Nope, he's not a hero, and he never gave any indication that he expected to be perceived as one.

But the label "rockstar" would not be at all inappropriate.

:-)

Rick,

Nope, he never claimed to be a hero. And a good thing too.

Thing is, I learn from things I dont like all the time. While I didn't enjoy seeing Prof. Myers dispoil the object of many people's sincerely held beliefs...

...the whole process has been extremely instructive. It has illustrated something Ive always known, but has put it in even more stark terms.

Religion in the right hands can be elevating.
Religion in the wrong hands is poison.

This has nothing to do with the inherant nature of religion which in and of itself is a human invention with all the flaws and potential of any human endevor...

...but but it is clear that religion cannot have an unassailable position in society. It can't be allowed to exsist without challenge or question, lest it become extremely dangerous.

It's easy to ignore history until you see it repeating itself in a microcosm of blog-as-petri-dish.

All the elements were right there...Jew-baiting, mob action, attempts to control behavior and compell belief through fear and threat of violence...even trying to manipulate one enemy into doing your dirty work for you against another (We'll sick the Muslims on you!)

What PZ did might have been ugly and distateful, but it's nothing compared to what his actions revealed about Donohue and how certain aspects of Christian history are still alive and thriving in the shadows.