Atheists miffed at Troy University chancellor email

Chancellor Jack Hawkins of Troy University in Alabama (a public institution) is in a bit of hot water after using his university email account to send a message to all staff and students.

What was the message?

The email included a 90-second video featuring Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen pontificating on a conversation between himself and “a Marxist economist from China” about democracy and religion.

Christensen says that his Chinese friend makes note of “how critical religion is to the functioning of a democracy.”

AL.com reports:

“My friend went on to say that Americans followed these rules because they had come to believe that they weren’t just accountable to society; they were accountable to God,” Christensen says in the video.

He adds that the man expressed concerns that “as religion loses its influence … what will happen to our democracy?

“Where are the institutions that are going to teach the next generations of Americans that they too need to voluntarily choose to obey the laws? Because if you take away religion, you can’t hire enough police,” he says.

In a letter to Hawkins addressed Dec. 31, American Atheists President David Silverman wrote that a student at Troy was concerned about the chancellor’s distribution of the 90-second video, which Silverman said “asserts that religion, particularly Judeo-Christian beliefs, are necessary to be moral, law-abiding citizens, and implies that those who do not attend church will be anti-democracy and anti-social members of society.”

The letter asks “for a public apology to the student, and other atheists whom you have disparaged with the video you included in your email.”

Inside Higher Ed (to whom the hat tip goes for this report) writes that Troy sent them this response on Friday:

“The purpose of this email was to spur introspection and encourage thoughtful discussion as we transition from the challenges of 2014 to the opportunities ahead in 2015. Troy University is an international university that contributes regularly to the global marketplace of ideas. This message and video were shared to provide the university community with information and insights for healthy consideration and debate about our country’s democracy, the role it plays in the world and the challenges America faces going forward.”

Here is the video Chancellor Hawkins sent out: