A longtime professor has lost his job at a Christian university for posting a video of a song he wrote that highlights the Christian belief of original sin.
That is that all people are born in sin because of the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Campus Reform reported Jim Spiegel was removed by Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, for his song posted on YouTube called “Little Hitler.”
Spiegel told Campus Reform he had a meeting with Taylor Provost Mike Hammond and Dean of the School of Arts, Biblical Studies and Humanities Tom Jones, and othersl in which a letter was read aloud dismissing him.
The video:
In an online explanation accompanying the video Spiegel said: “Many years ago, while hiking in Colorado Springs, I came across a group of campers where a folk singer was singing song after song which exalted human nature in the most grandiose terms. I was struck by how the singer and his songs did not recognize that humans have a fundamental moral problem, what theologians call a ‘sin nature.’ It was in response to this that I wrote ‘Little Hitler’—as a theological corrective to such unabashed (and dangerous) humanism. In this video I perform the song with the same corny exuberance that that folk singer displayed.”
The lyrics include “there’s a little Hitler inside of you, there’s a little Hitler inside of me” and “there’s a brutal killer inside of everyone, the hatred grows naturally.”
Spiegel told Campus Reform he had performed the song several times, including on campus, and there was no problem.
The campus newspaper Echo News reported Spiegel, a tenured professor, had been at the university for 27 years teaching religion and philosophy.
An email from the university said it sought to “seek restoration of damaged relationships” but that “was not possible.”
The issue arose when Spiegel uploaded a link to the song on his personal Facebook page and someone complained about it.
Spiegel explained, “As for the termination meeting, the provost read me the termination letter, ordered me to turn in my keys and computer, and notified me that I no longer had health insurance coverage and that my pay would end with that pay period.”
The university has not publicly specified grounds for his dismissal.
Campus Reform reported Spiegel said “the video itself is theologically orthodox and in no way supportive of violence or anti-Semitism.”
Last year, Spiegel and other faculty members started a petition to prevent Starbucks from opening on campus, based on its corporate advocacy for abortion and same-sex marriage.
He also supported a decision to invite Vice President Mike Pence to speak on campus.
