College Professor Fired for not respecting bible

[Kritish]

This is pretty damn ridiculous. If he was teaching 1st or 2nd graders, then maybe I could see their point, but this is frickin college. I had lots of college professors that had opinions that I completely disagreed with, but since I'm an free-thinking adult, I knew that I didn't have to agree with what they said. The offended students should have been adult enough to know that just because he thinks that doesn't mean that they have to.

The average theist doesn’t seem to be able to handle insults towards their religion with maturity. That’s at least my experience.

 

[The Chairman]

But, see, you're biased.

If I was biased, I would've had the guy's ass fired. I agree that it's incredibly stupid to have the man fired for stating how he felt. Even my own dad, who's a practicing Catholic, doesn't take it so literally.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

If I was biased, I would've had the guy's ass fired. I agree that it's incredibly stupid to have the man fired for stating how he felt. Even my own dad, who's a practicing Catholic, doesn't take it so literally.

But you are biased. Of course the bible holds more merit to you than other religious works.

 

[Lighthouse]

Where exactly does the entire Old Testament, parts the New Testament that endorse chauvinism, slavery and suppression of free-though come in?

Thing is, applied to the ancient world before all this technology, I think some of the Bible's lessons make sense. Today, adultery is considered wrong, but in ancient times, people heavily relied on each other for survival, and things like adultery could shatter that community and put lives at risk. Things are just really different today though.

 

[Leto Atrides]

I have in my possession one of COUNTLESS books WRITTEN BY ACTUAL ARCHAEOLOGISTS that prove the idea that the bible is HISTORICALLY ACCURATE. The book I own is called "The Bible As History" by arcaeologist Werner Keller. Do yourself a favor and thoroughly INVESTIGATE your claims before you spout out prepackaged remarks.

Ignoring the fact that book is 50 years old here, and things like the entire world flooding which we know didn't happen, Biblical Archaeology is an extremely touchy subject among archaeologists, as the topic is inherently looking for the how for an answer they already are assuming. Even then most of the people in the topic are assuming the stories have been mistold through the yeas and are trying to find the way it actually happened.

This honestly sounds like someone asked him a question about history based upon a Biblical supposition, and he said you can't take the Bible literally. Or maybe it's happened in the past and he wanted to nip the problem in the bud. For example Exodus: they're talking about Egypt. Someone asks about Jewish Slaves led by a guy named Moses. We have evidence for mass emigrations of Semitic groups from Egypt. Egypt did keep slaves. Pharaohs did have adopted brothers. People were named Moses. But we have no evidence for they all coalescing into the way it happened in the Bible, so we have no reason to think it's real from a scholarly standpoint.

 

[Lighthouse]

double post

 

[Kritish]

Thing is, applied to the ancient world before all this technology, I think some of the Bible's lessons make sense. Today, adultery is considered wrong, but in ancient times, people heavily relied on each other for survival, and things like adultery could shatter that community and put lives at risk. Things are just really different today though.

Native Americans could pose a threat to settlers so therefore it was OK to give them small pox infected blankets?

 

[Bill]

Are you an archaeologist? I dont think so. Moreso, I dont think that you can back that up at all - it is just another "claim" that anyone and their mother uses to try an refute the bible, without taking the time to examine it themselves...hmph, kinda hypocritical, eh?

I have in my possession one of COUNTLESS books WRITTEN BY ACTUAL ARCHAEOLOGISTS that prove the idea that the bible is HISTORICALLY ACCURATE. The book I own is called "The Bible As History" by arcaeologist Werner Keller. Do yourself a favor and thoroughly INVESTIGATE your claims before you spout out prepackaged remarks.

You should have probably checked Mr. Keller's credentials before you went off on that rant. He is a journalist working off of the findings of religiously biased archaeologists that met with his presuppositions. He, himself, is not an archaeologist.

Let's hear more titles and authors of your books. This could be fun.

 

[teseract]

I personally consider this incident a victory in the favor of Christians. Disbelievers all over the globe have influenced the public into accepting a "post-Christian" world, and with this guy's termination, the Bible has finally been treated with the reverence it deserves. By saying his students shouldn't take the Bible literally, this man was, in effect, calling God a liar, and I'm happy a few students had the courage and bravery to stand for the faith.

The only reverence the Bible deserves is a burning trash can.

 

[Dope Nose]

http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS02/709250379/1001

Students: Teacher's style, not faith, led to firing
By MEGAN HAWKINS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

September 25, 2007

Students of a fired Iowa community college instructor say they were offended more by his brash teaching style than the remarks about the Bible that he claims led to his dismissal last week.

Adjunct professor Steve Bitterman said administrators at Southwestern Community College in Red Oak sided with students who became upset when he called parts of the Old Testament a fairy tale that should not be interpreted literally.

He made the comment in a class last Tuesday and was fired two days later.

But students in the class, which was transmitted to a classroom in Osceola over the state fiber-optic network, say Bitterman also told them to question their religious beliefs and at one point in the heated debate told one of the Osceola students, Kristen Fry, to "pop a Prozac."

Fry said she left class in tears.

"I talked to a lawyer and was told that what he was doing was illegal," she said. "He was not allowed to be derogatory toward me for being a Christian. I told my adviser I would sue if I had to."

Both sides say the conflict arose from remarks Bitterman made in a Western Civilization class about the biblical story of Adam and Eve. He said he approached the topic from an academic and symbolic standpoint, rather than a factual one. Bitterman maintains he wanted to spark debate. But he instead sparked a controversy over academic freedom and the perceived lack of support from administrators for part-time teachers.

Bitterman said the Prozac comment was a joke meant to disarm a student who "was screeching at me."

"Sometimes you say something outrageous just to see if you can provoke some discussion. ... I can be a little acerbic at times, I don't deny that," he said. "I certainly take students' viewpoints seriously in the sense that I encourage them to express it, and then I will challenge that viewpoint, regardless of what it is, to see how well they can back it up with reason and critical thought.

"Often, these students are essentially right out of high school and they take things so personally," Bitterman said. "They really can't distinguish between a critical assessment of their argument and an attack upon them personally."

Casey Overton, 19, who also was in the Osceola classroom, said Bitterman spoke "very crudely and made us feel like crap."

"I think he was trying to start a debate, but it came across as insulting and offended everybody," Overton said. "After some of the comments he made, I didn't expect him to be fired, but I'm kind of glad he's gone. There's no way I could have finished the class."

Bitterman said that when he was fired over the phone, he was told it was for teaching religion instead of history, and no mention was made of how he treated students.

Southwestern President Barb Crittenden declined to comment on many aspects of the situation, but did verify that this section of the class has been canceled for the rest of the semester.

"Generally, we see it as our mission to provide educational services to students," she said. "Both faculty and students must be treated with respect. We do believe in academic freedom and the exchange of ideas. There are going to be differences in opinion, and in order to have free exchange, there has to be respect shown for opinions on all sides of issues."

She declined to comment on what procedures are in place for student complaints or for professors to explain themselves, but said that in this case, the employee is part-time.

Some part-time community college professors in other parts of the state said the Southwestern situation does not surprise them. One referred to their lives as "adjunct hell."

James Ralston, a math instructor at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, said he has been fired twice for political reasons or false accusations from students.

"All adjunct teachers are under the same pressure that they cannot teach, because if they offend, no matter how crazy the students are, they are going to be fired," he said. "It's a huge problem."

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Okay, Kristen Fry can go to Hell.
I'd like to give her something to cry about.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS02/709250379/1001

This just helps the professor's case. Challenging the students to think freely, reasonably, and critically is the key thing that college is supposed to do. Hell, I have a professor that's almost exactly like that. He hasn't told anyone to pop a Prozac, but he's probably the best f**king teacher I've ever had.

Those kids seriously need to lighten the hell up. Bunch of f**king wimps, if they're so freverent in their beliefs, then they'll learn to debate it better.

 

[Darthphere]

The average theist doesn’t seem to be able to handle insults towards their religion with maturity. That’s at least my experience.

You're from Texas right?

 

[CristoTheSecond]

Even though the census mentioned in the gospel of Luke took place in 6 CE, and didn't require the people to go back to a town that a particular ancestor lived in generations earlier, even though there is no record of the Hebrews being used as slaves in any of the records discovered in the ruins in Egypt, even though there is no record of the dead rising from their graves, an earthquake in Jerusalem, an eclipse, or the veil being torn in two during a particular passover week in the first century, even though there is no conclusive evidence of an "ark" or any other wooden boat on Mount Ararat, especially since that mountain in Turkey has a glacier, which does the surprising thing of moving downhill which would cause anything on the mountain to be pushed off of it...

yeah, the bible is accurate

Wait, so you're saying because there is no record of these things happening, they COULD NOT happen?

What about King Belteshazzar or the downfall of Tyre? What about the "circle of the earth" and "hanging the earth upon nothing"?

There are a lot of things in the Bible that we HAVE evidence for. So, the rest would obviously be true as well.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

There are a lot of things in the Bible that we HAVE evidence for. So, the rest would obviously be true as well.

What...are you talking about?

I can take you to the locations in New York that are seen in Ghostbusters.
We know that those places seen in the movie are real, so, obviously the Demon Dogs and Zool are real too.

What are you talking about?!

 

[Steve Rogers]

What...are you talking about?

I can take you to the locations in New York that are seen in Ghostbusters.
We know that those places seen in the movie are real, so, obviously the Demon Dogs and Zool are real too.

What are you talking about?!

Brilliant post

 

[CristoTheSecond]

What...are you talking about?

I can take you to the locations in New York that are seen in Ghostbusters.
We know that those places seen in the movie are real, so, obviously the Demon Dogs and Zool are real too.

What are you talking about?!

I don't know what's worse...this post or the one after it deeming it brilliant.

We're not talking about specific locations, we're talking about things that happened after they were written in the Bible. We're talking about scientific knowledge that was non-existent back when this was written. I mean, good god, they knew things back then about Kelvin levels that we didn't know until recently.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

I don't know what's worse...this post or the one after it deeming it brilliant.

We're not talking about specific locations, we're talking about things that happened after they were written in the Bible. We're talking about scientific knowledge that was non-existent back when this was written. I mean, good god, they knew things back then about Kelvin levels that we didn't know until recently.

Christians like to say this but sadly it's bologna.
They'll tell you that the fall of all the great empires was foretold.
NO, it wasn't.
AFTER the fact, YOU interpret the meaning of Daniel's dream interpretation to fit history.

People felt 100% certain that WW2 was the end of the world as foretold in Revelations, just like the 7th Day Adventists did all the math and determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus would return back in the 1800's.

They were all wrong.
The Bible can't even get it right that Bats are NOT birds and that hares do NOT chew cud.

:

And my Ghostbusters post still applies conceptually to what you said, which was just preposterous, that, if a lot of an account is true, then, it ALL must be true.

Sorry, that's just absurdly, cosmically, explosively wrong.
As a Christian you should agree since Satan quotes and believes the scripture and uses it to appear to be righteous while deftly mixing little anti-Christian deceptions in with the truth!

Come on.

 

[teseract]

I don't know what's worse...this post or the one after it deeming it brilliant.

We're not talking about specific locations, we're talking about things that happened after they were written in the Bible. We're talking about scientific knowledge that was non-existent back when this was written. I mean, good god, they knew things back then about Kelvin levels that we didn't know until recently.

What scientific knowledge, the earth circle? Last time I checked a circle is not an orb and that the earth is a circle isn't even disputed by the flat earthers. But a circle doesn not equal an orb.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

Yes, I wonder if God knows that it isn't the TRIANGLES of Giza.

 

[sinewave]

http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS02/709250379/1001

man, no wonder those kids couldn't get into a real college. yikes!

do they each pull out their little carpet pads when nap time rolls around?

 

[Darthphere]

man, no wonder those kids couldn't get into a real college. yikes!

do they each pull out their little carpet pads when nap time rolls around?

Damn, that's a good idea.

 

[sinewave]

Damn, that's a good idea.

get that paste our of your mouth, li'l darth!

 

[CristoTheSecond]

Christians like to say this but sadly it's bologna.
They'll tell you that the fall of all the great empires was foretold.
NO, it wasn't.
AFTER the fact, YOU interpret the meaning of Daniel's dream interpretation to fit history.

People felt 100% certain that WW2 was the end of the world as foretold in Revelations, just like the 7th Day Adventists did all the math and determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus would return back in the 1800's.

They were all wrong.
The Bible can't even get it right that Bats are NOT birds and that hares do NOT chew cud.

:

And my Ghostbusters post still applies conceptually to what you said, which was just preposterous, that, if a lot of an account is true, then, it ALL must be true.

Sorry, that's just absurdly, cosmically, explosively wrong.
As a Christian you should agree since Satan quotes and believes the scripture and uses it to appear to be righteous while deftly mixing little anti-Christian deceptions in with the truth!

Come on.

Please give scriptures for your two about bats being birds and hares chewing the cud.

 

[The Chairman]

The bat quote is real. It's one of the most debated and argued verses in the OT.