Poor Scott McConnell picked the wrong month to offer himself as a conservative Christian cause célèbre. But even though the martyrdom role for March has already been filled, McConnell’s an ambitious understudy, declaring himself the evangelical victim of Blue State political correctness, who has “‘received the ultimate punishment‘” for not drinking New York’s Kool-Aid. What flavor of Kool-Aid? The teaching philosophy — and law, in 28 states, including McConnell’s — that teachers should not employ corporal punishment to correct their students. What “ultimate punishment”? Not crucifixion, not execution, and not even anything to do with feeding tubes. McConnell’s dark night of the soul consists of being denied acceptance into Le Moyne College’s teacher training program after writing an essay for an education class in which he argued that corporal punishment has a place in the classroom; disparaging the teaching of “anti-American” multi-culturalism (exemplified by an educational story discouraging the teasing of an Iraqi boy named Osama); and placing the instillation of respect for authority above nurturing children’s self-esteem. Le Moyne officials argue that McConnell was taking part-time classes as part of a trial period and he was not invited to continue due to a “mismatch between his personal beliefs regarding teaching” and the philosophy of the college, and said they had grave doubts about his ability to teach within the law. But McConnell, an Army veteran and evangelical Christian, claims he has been expelled for advocating Christian teachings about “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child,” and that the Jesuit school has “‘spit upon [his] biblical beliefs.'” We expect there’s not enough outrage to go around at present, but you can listen to McConnell yourself, here.