NC State Bigots Refuse to Teach Religion in Science Class

[smoogatz]

Student Senses Anti-Christian Bias at NC State Univ.

By Jim Brown
February 8, 2005

(AgapePress) - A student columnist at North Carolina State University says there's a climate of anti-Christian bigotry on campus.


Junior chemistry major Daniel Underwood says all of his science classes teach atheistic assumptions about the origin of life and the universe, but nothing about a divine creator. However, Underwood says that is just one aspect of the pervasive anti-Christian bias on display at NC State. "There's a marginalization of anyone who holds any sort of religious views firmly," says Underwood, who is a born-again Christian.


He recalls an incident last semester in which a professor asked a guest speaker not to mention the name of "Jesus" while addressing his "Social Deviance" class. Professor Robert Stone, the student says, made the request after ex-convict John Kinlaw told the class that his life had dramatically changed after he abandoned a life of crime to follow Jesus Christ.


Underwood, who wrote a column about the incident for the student newspaper, believes that Stone -- like many others on campus -- is uncomfortable with born-again Christians.


"This particular professor had his own animosity toward Christianity in particular," Underwood says, "but I think generally speaking, professors and teaching faculty are much more embracing of any religion other than Christianity -- and particularly, Islam."


In fact, Underwood believes if Kinlaw had said his life changed dramatically because he began praying to Allah, Stone would not have censored him.


In writing the column, the junior says he wanted to warn his fellow students about what is happening on campus. "I really wanted to stress to the students that they should be on guard against this, and try to take notice when their teachers may be doing things similar to what did," he says.

[LiberalinNC]

Well lets see , they are called science classes NOT religious classes

You want religion Danny-boy, then go to your place of Worship!!!

[bushisanidiot]

1. Can't kids go to sunday school to learn about religion?

try going to church and ask questions there if you're concerned about evolution.

science is fact based and should be left that way.

[AllegroRondo]

2. Its amazing how christians are always the victims

at least, in their own mind.

[Kber]

32. it's an interesting thing that my non-participation

in Christianity is seen as such a threat. I don't get it. Honestly, the refusal of the majority of Americans to dress up as Queen Ester and Uncle Mordici has never really interfered in my enjoyment of Purim!

[Skidmore]

3. Then maybe Junior should sign up for

religion classes or divinity school instead chemistry.

[cvoogt]

4. Argh

If schools began teaching one aspect of religion, they'd have to teach about other forms of it as well ... and you cannot do that without leaving some belief systems out. Teaching religion in public schools is inherently biased, no matter how well-meant it may be in some cases. This is not a refusal to teach religion so much as it is a refusal to be drawn into having to decide which religions to teach and which to leave out. What gets me is that some people will argue that "other folks' God" (Allah, for example) is not the same as "our God." And they're supposedly monotheists ... while talking about two gods. Of course they believe theirs is the true God and all others are false.

You know, if people want to learn about religion they can make use of those wonderful vouchers to attend a religious school. That's what they're there for.

[Skidmore]

7. I've said this before, but I don't understand

why, everytime one of these 21st century martyrs begins complaining about being fed to the lions, that adherents to other faiths don't step in to ask for similar consideration and force the issue. I think that if the state is forced to recognize all religious expression, then the little boogers might back down.

[KitSileya]

5. I agree with the professor.

However, I do think that the student is right, the professor probably wouldn't have said anything had it been Allah or Buddha the ex-convict had been talking about. There is a hypocrisy about that in academia, and I wish teachers would be consistent. No religion whatsoever, unless it's relevant to the subject matter at hand.

[smoogatz]

8. You assume the kid is telling the truth

I don't. I'd like to hear both sides of the story before judging the prof.

[Kinkistyle]

11. Saying "White Power" and "Black Power" is intrinsically different.

Same as "Asian Pride" and "White Pride".

Besides, how do you know what the professor "probably" would have said about a remark about Allah or Buddha?

(Nevermind that Buddhism doesn't try impose itself upon scientific education nor does it strive to convert as many people as possible to Buddhism).

[Toots]

12. You make unwarranted assumptions

Why would you assume that the professor would allow other religions to have their way but just not Christianity? You are expressing a very strong bias by making that assumption. Most Professors in America would tell you that government funded public schools should not be the place for religion. Whether it is in science class or not. Possibly history should mention how much carnage has been created by religion and their religious wars. I can think of very few things that have caused so much misery and death than religion and it's indoctrination on the world's youth. Is there a law saying I can't be biased against Christians or Muslims? In America you should not have to be forced to endure the brainwashing attempts of any religion but Christianity just happens to be the worst of the bunch in their constant brainwashing attempts on Americans.

[ultraist]

17. Have you ever been to NC or visited NC State? OMG!

This IS a Christian state, it's ALL OVER THE PLACE. Christians are NOT discriminated against, but Muslims sure as shit are.

This is the land of Jesse Helms for fucks sake. The kid is LYING.

[LostinVA]

20. Beat Me To It!

NC State is NOT a liberal campus by any means. It is not Guilford College or Appalachian State... it is NC STATE -- a pretty conservative school in a pretty conservative part of the state.

And, it isn't being taught in science class, Freep-Boy, BECAUSE IT ISN'T SCIENCE!!!!!

I went to a Methodist college in NC, and triste me -- Evolution was taught, ID wasn't.

[izzybeans]

24. I'm still waiting to see one of these accusations to pan out to be true.

I highly doubt any of this. I also doubt this chemistry major understands his own chosen field since he can't even get science right. "But there is no god in it." Boo fucking hooo. Professors can't pander to their students own naive biases. They are strictly delimited by the boundaries of their discipline. If there is a problem here its with the fact that this kid has gotten to his junior of a chemistry major and still wants to find god somewhere in his bunson burner. Someone should investigate why his education has failed him to the point that he can take such absurd stances.

A social deviance class, by the way, would be focused on inclusion of diversity regardless of affiliation not on creating its own deviants. Its just not going to happen. This kid is a liar and as is quite plain, a complete dipshit.

[Wilber_Stool]

6. He must not be doing very well

in chemistry.

[atommom]

25. That's because he wrote "then a miracle happens" as the mechanism

for every chemical reaction.

[giant_robot]

28. LOL!

I remember some redox reactions from my chem classes that *seemed* like a miracle. I could have scored some extra points on my exams if that were an acceptable answer.

[Nimrod]

9. "Uncomfortable with Born-Again Christians"

Well Jeeze, that's horrible. And all they want is for the Bible to be taught in Chemistry class! Wow, we persecute them so horribly, I really feel bad about this.

Hell, of COURSE people interested in genuine education are uncomfortable around born-agains. So is anyone else who values their own right to not have their thoughts controlled.

[ultraist]

15. If he were to let students in NC start talking religion in a Science

course, the class would end up being a revival! People around here are very religious! Not a day goes by where someone doesn't tell me to, "have a blessed day" or where I see someone praying in public.

This kid is full of it.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

10. Facts being taught in college...ohhhh, the horror!! /sarcasm off nt

[McKenzie]

13. I'd let religion enter the discussion

If I were the Prof' I'd ask my students to prepare two lists, one for science and one for Christianity. The lists would amplify all the medical achievements, and other helpful advances in our knowledge of chemistry, arising out of Christianity. Ditto for science. I wonder which list would be empty? (this is a rhetorical question)

The students could then discuss what would have happened if the church had managed to supress Galileo's and Darwin's work. Once again, the answer is patently obvious because theocrats have always tried to supress anything that contradicts their febrile imaginings. So the complainer is only getting a taste of what Christianity has been trying to do to humanity for hundreds of years.

Sorry to be so vitriolic people; I just hate fantasies based upon the silly witterings of pre-medieval, patriarchal theocracies.

edit: grammur

[ultraist]

14. The kid is lying, NC State is not antiChristian

I went to NCState. Granted, it was years ago but the majority of the students are North Carolinians (part of the Bible belt) and there ARE religion courses he could take. MANY of the professors are locals too but it is a Research level I University with a big engineering program. He could have gone to a religious college if he wanted religion mixed with fact.

It sounds like this kid was just introduced to reality. Not all schools mix religion and fact, like his high school out in the counties of NC probably did.

(John Edwards earned his undergrad degree from NC State).

[Dr.Phool]

16. Tell him to go to Bob Jones University

I have a cousin who went there to become a vetinarian. The don't teach anything to do with evolution, the bedrock of biology.

She failed the licensing exam 6 times and gave up. Has no idea why.

[ultraist]

19. LMAO! She should have gone to NC State, they have an excellent vet program

My neighbor was a Vet School professor, but she now has a private practice.

[Bill McBlueState]

18. he's confusing two issues on purpose

Junior chemistry major Daniel Underwood says all of his science classes teach atheistic assumptions about the origin of life and the universe, but nothing about a divine creator.

Science is science; it says nothing about the existence of a god. It only addresses what the evidence supports. If, for example, the existence of the cosmic microwave background radiation (primary evidence for the Big Bang) makes Underwood question his faith, that's his problem, not his cosmology professor's.

He recalls an incident last semester in which a professor asked a guest speaker not to mention the name of "Jesus" while addressing his "Social Deviance" class. Professor Robert Stone, the student says, made the request after ex-convict John Kinlaw told the class that his life had dramatically changed after he abandoned a life of crime to follow Jesus Christ.

This assertion, which I have no reason to believe is true, is substantially different. A guest speaker should be allowed to say what he or she wants. If a professor doesn't want a speaker to mention Jesus, the professor shouldn't invite a born-again to speak. But this sounds like the kind of half-truth the born-agains concoct to convince us they're being persecuted. There's probably more to this than Underwood reports.

[opihimoimoi]

21. I agree....The guy is prolly a pub or a mole of some sort...

could grow up to be a Brown Shirter......

Wants to score points with his church perhaps, or egotistic..?

[demwing]

22. Breaking News!

Baptist Preacher Refuses to Teach Science in his Sunday Sermon!

Baptist attendees at the church recount how one Sunday School Teacher forbid her students from bring up the name "Charles Darwin" in bible school.

"If Jesus had discovered evolution, would they censor him?" asked one student.

"This particular teacher had her own animosity towards science in particular."

"There's a definite anti-science bias on Sunday," said an anonymous church member.

"We should all be aware and on the look-out!"

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

23. LMAO. Good one! nt

[onenote]

26. so now if you "believe" in evolution you're an atheist

Makes you yearn for the olden days when Galileo was being charged with heresy for determining that the earth revolved around the sun.

onenote

[sunnystarr]

27. Rove puts in planted reporters (ala Gannon) so this is just

part of the neocon strategy to deform public opinion.

edited for typo (again :sigh:)

[Spiffarino]

29. What?? You mean if you believe science, you can't believe in God??

I have been under the illusion all my life that God can do anything He wants to do. I figured that included creating the building blocks of life and giving His creatures the ability to learn and adapt.

Now I find that my Christianity doesn't pass muster because I believe God's power is infinite and can take any form He desires. I guess to be a fundie you must believe that God is an all-knowing, all-powerful Being...with severe limitations.

</sarcasm>

[LondonReign2]

30. I went to church on Sunday...

..and can you believe that during the sermon the pastor didn't say ONE WORD about Darwin or evolution? I could believe it! That church must be anti-science!

/sarcasm off

[livinginphotographs]

31. Not teaching religion in science class does not make on a bigot.

It makes on able to focus on one thing at a time. That would be like teaching cooking in English class or something.

This is nothing more than fundies whining (AGAIN) about how oppressed they are.