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Student Sues Teacher For Anti-Christian Remarks

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Student Sues Teacher For Anti-Christian Remarks

Will it really make a difference?

from JoeUser Forums
Here's a news story today from Focus on the Family. We had similar experiences in our HS but didn't go the suit route. I'm not so sure from a Christian POV that's something we should be doing but I can totally understand the frustration. I think most Christians feel as we do. It's not like we haven't been warned. Otherwise the courts would be very crowded with cases such as this.


A San Juan Capistrano, Calif., high school student and his parents filed a federal lawsuit this week, alleging his history teacher violated his constitutional rights by making "highly inappropriate" and offensive statements in class regarding Christianity, the Los Angeles Times reported.

James Corbett, who teaches Advanced Placement European history at Capistrano Valley High School, consistently "demonstrates a sense of hostility toward religion," according to the lawsuit.

The suit, which asks that Corbett be removed from the classroom, contends he told students during class that "when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth"; said religion is not "connected with morality"; compared Christians to "Muslim fundamentalists"; and suggested churchgoers are more likely to commit rape and murder.

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said: "It's a sad fact that those who complain the loudest about any mention of Christianity or religion in public settings are also the first to hide behind the First Amendment to slander faith, morality and country, and indoctrinate our children with repulsive ideas under the ridiculous guise of 'education.'

"This teacher's classroom tirades belong on a personal blog that only he and his mother will read, not masquerading as curriculum in front of impressionable teens."

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4,443 views 32 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
We, too had a teacher that was giving the Christians in his class some grief (including my son) and we dealt with it thru the system resulting in the loss of his job. He was not on the payroll the following semester. I'm sure that young teacher in our district learned his lesson.
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Are you sure that's not the same thing as going to court?
Reply #27 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm sure that young teacher in our district learned his lesson.
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Don't be too sure. We've had a few young teachers here who've had a spotty employment record, yet somehow everyone but them is to blame. I have little doubt this teacher felt the same way.

Are you sure that's not the same thing as going to court?
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Quite different, jythier. Utilizing a teacher's chain of command is the proper way of dealing with things. Suing is nothing but compounding wrong with wrong.
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Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top
Quite different, jythier. Utilizing a teacher's chain of command is the proper way of dealing with things. Suing is nothing but compounding wrong with wrong.
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Well, if Gid says so, and KFC says so, that's good enough for me. ;)
Reply #29 from JoeUser Forums Top

This is a spurious lawsuit, and part of what's wrong with America. Where were the student's rights violated? The right not to be offended does not exist in the Constitution.
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I actually support the kid here. I'm not religious but public school teachers do not have the right to indonctrinate children. He was doing more than just being offensive.

Moreover, if a given teacher who happened to be religious instead of an atheist, as this teacher is, started inserting how evolution is bogus and those who believe it will go to hell you can bet there's be lawsuits over that.

 

Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top
Don't be too sure. We've had a few young teachers here who've had a spotty employment record, yet somehow everyone but them is to blame. I have little doubt this teacher felt the same way.


I suppose. I know he was pretty obnoxious so you may be right here. I remember the headmaster telling me that lessons were learned as a result of all this in the context of how young this teacher was. He had quite a few conversations with this teacher during the whole mess. Let's say....hopefuly he's learned his lesson and won't repeat the same mistakes he made with us. But who knows? I just know he needed to learn what was and was not acceptable behavior in the classroom.

Are you sure that's not the same thing as going to court?


Yes, I'm sure. Our motive was not vengeance but accountability. We weren't looking for monetary compensation but only a wrong to be righted and that's not something money would do in this case. We wanted our kids protected but not necessarily lining our pockets in the process.

As Gid said there are other ways to settle things without cashing in and clogging up the court system. In our case we went first to the head of the dept with a meeting with both teacher and this head of the English dept. When that yielded no fruit we went to the Assistant Headmaster and then eventually to the School Board where the whole thing blew wide open. The result being this teacher was released at the end of his first year teaching in our district which was best for all involved including the offending teacher.

He was doing more than just being offensive.


I agree. He was taking advantage of his captive audience and teaching more than the curriculum. He was definitely going over the line here.

Moreover, if a given teacher who happened to be religious instead of an atheist, as this teacher is, started inserting how evolution is bogus and those who believe it will go to hell you can bet there's be lawsuits over that.


hahahah don't even think it would make it that far nowadays. They just kick them out. I know a few Christian teachers...most of them attending my last church and they all have said how careful they have to be in speaking about their faith.

Our experience in the school system is that it's much more common for a teacher to "trash" Christianity than to support it. It was more common for a teacher to question or challenge (especially in HS) students of faith than to support or encourage them.






Reply #31 from JoeUser Forums Top

Was the teacher abusing their position of power?  Probably.
Were any constitutional rights violated?  Not unless we added an amendment that says you can't be offended or hear disagreement.

Does it look like we have the full story here?  Not entirely.

Context is king here.  If we're talking history, especially European history from the Dark Ages through to probably early 1800s, talking about the abuses of Christianity in cases such as Divine Right monarchies, inquisitions, crusades etc is fair game.  It's no secret that the Church was a pretty rotten organization on the whole and it was used to prop up some bad people and bad decisions.

Is that the same church as today?  No.  But if this is an AP history class (European history I'm guessing), then it's covering that period of history.  You can't talk about those centuries without covering the nasty things done in the name of God.  You can't just sugar coat them or skip those chapters since they're pretty important to history as a whole.  Comparing the early Church to fundamentalist Islam is not a wholly inaccurate thing.  Both were incredibly intolerant.  Both were very violent in dealing with dissenters/non-believers.  Both thought that wiping their enemies from the world was God's work.

Now, I also concede the point that not knowing the whole story, it's entirely possible that the teacher was being a jackass and letting his personal contempt for religion take over his teaching history.  But I've been in that class (AP Euro History) before, with hyper-sensitive christians, and I remember students complaining about the anti-Christian vibe when any mention was made of any "unpleasant" period in Church history.

For those who think this kid's constitutional rights were violated and this is a valid lawsuit, would you say that it's equally fair game to sue any teacher who makes a disparaging remark about Islam?  What if there's a current events class and abortion is discussed and the teacher makes negative remarks about pro-choice policy?  Are they fair game?  And note I'm not asking for a response like "that already happens... see this Christian website link here!", I'm asking if it is *fair*.  I see a lot of complaining about anti-Christian indoctrination, but then I see the same folks standing up to defend fait-based sex ed programs in schools, or are OK with anti-abortion demonstrations on school grounds and so on.

If it's OK to sue over anti-Christian remarks... I have a list of teachers I want to go back at for pro-Christian remarks.  This could be a new side-business

Reply #32 from JoeUser Forums Top
"Teresa Farnan said her suspicions were aroused on the first day of school when her son -- a sophomore honors student required to take Corbett's class for college admission -- asked her whether America was founded on Christian values, which he said his teacher had denied.

"He had learned in the eighth grade that our country was founded by persecuted Christians," said the mother, who describes her family as nondenominational Christian, "so I sent him to school with a tape recorder."
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yup...same thing i excerpted from the la times article in an earlier reply.

if it didn't hit ya then, perhaps this time around you'll begin to consider the possibiity this kid's parents and thst good ol' so-called advocate for faith and freedom just may have conspired to target this teacher and are deliberately using the kid as a weapon to take him out.

clearly he spent the eighth grade in some sorta non-public school. 2 years later he's attending public high school where, after only one class session, he was outfitted with a tape recorder and sent back into the fray.

how many of yall keep recorders close to hand in anticipation of some sorta classroom outrage?

those who aggressively aspire to martyrdom make of it a mockery.