to protect the men in the class from hearing critical ideas. It's a common problem at religious institutions, particularly religious colleges, where the censors in charge like to use God as an excuse for censorship. Unfortunately, many groups (including FIRE and even the AAUP) tend not to criticize religious institutions for their violations of academic freedom.