(AgapePress) - A University of Kansas professor who announced plans not long ago to start a course characterizing creationism and intelligent design as "religious mythologies" has now had to apologize for recent comments he made about conservative Christians.

Last month Paul Mirecki, chairman of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Kansas, announced he would be initiating a new course next year called "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism, and Other Religious Mythologies." The class was added to next spring's course offerings after the Kansas State Board of Education decided to incorporate more criticism of evolution in its science teaching standards.

Associated Press reports that, in connection with making his announcement about the new class, the professor wrote an e-mail message, sent November 19, to the university's Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics, a student organization for which he serves as faculty advisor. In the note, which Mirecki addressed to "my fellow damned," he referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," an apparent slang term for fundamentalists.

Continuing to deride the so-called "fundies" in his message, Mirecki described teaching the new religious studies course under the category of mythology as "a slap in their big fat face." Finally, as SFGate.com reports, he signed off his electronic missive with "Doing my part to [tick] off the religious right, Evil Dr. P."

The e-mail message came to the attention of the university's chancellor last weekend, the AP reports, and this resulted in Mirecki being compelled to issue an apology earlier this week. However, the University of Kansas initially chose to stand behind the Religious Studies instructor's plan to teach the course and simply renamed it, dropping the reference to mythology and instead calling the class "Intelligent Design and Creationism."

In his written apology, Mirecki offered assurances that he would teach the course as a serious academic subject and "in a manner that respects all points of view." But Kansas State Representative Brenda Landwehr, outraged by the department head's e-mail message, which she describes as "venomous," is not convinced.

Although Mirecki has apologized, calling his note "an ill-advised e-mail I sent to a small group of students and friends," Landwehr insists the professor is not sorry he wrote it. Rather, the legislator asserts, "he's sorry it became public." According to SFGate.com, a number of lawmakers have said that withholding funding from the school remains a possibility.

The University of Kansas has continued to defend the teaching of a class on such timely topics as creationism and intelligent design; however, the school announced today that it has just approved a request made last night by Mirecki to withdraw the course. A KU News release reports that the professor stated his reasons for the withdrawal, saying continued public controversy over his e-mails had convinced him not to teach the course and departmental faculty had agreed.

Mirecki said his concern is that students with a serious interest in the important subject matter of the course "would not be well served" by the learning environment his e-mails and their public distribution had created. He also noted that he had erred in not leading by example in demonstrating the importance of discussing differing viewpoints "in a civil and respectful manner."

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