SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge ruled that a public high school history teacher violated the First Amendment when he called creationism "superstitious nonsense" during a classroom lecture. U.S. District Judge James Selna issued the ruling Friday after a 16-month legal battle between student Chad Farnan and his former teacher, James Corbett.
Farnan sued in U.S. District Court in 2007, alleging that Corbett violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment by making repeated comments in class that were hostile to Christian beliefs.
The lawsuit cited more than 20 statements made by Corbett during one day of class, all of which were recorded by Farnan, to support allegations of a broader teaching method that "favors irreligion over religion" and made Christian students feel uncomfortable.
During the course of the litigation, the judge found that most of the statements cited in the court papers did not violate the First Amendment because they did not refer directly to religion or were appropriate in the context of the classroom lecture.
But Selna ruled Friday that one comment, where Corbett referred to creationism as "religious, superstitious nonsense," did violate Farnan's constitutional rights. (read more)
3 comments:
Good, finally a judge that respect all peoples rights! No one should be told that their Religious beliefs are silly nonsense. I would not say that to a Muslim, and they believe that Mohamed flew on a flying Donkey.
You mean out of common courtesy? There's also the fact that the muslim would saw your head with a knife if you said that to him.
Not sure I'm down with creationism. shhhh. I think evolution happened, but that it is all part of God's plan. I don't understand why people seem to think God and science are mutually exclusive. so, okay, let's say someone one day was able to prove that a "soul" is a bunch of weird particles. "Ooooh it's just a bunch of particles, nothing to do with God." So...? How would that disprove it exists? Sure you figured it out on some small scale, how it functions, but it doesn't defunct it. See what I mean? nothing exists outside of God, not even any "science" that human beings are halfway able to figure out. So athiests who think they're so smart...no.
Anyway, random soapbox.
- L
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