Bill Hobbs

There's a tempest brewing over Bill Hobbs. A former Lipscomb student, Hobbs is best-known as a conservative political commentator and blogger. From an article by Travis Loller in The Tennessean, Bill:

...has resigned from his job at Belmont University after posting a cartoon he drew that depicts the Muslim prophet Muhammad holding a bomb. Bill Hobbs, who ran BillHobbs.com, wrote yesterday on another site that his resignation from Belmont's marketing and communications department would be effective Monday. His announcement came two days after the cartoon, representing Muhammad as a stick figure, was the subject of a Nashville Scene story. Hobbs posted a message about the controversy at 3:55 a.m. Thursday on another blog, NashvilleFiles.com, apologizing for the cartoon, which he called "appalling." He said it was drawn in a "moment of personal weakness." The drawing was posted in late February, after caricatures of Muhammad first appeared in a Danish newspaper and caused a worldwide furor among Muslims.

The Nashville Scene article is online and includes a screenshot of the cartoon. From the Nashville Scene article:

To kick things off, he posted a stick-figure drawing of Mohammed holding a bomb. Underneath the cartoon, in crude lettering, he wrote, "Mohammed Blows." Mike Kopp, a longtime Democratic politico, unearthed Hobbs' failed attempt at satire and posted about it on his blog, tennesseepoliticalpulse.com. "I have no quarrel with a person's right to free speech, but as a Christian, I believe this kind of expression goes against all the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament," Kopp wrote, claiming the faithful high ground. He then rhetorically challenged Bryson and Belmont to defend their affiliation with Hobbs. In the comments thread, Hobbs replied. "I posted that cartoon, and invited others to draw their own cartoons, as a way of protesting both American media cowardice and Islamist attempts to suppress free speech via threats of bombs and bullets and burning and beheading," he wrote. Then, he added an apologetic afterthought: "But then I never publicized the site and, quite frankly, forgot is was up until today." From there, the comments thread descended into a series of recriminations, marked by several quick posts in which Hobbs defended himself a little too vociferously. One might say nervously. Oh, and he deleted the cartoon.

The Bill Hobbs situation has drawn the attention of top dog conservative blogs like Malkin and Hewitt. Hobbs had stopped posting to his BillHobbs.com blog in January of this year, but today he added a post titled "It's A Brand New Beautiful Day" that included a photo of cherry blossoms and the following quotations:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28 - God's in his heaven - All's right with the world. - Robert Browning

In reading about this stuff, I came across an interesting blog post from last September on BillHobbs.com in which he called on Lipscomb to give back $3 million that it got from the government to pay for a parking garage so that the money could go to Gulf Coast hurrican victims instead:

I haven't done much on the Porkbusters initiative that's sweeping the sensible side of the blogosphere, but I agree heartily with John Hutcheson and Bob Krumm about this: As politicians look for federal spending to cut in order to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Lipscomb University - where I was enrolled for three-plus years back in the mid-1980s - ought to step up and give back the $3 million it is getting from the government to build a parking garage. There are a lot of people who lost everything and need help more than Lipscomb University, a private Christian university, needs a taxpayer-funded parking garage. As a bonus, the $3 million was put in the most recent congressional transportation bill at the request of the previous president of Lipscomb, who left to take a job in the corporate world. His successor could set a new tone right away by canceling the project and asking Congress to redirect the money to Katrina and Rita relief and reconstruction. As Krumm says, it would be a very Christian gesture. Lipscomb touts on its website that it wants to collect stories for the alumni magazine about how membrs of the Lipscomb community are helping out with Katrina recovery. "With service and missions being a part of Lipscomb's core values we know you are praying, donating and volunteering to help the victims of Katrina. We would like to collect your stories. The Torch magazine is planning to highlight and honor the servant heart in an upcoming issue." A wonderful page-one story would be one that announces Lipscomb has asked Congress to take back the $3 million and use it for Katrina relief and reconstruction. If you agree - and especially if you are a Lipscomb alum - you can contact the school's administration via email addresses on this webpage.