High school sophomore sues history teacher for “hostility toward Christianity” in the classroom
From "“When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth”", posted 12/21/07 at California Catholic Daily
About 300 current and former students of Capistrano Valley High School gathered at the school’s campus in Mission Viejo before dawn on Wednesday, Dec. 19, to support a history teacher accused in a federal lawsuit of attacking the Christian religion in the classroom.
Chad Farnan, a 16-year old Capistrano Valley High sophomore, and his parents filed suit against Dr. James Corbett in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on Dec. 14. The lawsuit alleges that Corbett, an honors history teacher who has taught for 19 years, violated the First Amendment by expressing active hostility toward religion in the classroom. The suit alleges that Corbett spends a large portion of class time “propagating his personal views to a captive audience.”
The lawsuit seeks legal fees but does not ask for damages if the school district agrees to fire Corbett.
“While teaching the class, Dr. Corbett spends an extended period of time at the beginning of each class discussing topics that are not only irrelevant to history, but also inflammatory and often altogether inappropriate for high school students,” said a news release from Murrieta-based Advocates for Faith and Freedom, the legal group representing the Farnans. “Dr. Corbett causes students who hold religious beliefs to feel like second-class citizens because of their protected religious expression, beliefs, and conduct. He has gone as far as stating, ‘When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth.’ In addition to expressing his viewpoint regarding the Christian faith, Dr. Corbett has made derogatory remarks about Christian viewpoints regarding homosexuality, Viagra, birth control, and sexual activities of teenagers. As a result of Dr. Corbett’s hostility toward Christianity, Mr. Farnan has filed this federal lawsuit for a violation of his First Amendment rights.”
One has to wonder whether all those people would have shown up to support him if he had been bashing Islam or Judaism...
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