Okay, so when I was a fundamentalist high school student, sure, I felt like I was an oppressed minority. This is the nature of fundamentalism, you think that your group (no matter how big) is a small minority facing attacks from all sides. So, all comments, especially from authority figures, are subject to this filter that is actively searching for “Anti-Christian” attacks. Now, I don’t know if this kid is actually a fundamentalist, but he and his parents seem to at least be acting with this “minoritized” suspicion.

A LA Times article reports an ongoing story at Capistrano Valley High in Orange County, noting that 16 year-old Chad Farnan, along with his parents, “filed a lawsuit alleging that [James] Corbett[, an Advanced Placement European history teacher,] had violated the student’s constitutional rights by making ‘highly inappropriate’ and offensive statements in class regarding Christianity.” What were the allegedly offensive statements?

At the heart of the Farnans’ lawsuit is a tape recording from what they said is a class lesson Corbett taught Oct. 19. The lawsuit notes that Corbett told students that “when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth,” and that religion is not “connected with morality.”

Hmmm. Well, perhaps the teacher could benefit from using a little more sensitivity and, well, precision in his comments. Unfortunately, we don’t have a transcript of what he was talking about, but as one perceptive supporter of the teacher points out in the article: “It’s hard to teach European history without being somewhat critical of organized religion. But aren’t we supposed to learn from our mistakes? Isn’t that why we study history?” The article also references a Quaker student and an Irish Roman Catholic student who have not been offended by any the history teacher’s remarks. The Catholic student adds: “For hundreds of years the church was corrupt, and that has to be discussed.”

I can certainly imagine a context in which the teacher is raising legitimate concerns about corruption in the religious institutions of European history. For example, let’s say that part of the lesson for the day is this: The state churches of Europe were not interested in worshiping God, but rather protecting their power. For the religious institution, religion was not “connected with morality.” Many Christians today don’t recognize the corruption of the church’s past because they are trying to see church history through rose-colored glasses. But we have to recognize the truth of history and “when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth.”

This is the context within which I imagine the teacher giving his comments. Like I mentioned, he probably could have been a little more careful about the way he made the comments, but if he said something like I imagine, then he’s raising a valid point about ideological presuppositions when studying history. It seems to me that an Advanced Placement course should address the issue of preconceived notions in historical investigation.

The article highlights the 300 or so supports outside the school rallying on behalf of the teacher, Dr. Corbett. They have cool signs like, “Who would Jesus sue?” I like that one. They also talk about a Southern Baptist pastor, Wiley S. Drake, in the crowd recording interviews with the supporters for his Internet radio show. Drake is a guy, by the way, who has called his own supporters to pray for his critics to die (see here too–so much for Jesus asking us to love our “enemies”). His comments for the LA Times article are entirely in line with the attitude I mention at the beginning of this post: “I’m tired of being criticized and ostracized for being a Christian. I’m glad Chad filed his suit. It’s time we Christians fought back.”

It’s this “fighting” mentality that leads this situation in to a frenzied circus. I don’t know the context, so I’m like every other observer, but I would think that a civil conversation with the teacher would do the trick. I’m not proud of the fact that I was a creationist in high school, but a friend and I raised concerns with my high school psychology teacher about how she talked about evolution “as if it were fact” (those were my words at the time). She told us that she had thought about the issue of creationism and was sensitive to our concerns. She just didn’t see the evidence for creationism, but she’d be willing to take a look at any evidence we might have had. No law suit. Just a conversation. And it worked out okay. And I changed my mind when I got to college anyway, so I completely agree with her now.

I know that it’s tempting to see the world against you as a Christian high schooler at a public school, but honestly, I’d hope that a Christian school would give you the same kind of critical reflection on the history of the church. Christians shouldn’t feel they have to defend all the despicable acts of Christian history. I can only hope that the fever dies down and conservative Christians start to see that “fighting” is not as productive as conversing. Who knows, people might actually learn something from the conversation.

Update (12/23/07): See some reflections on this article and my post over at if i were a bell, i’d ring.

Update (12/28/07): See this editorial at the LA Times.