Cross-posted from A Conservative Christian Considers …

Mike Dunford, writing in The Questionable Authority provides some pretty level-headed analysis of the most recent controversy where PZ Meyers, a very public supporter of evolution exceeded the bounds of decency in response to a recent news story regarding a college student’s confiscation of consecrated Eucharist from a Catholic church:

Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There’s no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I’m sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I’ll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won’t be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web.

Just as educators, scientists and others can point to the outlandish statements and positions of Creationist and Intelligent Design proponents, Meyers’ statements provide a wealth of cannon fodder to rachet up the tension rather than clarify the issues. But that’s the problem with science and those defending it: some of its loudest proponents on the web are also the most irrational when it comes to accepting that others may hold a different view.

While I don’t hold the consecrated Host to mean what it does to Catholics, I try to respect those who hold different views. Like public use of the N-word, desecrating the Host is not a harmless act, mainly because of the impact it has on people who “don’t have a dog in this fight”. Once Meyers publishes his pictures, on his blog associated with support of science education and evolution, many, many Catholics will have a “dog in the fight.”

Dunford points out that Meyers is reacting to the college student’s assertion that he has received death threats because he took the consecrated Host out of the church. I don’t know if that’s true, but Meyers and Dunford take the kid’s word for it. A more proportional response would be to say that those that threatened violence should be condemned. Causing emotional distress to millions of Catholics … even if you disagree with them … is not a valid response to the alleged individual actions of a few people.