Well, this entry is a funny story. Kevin posted his own acerbic take on the Francis Beckwith/Baylor/sexuality forum incident below. I was all ready to post my own experience, wherein I emailed Dr. Beckwith with one big grievance and he responded in quite a timely fashion with a noxious cloud of self-serving rhetoric (avoiding my question in the process). I was going to post my email and his response here, directly against his explicit wishes. However, before I hit "Publish," I gave it some thought.
In his email, he added a disclaimer that recipients "may not" publish any part of his private email without his consent. I was 99% at that moment that this disclaimer was flimsy and groundless. However, he had also added some point in his email about how "adults" conduct their disagreements, i.e. not through public dissection of private correspondence. Now, please understand that I think Dr. Beckwith is absolutely delighted to have any sort of audience for his incendiary (and logically questionable) ideas, regardless of what he puts in his disclaimers. However, I do concede that if I were to engage him through email, then turn around and post his response without even telling him, "Hey, I'm going to post your response publicly," it would look somewhat cowardly. So I emailed him and asked him for permission to post his email, adding, "I'm not convinced that your permission is actually required." He refused, with quite a saccharine tone. He also reiterated that permission is required. Heh. Suuuuuure.
Meanwhile, I spoke with a labmate who is familiar with Dr. Beckwith and confirmed my suspicion that Beckwith is just a big ol' attention whore who loves to start shit with people. This was my hunch after his first reply, wherein he responded carefully to the accusatory email of a peon like me, while wagging his finger in my face about not publicizing his words. Someone who truly wanted to maintain privacy would have ignored my email altogether or (much more improbable but still a solution) sought me out by phone or in person to share his rebuttal. I mean, he has no idea who I am but probably knows enough to realize that my opinion is inconsequential to his position, and that he has no reason to take me seriously. He also never acknowledges that he is knowingly making himself vulnerable to breach of privacy by emailing me in the first place! The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
In the end, it's probably better that I just keep him muzzled (on this blog, anyway), by posting my own thoughts but refraining from spreading his words to a wider audience. However, I have the intention of seeking some legal input on the matter, just to educate myself. I've also sent him another email asking on what legal or university regulatory grounds am I not permitted to use his email without permission. Something tells me he hates not getting the last word, but who knows? Maybe he'll surprise me by ignoring me, a response much more befitting of someone who genuinely cares about keeping his private words private.
My email (I left in a spacing error that I made):
On 3/13/11 7:28 PM, Angela wrote:
Dr. Beckwith,
The most demoralizing part of the email you sent (which has been circulated on the Internet) is your fervent entreaty for others to recognize that your (and other Christians') theology is not chosen, but is rather inherited in"Scripture and Tradition." Did it not, for a single moment, occur to you that you are in the very same position as GLBT individuals who are subjected to the spurious, disenfranchising accusation that they "choose" the gender of those to whom they are romantically and sexually attracted?
I am very curious about where you stand on the question of whether or not sexual orientation is inherited or otherwise biologically determined. I would hope that you are at least knowledgeable about the empirical research on this question. However, regardless of whether or not you are informed on the scientific findings on the issue, it looks short-sighted and tone-deaf for you to use the "inherited, not chosen" argument for your theology when that same argument is widely ignored by Christians when applied to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. If you feel so invalidated by this misconception about theology, why would you contribute to spreading the same misconception about sexuality?
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