College of DuPage, located in the western suburbs of Chicago, is offering a course during Spring, 2001, whose purpose is to insult and ridicule atheists and smear atheism by spreading rumors and negative innuendoes about several well-known historical figures. In addition, the 2-year college is illegally using a .edu Top Level Domain ("TLD") for its web site, in violation of international treaties that reserve the use of .edu names for the exclusive use, without exception, of educational organizations within the United States granting four-year degrees.
National Atheists will demand, tomorrow, that the College of DuPage ("COD") cancel the course and apologize to area atheists for proposing that such a course be offered. In addition, RobSherman.com has challenged COD's usage of the .edu name for the college's web site.
Supporters
bring you Rob Sherman Advocacy.
Click here to join them.
College of Dupage is the 2-year community college (junior college) for residents of DuPage County. It is a public school. It is supported by the tax dollars of DuPage County residents, by tuition paid by students and by donations from community groups.
Dupage County, Illinois, is a wealthy county, with a median family income of $63,000 (1997), versus $41,000 throughout Illinois and $37,000 nationally. It is the next county west from Cook County, in northeastern Illinois. Chicago is located in Cook County. The population of DuPage County is about 900,000, according to US Census Bureau data, and the county is heavily Republican.
COD is offering a course called "Significant Atheists" for the Spring, 2001, semester. According to Liberal News and Commentary sources, page 93 of the COD Spring, 2001, Catalog describes the course, with Registration Code 35999, as follows:
"They feared brilliant, powerful, domineering fathers; they rejected faith, art, and beauty; they were depressed and obsessed with death, sex and fear. Beginning from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, this course will explore the similar backgrounds, experiences and spiritual struggles of the four European men recognized as modern atheism's most significant forerunners: Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. Also to be developed is their influence on Adolph Hitler, Neo-Darwinism, their connection to 20th century genocide, and their shaping of scientific atheists such as Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Albert Camus, and Jean Paul Sartre. $105, 3 credit hours."
The obvious purpose of this taxpayer-funded course is to make atheists and atheism look bad. Look at all the negative terms used to describe the course: fear, rejected, depressed, obsessed, struggles, Hitler. There are no positive terms used anywhere in the description to describe atheists or atheism.
According to one reliable report, still to be confirmed, the course will be taught by a Jew who believes that Jesus was the Messiah (Messianic Jew, Hebrew Christian, Jews for Jesus). Clearly, this is someone who is no friend to atheism.
Would the College of DuPage use its tax dollars to hire an atheist to teach a course called "Significant Christians," where the curriculum consists of: Grand Dragons of the Ku Klux Klan; Boy Scouts of America troop leaders who have molested Scouts who were under their supervision; Priests who have slept with choir boys; and Richard Nixon? Would the purpose of such a course be to make Christianity look good or look bad?
Is the college using the public's tax dollars to offer any courses that reflect positively on atheists or atheism? Of course, not.
The type of course that COD is offering is condemned by the Illinois Constitution. Article One of the Constitution is the Bill of Rights. Section 20 of Article One is entitled, "Individual Dignity." It states: "To promote individual dignity, communications that portray criminality, depravity or lack of virtue in, or that incite violence, hatred, abuse or hostility toward, a person or group of persons by reason of or by reference to religious, racial, ethnic, national or regional affiliation are condemned."
The COD course has been created for the purpose of communicating a portrayal of criminality, depravity or lack of virtue in a group of persons by reference to their "religious" affiliation, something that is specifically condemned by the Illinois Constitution. National Atheists will move swiftly, tomorrow, to force the COD administration cancel the course.
National Atheists is the organization that does something about discrimination against atheists, rather than just picketing or issuing news releases complaining about discrimination. Watch how fast National Atheists gets results on this one.
For another recent story about a National Atheists victory regarding the Boy Scouts, see the February 8, 2001, edition of Liberal News and Commentary.
Supporters
bring you Rob Sherman Advocacy.
Click here to join them.
When Liberal News and Commentary researched this story, it was discovered that the College of Dupage, which offers only 2-year degrees, uses a .edu Top Level Domain (TLD) for its web site. Rules for TLD (.com, .gov, .net) usage are set through international treaty by the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
According to the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA), the rules for the usage of .edu provide that usage of the .edu TLD is strictly limited. The .edu TLD is reserved for the exclusive use, without exception, of educational organizations within the United States granting four-year degrees.
All .edu web names are registered through Network Solutions. When you apply for a .edu name, you must certify that your organization is a 4-year degree-granting college or university.
When you finish reading this paragraph, click on the Network Solutions link, above. At the top of their Home Page is a yellow box entitled, "Search for a domain name." Type in a name ending in .edu , such as YourName.edu Just ignore the ".com" displayed to the right of the box. Then, click on "Go" to the right of the ".com" box. Now take a look, half-way down the page of the sample application. Notice how in the fourth paragraph down from the top, it says, "Your organization must be a 4-year degree-granting college or university." It is not optional. It is mandatory.
How did College of DuPage get a .edu TLD? Did they lie on their application?
RobSherman.com filed a complaint, yesterday, with Network Solutions regarding COD's illegal use of the .edu TLD. Network Solutions has already responded that the .edu usage by COD is improper and that steps are being taken to revoke their web site name.
The .edu usage by COD would probably have never come to my attention if it hadn't been for the anti-atheist course offering that the college included for the Spring, 2001, semester. Now, they not only will likely be forced into canceling the bigoted course, but they also will surely lose their identity on the World Wide Web. When that happens, COD will have their anti-atheist bigotry and me to thank.
Screw with us atheists and we don't get mad. We get even. Thanks also to my friend Up North who brought the matter of the college course to my attention.
Watch for the mainstream press, television and radio to get involved with this one once I get things rolling tomorrow. Links to their work can be found at Liberal News and Commentary later this week.
Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.
Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com