Another Teacher Sued

[BrianH]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,345274,00.html


A student and his family have filed a federal lawsuit demanding that a popular European history teacher at California's Capistrano Valley High School be fired for what they say were anti-Christian remarks he made in the classroom.

Chad Farnan, a 16-year-old sophomore, says the teacher, James Corbett, told his students that “Jesus glasses” obscure the truth and suggested that Christians are more likely than other people to commit rape and murder.

Farnan recorded his teacher telling students in class: “What country has the highest murder rate? The South! What part of the country has the highest rape rate? The South! What part of the country has the highest rate of church attendance? The South!” Farnan said he took the tape recorder to class to supplement his class notes

This teacher is a turd....last I checked, the South wasn't a country. This reminds me of Paris Hilton saying that "West Africa is a great country."

 

[Ravi]

Christians are more likely than other people to commit rape and murder.

In America, this is true.

Still, why the teacher felt a need to point this out is beyond me.

 

[Alpha1]

Christians are more likely than other people to commit rape and murder.

In America, this is true.

Still, why the teacher felt a need to point this out is beyond me.

No shit Sherlock, Over 80% of the population is Christian,.......... numbnuts....

 

[BrianH]

Christians are more likely than other people to commit rape and murder.

In America, this is true.

Still, why the teacher felt a need to point this out is beyond me.

Oh I agree, you can't deny the truth...considering Christians make up a majority of the population, so it makes sense that they would make up the majority of stuff. I just think that the teacher calling the South a country is hilarious....he shouldn't be teacher.

This is an example of a teacher letting his own views get in the way of educating the youth.

 

[Shogun]

*sigh*

 

[Ravi]

I was just being a jerk.

I'm not sure how this is being filed as violating the first amendment. Religious people are so touchy, it's almost as if they doubt their own faith.

 

[Abelian Sea]

[This came up in a different forum a while ago. Here's a copy/paste of my post there]

http://www.ocregister.com/news/corbett-capistrano-class-1941157-teacher-court

Here's a county paper's article about it. On the page is a link to the actual complaint, which lists nine specific (alleged) quotes ("Read the complaint online" under "Related sites").

For example, here is a prelude of the (alleged) "Jesus glasses" quote:

"How do you get the peasants to oppose something that is in their best interests? Religion. You have to have something that is irrational to counter that rational approach....[W]hen you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth."

Then there's something about why the Boy Scouts can't meet on school grounds.

Then he makes one of his most openly anti-religious points, which he comes back to in later quotes:

"In the industrialized world the people least likely to go to church are the Swedes. The people in the industrialized world most likely to go to church are the Americans. America has the highest crime rate of all industrialized nations, and Sweden has the lowest. The next time somebody tells you religion is connected with morality, you might want to ask them about that."

Then a weird bit about the side effects of Viagra. I don't see the religious connection. Here's the best part:

"So, you know, you know, if you run into somebody who is, you know, deaf and whose pants felt stiff, he's probably using the drug....They're happy, but they're deaf."

Then something about governement reactions to teen sex, from teaching abstinance (which "doesn't work" and is "idiotic" to spend money on) to supplying birth control pills (which he says doesn't make girls suddendly want to have sex). Best part:

"My mother has a solution to this problem. ... My mother thinks that all boys, when they reach puberty, should be given a reversable vasectomy..."

Next,

"...[C]onservatives don't want women to avoid pregnancies. That's interfering with God's work. You got to stay pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen having babies until your body collapses."

He adds that conservatives of all religions have this attitude and are "vitally interested in controlling women."

The last three are especially meaty but they're long and I'm too lazy to type them out (can't cut and paste from a pdf).

 

[Ravi]

The suit, filed in Santa Ana federal court, alleges Corbett and the Capistrano Unified School District violated the First Amendment's establishment clause that prohibits government from advancing religion or promoting hostility toward religion.

Wouldn't this also apply to the teacher that gave the kid a zero for his landscape assignment? If she'd have let him turn it in she could also be sued for advancing religion.

 

[Alpha1]

Bashing religion (in general), Christians (especially Catholics), conservatives, Jews, Boy scouts, Republicans, and the like is in vogue...its perfectly OK just about everywhere, and especially in the classroom where it can and does influence the next generation of liberals.....Now don't get this confused with bashing Black Liberation Theology. Although Christian, thats not allowed. Its considered racist and now that Obama and the Democrats are loosely tied to it...its forbidden....in general, don't mention anything about what black liberation theology teaches concerning whites. Keep 'em ignorant is the goal.(at least until after the election)
So from grade school, to middle and high school, on into college...From TV's Morning Show to the Late Show and in the print media.....keep bashing those white Christians and Conservatives...at least, you'll be popular
OK gang....get to it

 

[Ravi]

I think this is one issue that is pretty black and white. You either allow religious expression in school or you don't. If you allow it you must accept any opinion contrary to the view expressed.

If that makes you uncomfortable then you should probably be against any type of religious expression in school.

 

[Steerpike]

I think this is one issue that is pretty black and white. You either allow religious expression in school or you don't. If you allow it you must accept any opinion contrary to the view expressed.

There are two parts to the religion clauses of the first amendment. The Free Expression clause and the Establishment Clause.

So you have to allow students free expression of religions, but I don't think the school employees (teachers and admin) can advocate or disparage a religion to the students. That seems to me to be a reasonable balance.

 

[Ravi]

That sounds too much like advocating it if you are allowing only one opinion to be expressed.

 

[Steerpike]

That sounds too much like advocating it if you are allowing only one opinion to be expressed.

No, I think you allow all forms of expression by the students, not giving preferential treatment to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc., but you reign in the teachers and don't allow them to advocate or disparage any of them so that you don't have government teachers 'promoting' a religious viewpoint to the kids.

 

[BrianH]

I think this is one issue that is pretty black and white. You either allow religious expression in school or you don't. If you allow it you must accept any opinion contrary to the view expressed.

If that makes you uncomfortable then you should probably be against any type of religious expression in school.

Well, there's nothing wrong with speaking of religion in schools...the problem comes from people like this who use their own ideas and opinions to suade young kids into believing like they do. If you use religion in a historical context and make sure that you let the kids know that "in no way" you are trying to force any opinion on them, then is should be fine. When you have teacher trying to convince the class that the root problems of crime is because of Christianity (which isn't proven, but his own personal opinion based on information), this becomes a problem. He's talking about the crime rate, well, there's a large group of people out there that aren't christian that murder people, unless this teacher has a list of all the people who've murdered, and their religious belief, then he can't make personally-biased assumptions like this, especially in a school.

He's basically saying, "Kids if you're Christians, you're wrong and you religion sucks." It sounds like he has more of a personal agenda to teaching rather than actually educating the kids.

 

[Ravi]

No, I think you allow all forms of expression by the students, not giving preferential treatment to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc., but you reign in the teachers and don't allow them to advocate or disparage any of them so that you don't have government teachers 'promoting' a religious viewpoint to the kids.

I think the rule with regard to teachers is that they may teach about religion but they may not teach religion.

I think this teacher sounds like a moron, btw. But I'm not clear if stating that religion doesn't guarantee no crime, or statements to that effect, actually violate this rule.

 

[Alpha1]

I think this is one issue that is pretty black and white. You either allow religious expression in school or you don't. If you allow it you must accept any opinion contrary to the view expressed.

If that makes you uncomfortable then you should probably be against any type of religious expression in school.

The kid wasn't advocating religion in the least, he was submitting a landscape, as the assignment dictated......

Thats like claiming the student that drew a picture of a waterfall was "advocating" waterfalls.....

 

[Ravi]

Depending on the actual assignment and the student's agreement to follow the assignment's guidelines, a case could have been made if the teacher bent the rules for him that she was herself (the teacher) advocating religion.