"Under the auspices of science, individuals are told that they cannot have faith and beliefs that are not supported by the scientific community"
I experienced this first hand when attempting to take a college level biology class back in the 80's. The professor's words were:
"For all present who have a pre-conceived notion that life began on earth though means other than evolution, I'm going to ask you to leave those notions outside this classroom."
A spirited debate followed that reverberated all the way to the dean's office. Despite an aplogy and invitation from the dean himself to continue the class, I declined, knowing there was no way I would get fair treatment and didn't wish to take the GPA hit.
I experienced this first hand when attempting to take a college level biology class back in the 80's. The professor's words were:
"For all present who have a pre-conceived notion that life began on earth though means other than evolution, I'm going to ask you to leave those notions outside this classroom."
Perhaps there was more to it that you've not told us, but from just what you have posted, it sounds as if he wasn't doing anything like what TN4Liberty was talking about.
It looks like the prof wasn't telling you that you "couldn't have" a particular belief, he was just asking the class to set aside their preconceptions and keep an open mind to the material that was going to be presented, and/or asking the class not to start a disruptive debate over religion, when biology is religion-neutral.
In short, "evaluate the material on its merits, not immediately reject it because it seems to contradict something you may already believe or not believe." That seems a fair request.
I have a friend who teaches college-level biology, and she has found the need to make a similar statement, just because she has learned that if she doesn't, anti-evolution students start to make a big fuss and disrupt the class with objections as soon as she reaches any "touchy" material in the course material.
To head off such confrontations and keep the peace in the class, she gives a little "speech" the first day which somewhat resembles the one you describe.
A spirited debate followed that reverberated all the way to the dean's office.
Did it really require that, or were you perhaps overreacting to a request to keep an open mind and not just dig your heels in over material you might be predisposed to reject upon its first mention?
Despite an aplogy and invitation from the dean himself to continue the class,
Sigh.
I declined, knowing there was no way I would get fair treatment and didn't wish to take the GPA hit.
Are you *sure* you actually understood the prof's meaning?
Again, perhaps there was more to it than you have mentioned here, but just from what you *have* mentioned it doesn't seem worth starting a war over, or concluding that the prof was going to vindictively penalize you in some way.