Denyse "Buy My Book" O'Leary explain How the Darwinists help the ID guys, citing the example of Paul Mirecki (as described by Johnny Wells):
Anti-Christian zealots are often in the forefront of attacks on intelligent design. In 2005, the chairman of the University of Kansas Religious Studies Department, atheist Paul Mirecki, proposed to teach a course titled “Intelligent Design Creationism and Other Mythologies.” Mirecki boasted on a web site that “fundies” would see the course as a “slap in their big fat face.” He also endorsed a description of Pope John Paul II as “a corpse in a funny hat wearing a dress.”
Denyse moans "gee, I wish Mirecki’s course had run. Just think of the great quotes I could have got for my blogs. Rats. Now I have to work."
Why didn't it run? Because a couple of Christian zealots stopped Mirecki on a rural road and beat the crap out of him. Or, as they used to say "stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead." If that's how ID guys help anyone at all, I'll keep myself far away.
Update: Mirecki didn't pull the course because of the beating, the beating came second. The spirit that led two people to stalk him and beat him also drove the people who attacked his reputation in order to block the course. He pulled the course because comments he made in on a semiprivate mailing list got blown out of proportion.
Your update is still mis-phrased: the course cancellation preceded the beating.
Mirecki was hospitalized several days *after* the class was canceled. So it's not accurate to suggest that an attack caused the cancelation.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/05/mirecki_hospitalized_after_bea…
Specifically, Wikipedia says that the course was withdrawn on December 1, and that Mirecki reported that he'd been beaten on December 5.
A retraction seems appropriate ...
Fair points. The course (and attendant comments) caused the beating, but the beating didn't kill the course. I'll make an update.
Do you have evidence that the peoeple who beat Mirecki were "Christian zealots"?
Contemporary reports indicate that "the men who beat him were making references to the controversy that has propelled him into the headlines in recent weeks." Which is to say, his comments on Christian fundamentalism and the course on ID creationism. The evidence of zealotry is the beating itself, and I have a hard time seeing how someone other than a Christian zealot would have gotten so worked up about his comments as to stake out his house, follow him and beat him.
So... short answer is no, there is no evidence. Just hearsay and conjecture, the hallmarks of good science.
I don't recall claiming I had scientific evidence of who his attackers were. And I presented the evidence on which I based my conclusion. If you disagree, I'm interested in your view of the issue. Who else had motive?
There were some people who thought it was staged, but I'm not sure why. The police never arrested anyone. If they thought it was staged, I expect they would have charged Mirecki. I think there was insufficient evidence to identify his attackers.
Oh, ok, so the attack happened several days late. But it's the thought that counts!