There’s nothing in Dr. Howell’s email that is inconsistent with Catholicism.
In fact it is an excellent description of why homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law. You don’t have to be Catholic to acknowledge the natural law, in fact it was discussed by Aristotle.
I think it very unfortunate that Dr. Howell was fired for the reasons given. I hope he is reinstated. I think this is a matter of academic freedom.
However, Howell’s email does close which a paragraph which reasonably would irritate quite a few students.
Dr. Howell:
I know this doesn’t answer all the questions in many of your minds. All I ask as your teacher is that you approach these questions as a thinking adult. That implies questioning what you have heard around you. Unless you have done extensive research into homosexuality and are cognizant of the history of moral thought, you are not ready to make judgments about moral truth in this matter.
Certainly this is a position consistent with the Catholic Church. However, he isn’t making himself clear that he is presenting the Church’s position and not simply his own. I think that is a problem which runs throughout the email - he comes across as full of himself, and not as someone presenting/defending the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Dr. Howell’s final paragraph, continued.
As a final note, a perceptive reader will have noticed that none of what I have said here or in class depends upon religion. Catholics don’t arrive at their moral conclusions based on their religion. They do so based on a thorough understanding of natural reality.
I think he shot himself in the foot here. First, I don’t think Catholics derive their moral conclusions based upon their own understanding of Natural Law (which is open to interpretation), they base their moral conclusions on what the Catholic Church teaches. What the Church teaches may be guided by its understanding of Natural Law. However, that doesn’t mean that individual Catholics are encouraged to reach moral conclusions which contradict the Church’s position.
More importantly, Dr. Howell ends his email by saying that his arguments have nothing to do with religion. Yet religion is the topic of his course. What he is saying is that his view is merely a philosophical one. And, of course, philosophies are open to question. However, as I quoted earlier, he also denied that his students had the ability to question his philosophical conclusions. This renders his final paragraph a tad arrogant - which isn’t what he wanted, but I can see why some took offense to it.
I’m inclined to think that the University should reinstate him, but that he needs to be more careful to make clear in his course that he is presenting the Catholic Church’s position, and not simply his own.
