Criterion 3
If you set up an appointment to discuss the writing of a letter of recommendation, I will ask you: "How do you think the human species originated?" If you cannot truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question, then you should not seek my recommendation for admittance to further education in the biomedical sciences.
Where does religion come into this ? He's a scientist, asking for a scientific answer. He does not care (from evidence shown) whether you are Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or a member in good standing of the First Congregational Church of Elvis.
If, as you put it, "his her ability to spit out relevant phrases and answers to questions relating directly to the science would be in order. ", then they could do as many students do when speaking to/writing for their professors: providing an answer tailored to the prof's predjudices. It's the only way to get through some classes, especially in "language arts" and "social sciences". Oh, yes, and the Schools of Education as well. But instead, this vegetable that walks like a man, and prays like one too, claims "religious discrimination". Sorry, I'm not buying it, and neither will the courts. . .
You: Where does religion come into this ? He's a scientist, asking for a scientific answer. He does not care (from evidence shown) whether you are Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or a member in good standing of the First Congregational Church of Elvis.
I partly agree with you. He is not demanding that the student be an atheist, or even a non-Christian; the article quotes students who are Christian evolutionists who had no problems with this professor.
That having been said, I would feel more comfortable if Dini had insisted that a student "comprehensively and coherently articulate a scientific answer to this question" rather than "truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer to this question."