“Is this legal?”
I believe so. It is also NOT the job that the man was hired to do any more than it is my Pastors’ job to disprove scientific beliefs.
It’s one thing to teach evolution. It’s another thing to tell your students that religion is a myth. Is it legal? Only one way to find out. Take it up to the Supreme Court.
in what state does your nephew attend school?
Not enough info, IMHO.
What exactly does he disprove? Adam and Eve?
By referring to religion as myth even if he does believe that is harassment and he should lose his job.
You could tell your son to bait the hell out of the teacher by asking him why he’s trying to foist his religious views (evolution takes more faith than creation) on his students...
Waiting for the zots...
Colonel, USAFR
I would think you might have grounds to complain. I would not have ever done that when I taught biology. And I didn’t give my opinion on the topic, just taught the material. Of course the kids are free to discuss and express their opinions, but any time a teacher does, I would think they are at risk. Make sure that’s really what the teacher said and go talk to the principal. If you don’t get satisfaction, kick it up a level higher. BTW it would probably help if you got more parents involved. Believe me, principals don’t like mad parents.
Loyal opposition submits this for your ping list.
Interesting. He's pigeon-holed himself here by overtly mentioning "religious myths". It could be problematic. He would have been wiser to use a phrase like, "were going to dispel objections to the theory of evolution", or something similar.
A public school may not proselytize, but the flip side of that coin is that it can campaign for atheism either. It's a principle that found in a 70's Supreme Court case called the "Lemon Test".
There's good logical evidence against the "Bishop Usher" chronology of creation, but that's about as far as it goes.
I would think this would fall under the “wall of separation between church and state” policy if it’s a public school. If you can’t promote religions you shouldn’t be able to attack it, either. I’d be interested in what an attorney has to say.
In any case, by saying what he did the teacher is showing how gullible or naive he is. You can’t “disprove” religious tenets in the laboratory. If you could, it would have been done by now. Instead, arguments for evolution are often weak and thin and only win the day because the proponent speaks more loudly and forcefully.
I’m guessing this teacher is a blow-hard who can easily be out-reasoned. This could be interesting.
I would definitely inform the School Board of this and your disapproval and your thoughts that its likely illegal. Then if they do not do something you can make a call to the ACLJ, American Center for Law & Justice.
At every turn your child should say God Bless you to him and mean it every time he leaves he should say God be with you or Gods speed ...Weather the teacher likes it or not let him chew on the Kindness and Goodness of Gods graces ...
Why doesn’t he ask his teacher how all of the enzymes lined up in the perfect order to create an strand of DNA? My guess is he can’t answer that. The odds of something like that happening are astronomical....and then there is the age old big bang theory. Has anyone found the answer to the question “What Banged?” assuming that there was nothing before the bang. I need answers to these questions before I blindly believe his theory. At least belief in a higher does answer these questions.
Seems like a fairly clear violation of the “...nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof” clause of Amendment 1.
I think this is going a little too far. Your opinions?
It is entirely appropriate to teach science in a science course. That of course includes evolution.
However, the moment the teacher mentions "religious myths" of any sort, he has strayed into philosophy or perhaps theology. I doubt that either subject is appropriate for a general high school science course.
See #16...You need to find out more, but if what your nephew says is true, I say encourage his parents to go right for the jugular.
Write a nastygram and tel him to keep his religious beliefs to himself. It is NOT his job to tell students what is “true” or not true about their religious beliefs.
If this teacher is going to teach his students what the scientific method is and how it works, what a theory and a thesis are, the difference between a religious belief/article of faith and a scientific theory, how theories are tested and revised, and so on, I would want my child in that class. If he is just going to diss their parent’s religious beliefs, without providing students with the information they need to understand how science works, I would not be happy.
I had a psychology professor who challenged religion at every turn...almost mocked it. Turns out he was also a minister - it was all an act to get us to argue with him.