Atheists & Agnostics

WillParkinson

(16,866 posts) Fri May 8, 2015, 05:13 AM May 2015

Wow. Unfriend button may be working overtime on Facebook....

https://www.facebook.com/foxandfriends/videos/858230460931218/?fref=nf

Did he fail her because of religion? I don't know. So far everything I find about it is on CBN, Fox, or some other very 'reliable' source. But hey, let's post it as true without talking to the professor.

10 replies

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Wow. Unfriend button may be working overtime on Facebook.... (Original Post) WillParkinson May 2015 OP

I'm gonna go out on a limb, here, and guess that maybe it was a biology or natural history course. Warren DeMontague May 2015 #1

That's the thing.... WillParkinson May 2015 #2

Those comments, ugh Cartoonist May 2015 #3

Interestingly, nil desperandum May 2015 #4

I should have added nil desperandum May 2015 #5

I suspected it would be something like this. deucemagnet May 2015 #6

Indeed it does nil desperandum May 2015 #7

Well you know, non-overlapping magisteria is a handy way deucemagnet May 2015 #8

Seriously? No student should be required to do anything they don't want to do??? Curmudgeoness May 2015 #9

This is just nuts.. these people are nuts. mountain grammy May 2015 #10

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)

1. I'm gonna go out on a limb, here, and guess that maybe it was a biology or natural history course.

Reply to WillParkinson (Original post)

Fri May 8, 2015, 06:17 AM

May 2015

And she refused to acknowledge any of the course material that pertained to evolution, dinosaurs, or the Earth being more than 6,000 years old.

WillParkinson

(16,866 posts)

2. That's the thing....

Reply to Warren DeMontague (Reply #1)

Fri May 8, 2015, 06:39 AM

May 2015

There isn't any real detail other than OMG, liberal atheists! And it's only on the right-wing or religious sites. I have yet to find it anywhere else.

Cartoonist

(7,534 posts)

3. Those comments, ugh

Reply to WillParkinson (Original post)

Fri May 8, 2015, 07:11 AM

May 2015

We've got some real ignorance in this country.
And it's all coming from the Christian side.

nil desperandum

(654 posts)

4. Interestingly,

Reply to WillParkinson (Original post)

Fri May 8, 2015, 07:31 AM

May 2015

I found this...

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/08/college-defends-professor-accused-being-anti-christian

“The overall fallacy of your position rests singly on the premise that that an instructor should not require a student to consider, discuss or present arguments that are contrary to his/her personal beliefs,” lawyers for Polk State wrote in their response to complaint filed by Liberty Counsel, which is dedicated to “restoring the culture by advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the family,” according to its website.

The complaint alleges that Lance Russum, a humanities professor, discriminated against a 16-year-old dual enrollment student in his Introduction to Humanities class this semester by failing her on specific assignments based on her Christian beliefs and through his otherwise “pervasive, anti-Christian bias.” (The student received an A overall in the course. And she didn't so much have her ideas rejected as she declined to answer the questions on the assignments in question.)

Moreover, Polk State’s general counsel wrote in their response, “Your only substantive allegation with a connection to the college is that the professor allegedly discriminated against your student when he gave her zeroes on four essay assignments. …Your entire letter, which is based upon this hollow and indefensible allegation, legally fails to establish any claim against either the college or its employee.”

Liberty’s complaint relates to Grace Lewis, a high school student enrolled at Polk State through the Florida Virtual School Full Time program. (The complaint refers to Lewis by the letters “G.L.,” but she has since publicly disclosed her name.) Liberty alleges that Russum is a “radical ideologue, bent on imposing his views on students, in violation of acceptable academic standards and the U.S. Constitution.” As evidence, it cites multiple elements of the syllabus and assignments for the online introductory humanities course, including Russum’s notes that “What we take to be the ‘truth’ is just the retelling of the myths of early civilization. The god [sic] of Christianity/Islam/Judaism are [sic] a mixture of the god(s) myths of the Mesopotamians. …The point of this is not to ‘bash’ any religion, we should NEVER favor one over the another, they all come from the same sources, HUMAN IMAGINATION” [emphasis Russum’s].

As expected Fox News reveals the lack of actual investigations in its investigative reports on subjects of this nature. They need to keep the hyperbole at maximum volume else their elderly viewers tend to nap off and miss the all important medication commercials.

nil desperandum

(654 posts)

5. I should have added

Reply to nil desperandum (Reply #4)

Fri May 8, 2015, 07:35 AM

May 2015

the part that pisses me off the most is that because he believes, and thus belongs to organizations that affect change for, women's rights and atheism that he somehow has forfeited his integrity. Of course no one would state that a science professor who is a good christian and belongs to several christian organizations that deny certain science claims is without integrity...

Explain to me again how there is no automatic christian privilege here in the US?

deucemagnet

(4,549 posts)

6. I suspected it would be something like this.

Reply to nil desperandum (Reply #4)

Fri May 8, 2015, 09:23 AM

May 2015

I sometimes get a Sunday school definition of "theory" when grading tests, even after I've explained that in the scientific sense, a theory is an explanation of a phenomenon that has been supported by lots of evidence over the years, never disproved, and generally accepted as true, and given examples (Cell Theory, Heliocentric Theory, etc.). Of course, when I get a Sunday school definition, I mark it wrong. I suppose that makes me anti-Christian, according to Fox and Friends.

nil desperandum

(654 posts)

7. Indeed it does

Reply to deucemagnet (Reply #6)

Fri May 8, 2015, 09:47 AM

May 2015

one of your whiny students could expose your prejudice for the world, just like Ms. Lewis had to do to protect her christian rights against the bid bad humanities professor who asked her to just imagine a world different from what she knew. Her tender sensibilities were so fragile she was unable to participate in her assignments...addle pated fools....

deucemagnet

(4,549 posts)

8. Well you know, non-overlapping magisteria is a handy way

Reply to nil desperandum (Reply #7)

Fri May 8, 2015, 10:02 AM

May 2015

to deflect the skepticism of academia away from religion, but somehow it doesn't apply when Christians bring their religion into the classroom.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)

9. Seriously? No student should be required to do anything they don't want to do???

Reply to nil desperandum (Reply #4)

Fri May 8, 2015, 02:37 PM

May 2015

That is how this sounds. I remember having to debate the pro side of charter schools once. Not only was I fundamentally opposed to charter schools, I couldn't even fake it well. But I had to try.

And when I was teaching, I had a student tell me that they would not learn anything to do with evolution. Since it was a biology class, I told her that I didn't much care what she chose to believe, she would have to learn what was taught or fail. She didn't have to like it or believe it to be true, but if she failed the tests, she failed the course. I was not putting up with bullshit. And luckily, I wasn't sued.

mountain grammy

(27,281 posts)

10. This is just nuts.. these people are nuts.

Reply to WillParkinson (Original post)

Fri May 8, 2015, 09:47 PM

May 2015

Fox and friends are nuts. So a kid can just answer Jesus to every question and if it's marked wrong, their beliefs are violated.. Why would anyone want to be a teacher these days?

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