Parody Equals Terrorism At Baylor University

James Randi linked to a story from a Baylor student named Cody Cobb that has to be read to be believed. Basically, in a freshman "Introduction To Neurosciences" class, the Professor started the class off by cleary stating that the bible had no place in a science class, and that the class would not be discussing the bible or religion at all. As Cody succintly paraphrased it:

[link] Holding up the Bible: "This is not a science book."
Holding up the Origin of Species: "This is."
Holding up the Bible again: "This is a book about relationships with God."
Holding up the Origin of Species again: "This isn’t."

A devoutly Christian student by the name of Christopher Stone became offended at this (?!?) and walked out of class in the middle of the lecture in protest. Later, Stone sent an email to most of the students in the class, explaining that he was a Christian and that the professor's ground rules for his science class was an "attack" on his Christian beliefs. He then implored other Christian students to join him in a boycott of the class.

After reading the original email from Stone, freethinker Cody Cobb wrote a line-by-line satirical parody of it and sent it out to everyone that the first email addressed, plus all the professors. In his satire, he suggested getting together before class and burning the professor at the stake for his unbiblical science class.

Someone complained (of course) and Cody was hauled out of class by two Baylor campus polioce officers and interrogated for being a terrorist.

Like I said - you have to read this. It's amazing and scary all at the same time. Cody's comments are preceded by a dash. The police officer's comments are not:

[link] We received two complaints from students in your neuroscience class about an email you sent to everyone.

-Yes?

You are aware that what you have done is a felony? You have committed a terrorist act.

-Have you read the original email?

No, we have not received any original email.

-My email is a parody. Christopher Stone wrote the original email and sent it to almost everybody in the class. I wrote a line-by-line parody.

Well we got messages from people who thought it was real. In this day and age you cannot do things like this. We have Columbines and 9/11’s all over the place, and we can’t risk this kind of thing.

-It’s a joke. I emailed the professor and told him that.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a joke. I myself figured it out, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is what’s written on the paper, and you said you were going to burn your professor.

-At the stake. It’s satire. I engaged in hyperbole to make a point. You need to read the original email.

Read the rest.