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Censored Religious Debate Video Released After Public Outrage

Posted by samzenpus on from the on-second-thought dept.

First time accepted submitter tkel writes "On October 12, 2011 Theologian John Haught publicly debated prominent evolutionary scientist and atheist Jerry Coyne at the University of Kentucky. Although both agreed to a videotaping of the event, Haught later prohibited its release because he felt he had been treated unfairly. Coyne released blog posts addressing the matter as an offense to free speech. Reviewing their new status in the blogosphere, Haught and his associates at the University of Kentucky have decided to release the video."

3 of 717 comments (clear)

  1. Haught isn't in favor of creationism by LwPhD · · Score: 5, Informative

    While I'm in favor of piling onto Haught, he isn't a creationist.

    1. Re:Haught isn't in favor of creationism by JackDW · · Score: 5, Informative

      Do we actually know Haught's side of the story? When this topic was last discussed, we only heard what Coyne and his supporters were saying about the refusal to release the video.

      An open letter has been posted in which Haught says "I never gave permission before or after the panel to post the video". If this is true, then the whole matter needs to be seen in an entirely different light. In particular, I'm not sure exactly what Haught needs to seek forgiveness for? Unless thought crimes such as Christianity are themselves a sort of sin?

      --
      You're an immobile computer, remember?
  2. This reflects badly on Slashdot and its editors by dell623 · · Score: 5, Informative

    My initial views about this were similar to the popular sentiment on slashdot.

    However, it is a shame that the person at the receiving end of the criticism wasn't given a chance to present his version of things, and now that he has, it has still not received the same attention that the original controversy did here on slashdot.

    Here is John Haught's own version of the events: http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/GainesCenter/Letter%20To%20Jerry%20Coyne.pdf

    I am sure I will disagree with his views if and when I do read about them. And I have no idea how accurate his version of the events is, but he damned well has the right to be heard.