Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Academic who descrated Communion host to speak in Dublin

An American academic who desecrated a consecrated Host in 2008 by driving a rusty nail through it and photographing the result, is set to address a gathering of European atheists in Ireland in the summer.

P Z Myers, biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, who also desecrated the Muslim holy book the Koran by ripping out pages from it and piercing them with the same rusty nail, will address the European Atheist Conference, which is being hosted by Atheist Ireland in Dublin in June.

Others speaking at the conference include Senator Ivana Bacik and Professor Richard Dawkins.

Myers, in July 2008, desecrated the Host after posting on his blog that the Eucharist was “just a ----- cracker.”

On July 8 of that year, he asked readers if they could send him some consecrated communion wafers adding, “If any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare…  [I will] treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web."

After a protest from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Myers backtracked, telling the Star Tribune that the post was meant as "satire and protest" more than an actual threat.

However, on a radio talk show on Catholic Radio International, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and that he intended to "subject them to heinous cracker abuse."

On July 24, 2008, Myers, in his post, The Great Desecration, wrote that he had pierced through the Host with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the Koran and The God Delusion, and had simply thrown them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel.

He provided a photograph of these items in the garbage, and wrote that nothing must be held sacred.

Myers wrote on his ‘blog, "Yes, the sad little cracker has met its undignified end, so stop pestering me.  The cracker, the Koran, and another surprise entry have been violated and are gone."

The president of the Catholic League, William Donohue, said that the University of Minnesota’s Code of Conduct applied to Myers’ blog since the university linked to it directly.  

The University responded by saying that the link was removed but that Myers would not be subject to any disciplinary action.

The conference bills itself as “a weekend celebrating the positive effects of global atheism."  

It says it will include debate, audience discussions and “godless entertainment.”