Polk State College professor fails student for refusing to bash Christianity

This is from Campus Reform.

Excerpt:

A professor at Polk State College has allegedly failed a humanities student after she refused to concede that Jesus is a “myth” or that Christianity oppresses women during a series of mandatory assignments at the Florida college.

According to a press release from the Liberty Counsel, a non-profit public interest law firm, Humanities Professor Lance “Lj” Russum gave a student a “zero” on four separate papers because the 16-year-old did not “conform to his personal worldviews of Marxism, Atheism, Feminism, and homosexuality.” The law firm has called for a full, private investigation of the professor and the course curriculum.

His view is that all religions are false:

“The point of this is not to ‘bash’ any religion, we should NEVER favor one over another, they all come from the same source, HUMAN IMAGINATION and [sic] they demonstrate that humanity is one,” a copy of Russum’s class outline, riddled with grammatical errors, says.

But he targets Christians especially, of course:

“The point of this is not to ‘bash’ any religion, we should NEVER favor one over another, they all come from the same source, HUMAN IMAGINATION and [sic] they demonstrate that humanity is one,” a copy of Russum’s class outline, riddled with grammatical errors, says.

“We have much to thank of [sic] humans like Michelangelo who took a sacred space, a temple to god, and made it a HUMAN space, a space where humanism can meet with god and discourse,” one course assignment read. “Finally humanity and the gods are on equal footing and that is what the myths of Hercules, Apollo and Jesus are all about—the divine becoming human and human being divine.”

In her essay, the student, who Liberty Counsel identifies as “G.L.,” argued that “it is a logical fallacy to make the assumption that Christian humanism’s goal was to ‘blend mythologies and make man the center’ simply on account of Michelangelo’s artwork or because Renaissance artists incorporate classicism.”

The student apparently received a zero on that assignment.

Another assignment allegedly required students to discuss how “fortunate” Martin Luther was to be born in a historical moment that allowed him to “challenge the mythos of the power structure of the church.” The assignment required students to write only about the humanism of Luther and his reformation—and students were instructed in bolded text to keep theology out of the paper:

“WHAT YOU MUST NOT WRITE ABOUT: 1. This is NOT about Luther’s theology

“2. Any quotes from his sermons or writings MUST be about humanism and how the reformation is in the right place and right time in history NOT some divine providence of the gods

“3. You must stay focused on the history of the humanism of Luther and his reformation IF You turn this into a theological debate or divine providence I will NOT read it and you will be given a zero.”

She failed that assignment as well.

Another description on the course outline criticized Christianity as one of the “most violent forms of religion the world has ever seen,” and bashed the religion for its “dominance by powerful men.” The description, supposedly for a class centered on the role of religion in the Middle Ages, claims that today’s major religions “STILL attempt to regulate the bodies of women.”

That sounds like indoctrination to me, not education.

How did the college respond to complaints?

In an email to G.L.’s parents, obtained by Liberty Counsel, Dean of Academic Affairs Donald Paintersaid that he had reviewed the materials presented in Russum’s Humanities 2020 course and “believe[d] them to be appropriate.” Painter apologized that the student and her family found the course materials to be “distasteful,” but said the materials would not be modified.

Painter, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment from Campus Reform, reminded the student’s parents in the email that they had signed an agreement with her dual-enrollment that acknowledged they were aware that some course material may be developed for “the adult student, age 18 or older.”

Yet another reason to never go into non-STEM degree programs. There are certainly good humanities professors, but there are also secular leftist clowns. It’s just far too easy for knuckleheads like this professor, who are divorced from reality, to get teaching positions in most secular leftist universities. They get paid for spouting opinions, and if you disagree with them, then they fail you. Don’t give them any of your money. It just prolongs their retreat from the adult responsibilities.