Kansas U professor assaulted

Two of my readers -- Casey Burns and Paul Jackson -- sent in this dismaying news story about a Kansas professor who was attacked for deriding Christian conservatives. University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki was accosted by two men, who "beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object."

The cause for the attack:

Mirecki planned to offer a spring course called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies" after the Kansas Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.

Last week, Mirecki asked the university to cancel the class after he created a furor by sending an e-mail to a student organization mocking Christian fundamentalists.

Mirecki had referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face." He has apologized for those comments. [Associated Press]