David: I am all too aware of the lack of intellectual diversity on American campuses. I believe that the context of the statement you cite makes it clear that I was not referencing intellectual diversity there. That comes later, appropriately enough, in the section about dissidents: “Western institutions commit their own sins in this area, enacting speech codes and other instruments of ideological control.”

Wendy: I appreciate your kind comment. However, I do not believe that I implied that the Bahai faith is a subset of any religion, let alone Islam. Note my words: “Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority.”

The word “sect” seems to be the source of your concern. According to dictionary.com, a sect is “1. a body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith; a religious denomination. 2. a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition.” Hence, the word can reasonably refer to either a standalone group or a subset of a larger group.

I fear that “apostate” may be another word that inspired your objection, as apostates are members (or former members) of a larger body. However, it is commonly reported that Bahais are persecuted as “apostates from Islam” because this is how the two founders of the faith were/are regarded. In the minds of the mullahs, it is apparently not necessary for you to have personally been an adherent to a faith in order to be an apostate from it.

The well meaning David J. Rusin forgets that he teaches in the hard sciences. Alas, there is usually no such thing as intellectual diversity in the softer academic disciplines. Anti-leftist scholarship is shunned and one risks destroying their career if they refuse to whore it out good on behalf of the left-wing agenda.

2+2+4 is an absolute in a hard science classroom. Sadly, the same equation in a liberal arts course of study may be perceived as “an example of racist and reactionary thinking. Who are you to impose your view of reality?”