Dear Scott, It would be a mistake to interpret the House's April 7 letter as an attack on the notion of academic freedom. What they are criticizing is the attempt to misuse the term in a Baha'i religious context. Academic freedom is the freedom of teachers, students, and academic institutions to pursue knowledge wherever it may lead, without undue or unreasonable interference on the part of the institutions which employ them. It has nothing to do with the freedom to believe whatever you want in a religious community. Religious communities, after all, are usually defined by their beliefs. Those who don't hold those beliefs don't really belong in the community.
When John Locke wrote his famous treatise on Religious Tolerance he was not only defending the write of citizens within a state to follow whatever religion they wish, but he was at the same time defending the right of churches to define their own membership. In other words, for Locke religious tolerance and the right of churches to excommunicate people went hand in hand. warmest, Susan The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu