Wow! Teaching Catholicism in Catholicism class allowed

University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

A professor who was dismissed for teaching Catholic doctrine in a class on Catholicism at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana will be allowed to teach there again, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, which had warned the school it was treading on constitutionally unsound ground.

ADF attorneys told the university earlier this month its decision to dismiss professor Kenneth Howell violated the First Amendment.

He had been dismissed for explaining the Roman Catholic Church's position on human sexual behavior to members of the class, which focused on Catholicism.

"A university cannot censor professors' speech – including classroom speech related to the topic of the class – merely because certain ideas 'offend' an anonymous student. We greatly appreciate the university's move to put Professor Howell back in the classroom, but we will be watching carefully to make sure that his academic freedom is protected throughout the university's ongoing process," said ADF Senior Counsel David French.

While a letter from the University of Illinois Office of University Counsel admits no wrongdoing on the part of the university, the ADF said, it states Howell will be offered the opportunity to teach Religion 127, Introduction to Catholicism, on a visiting instructional appointment for the fall semester.

Meanwhile, the university will continue to investigate the case, officials said.

Howell had been teaching at the university since 2001 but was relieved of his teaching duties following an anonymous complaint sent via e-mail to university officials this spring. Reports said the e-mail came from a friend of an anonymous student who claimed being offended by an e-mail from Howell.

Howell's e-mail continued a discussion that had begun in class about Catholic beliefs regarding sexual behavior.

It had addressed a May 3 lecture in which he explained how the Roman Catholic Church distinguishes between same-sex attraction and homosexual conduct. He accurately stated the church's teaching that homosexual conduct is morally wrong, framing the issue in the context of natural moral law.

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