Yale Daily News

We worship Diversity & Academic Freedom... except anytime somebody says something we don't like.

It still defies comprehension how someone whose most dangerous weapon has been his pencil can receive the scorn and blame of the politically-correct elite for murders--acts of terrorism, to use more charged language--committed by those who could not control their emotions. If these murderous newspaper-readers had not appeared, I probably would have also found the cartoons offensive and in very poor taste, at the least. Now, I stand firmly on his side, opposed to those who think that we can be subdued with threats to our physical well-being.

William Sloane Coffin would never have allowed himself to be subdued by these maniacs.

Yale should not only be a place that welcomes all religions, but also a place that welcomes those critical of religion.

Don't like it? Go somewhere else.

Yale hosts several events or speakers a year that could be could be considered an affront to one religion or another. It strikes me as a wee bit hypocritical for the Chaplain to decry this particular event. I wonder if the Chaplain’s office will be so vocal in “make[ing] the campus a place that truly welcomes and embraces those of every religion,” come Sex Week, the excesses of which make more than a few religious folks queasy.

For those of us who are non-believers, Yale seems rather opressive sometimes with the emphasis on diversity and toleration which seems only to apply to the religiously minded.

Doesn't it seem logical that non-belief should be the default and the burden of proof should rest with the affirmative (i.e, belief)? When do we get a "Non-beliver in chief" equivalent to the Yale Chaplin?

In his Divine Comedy, Dante places Muhammad in hell among the schismatics, where his body is cloven in two in punishment for having founded a religion that competes with Christianity and thus sowing discord throughout the world. Should Yale stop allowing the study of Dante as well?

The assertion that in order to be welcoming of all religions, Yale must force its students and faculty to be entirely uncritical of them is highly problematic, in the same way that cultural relativism is highly problematic. While a healthy respect for diversity is necessary in a scholarly community, so too is an individual's freedom to criticize doctrines which he finds harmful. I for one find the ideology of those who use Islam as a basis for violence and terrorism well worth criticizing, but this does not lessen my respect for my Muslim peers in any way.

Mr. Westergaard's cartoon has had an enormous impact. The privilege to meet with people who have such an impact is an important part of a Yale education. Denying students the opportunity to learn for the sake of a skewed vision of tolerance is incredibly dangerous and un-American.

Moreover, former President and Yale alumnus George W. Bush has had a far greater hand in fomenting anti-Muslim prejudice in America than Mr. Westergaard has, and yet I doubt the Chaplain would have written any such letter had Master Smith invited him to visit.

I don't see why these cartoons are any more offensive than people saying "Jesus was just a man", "The Jews are not the chosen people", "There is no God", or "Mohammed was not a prophet".

What about "God is Not Great"? Surely, the Yale bookstore sells Christopher Hitchens's work.

Sharon Kugler,

NOT every religion is equally valid.

Why are you Catholic if you can't grasp that ?

It's honestly embarrassing that our Chaplain doesn't understand the importance of academic freedom and free speech to a University community. Embarrassing.

Judging from this facile and idiotic Letter, and the two facile and idiotic people who penned it - Man, is Yale going down.

I wouldn't send my kids to Yale, a place of former-prestige, which now tolerates Fascism and Nazism in the guise of a "religion." How pathetically sad. Please tell President Levin for me that my kids will not be attending MoonBat Central, Yale.

Kurt Westergaard - You are a great man. Too great for the likes of Dhimmified Yale, which has submitted itself to the Barbarians.

So rare for me to be shocked these days. I was *certain* that Ms. Kugler was going to be a UU or UCC or Episcopalian out of DIV or equiv. But...Catholic? I never guessed! I guess that guilt runs deep, or else the namby-pams have infiltrated the Catholic church (no doubt).

So, we welcome Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi with open arms - despite his, uh, "past" - and, indeed, we celebrate along with Hillel when Hashmi seeks "to expand his mind" by "dialoging" with Jewish/Muslim interfaith (not knocking this, really) - BUT, when a cartoonist (seriously - a freakin' CARTOONIST!) has an opp to explain himself, our religious "leadership" freaks...

Weird.

So much for tolerance.

On second thought: I rather wish the chaplain WERE UU: perhaps the UU all-encompassing tolerance (which generally makes me barf) would have encompassed even the horror (the horror!) of those freedoms guaranteed by our US Constitution. Well, maybe.

Hmmm... looks like about 10 to zip against Chaplain Kugler so far... Maybe she is not cut out for Yale...

@#13

Thanks for the inadvertent reminder. My crit should have extended to Omer Bajwa (PBUH): perhaps more dangerous than the soupy Leftism that we *expect* is the near absolute LACK of self-criticism among the Muslim community.

Even among conservatives: when an individual or group is clearly out of bounds or off the rails (think, e.g., Gov. Sanford) then that person or group is soundly rejected by the larger cohort. Not so in Islam, where there is a seeming inability, manifesting itself as an eerie silence, to criticize the abominable actions of related individuals or groups (think the resounding silence that came with the riots, mayhem, and death threats--and deaths--following the perfectly legal publishing of the so-called "offensive" cartoons in question).

First Woman + First Catholic = Xtra D'versity. No reason to examine her beliefs.

Did the YDN write the title "Cartoonist’s invitation contrary to Yale’s religious acceptance." If not: since when did "religious acceptance" (a.k.a. not hurting feelings and distinctly different from freedom of relgion) trump freedom of speech?

Whatever she believes...it sure ain't Catholic...