Changes

=== Communion host ===

=== Communion host ===

On July 8, 2008, Myers posted an entry attacking the Christian practice of Communion.  After ridiculing Christians as "petty, hateful, and stupid," and asserting that "Nothing makes them stupider than religion," Myers requested that his readers steal consecrated Communion wafers for him, so that he could desecrate them on camera.  This rant predictably resulted in a strongly negative response from Catholics and those who support freedom of religious expression <ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459</ref>; Myers has since complained about the "hate mail" and "death threats" he has received, comparing the defense of Communion to a "witch hunt."  To date, the University of Minnesota has not taken official action against Myers for his inflammatory remarks, other than to remove the link to his blog from his faculty page.<ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1460</ref> Myers quickly ducked behind the "satire and protest" defense<ref>Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!" (Proverbs 26:18-19)</ref> and backed down on his threat to desecrate Communion wafers.<ref>http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html</ref>

On July 8, 2008, Myers posted an entry attacking the Christian practice of Communion.  After ridiculing Christians as "petty, hateful, and stupid," and asserting that "Nothing makes them stupider than religion," Myers requested that his readers steal consecrated Communion wafers for him, so that he could desecrate them on camera.  This rant predictably resulted in a strongly negative response from Catholics and those who support freedom of religious expression <ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459</ref>; Myers has since complained about the "hate mail" and "death threats" he has received, comparing the defense of Communion to a "witch hunt."  To date, the University of Minnesota has not taken official action against Myers for his inflammatory remarks, other than to remove the link to his blog from his faculty page.<ref>http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1460</ref> Myers quickly ducked behind the "satire and protest" defense<ref>Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!" (Proverbs 26:18-19)</ref> and backed down on his threat to desecrate Communion wafers.<ref>http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/24313139.html</ref> Meanwhile, he posted some of the threatening emails he had received and included the email addresses where they supposedly had come from. Predictably, his readers responded with their own threatening and harassing emails even though it was not clear whether or not the email addresses (one of which was allegedly from someone at 1-800-Flowers) had been spoofed. Myers attempted to save face, claiming that the unsurprising behavior by his fans was not the intent behind his posting of the email addresses (making one wonder exactly what the intent then actually was), and weakly called for his readers to stop "dunning these people with email, threatening them back, signing them up for spam, or otherwise being a jerk." These half-hearted, meaningless pleas fell on deaf ears, of course, while Myers continued to avoid doing the easy and right thing in simply removing the email addresses from his blog.<ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/stop_it_now_please.php</ref><ref>http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/mail_dump.php</ref>

==References ==

==References ==