Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

[BlaznFattyz]

A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.

Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.

"I'm just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master's degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job," Bitterman said... Cont'd

 

[17th Angel]

He shouldn't be fired...

The *thinks of nice name to call them...* Errr The idiots! (far better than what I had on the tip of my tongue.) Cannot fire him because he said that.... That is like a bunch of freaking nazi's because he has an opinion on a story book.......

If he told them freaking santa wasn't to be taken for reals or mickey freaking mouse... Would they have fired him? :\ hells no.... They need to prove that it is real... (which is impossible... ) before they fire him.

If I was him I'd take a huge smelly dump on each and everyone of their door steps

Seriously... Awesome Idea... There is enough religious bull brain washing as it is.... Let the kids minds freaking develop before filling it with Oh and he came along and pulled a rib out of adam and made a woman.... Yup his rib... Just pulled it out lol. He had an uneven number of ribs... And instead of making woman just like man... So it was a complete different creature that looked kind of simular.. He just ripped open adams' chested cracked off the odd rib and BAM there was a freaking woman lol....... Let them become.... Adults... Then let them choose to believe it or not.. Kids will freaking believe anything ANYTHING lol it is unfair to have to listen to that.

 

[Dondi]

I'm assuming that being a comminuty college that this is a secular college and probably state funded. If that's the case, he should have never been fired.

Had this been a Christian college or Hebrew academy where by-laws specifically stated that any faculty member must abide by a literal rendering of the Bible as a condition of employment, I could see justification of getting canned for dispensing the creation story as a fairy tale. But this is apparently not the case.

They need to reinstate this person to employment...with apologies...and lost pay. Else, he would rightly need to sue the crap out of this community college.

 

[wil]

I'm willing to bet there is more to the story. The religious comment being treated as a scapegoat. We'll see but I foresee the college bringing forth more grounds for dismissal.

There are at least two sides to every story...and you can take that literally.

 

[greymare]

as the nuns who taught me would say.......oh, its just one of the great mysteries of god.(translation.....dunno) love the grey

 

[17th Angel]

There are at least two sides to every story...and you can take that literally.

Best make that three...

His, theirs and then the truth.

 

[Saltmeister]

I'm willing to bet there is more to the story. The religious comment being treated as a scapegoat. We'll see but I foresee the college bringing forth more grounds for dismissal.

There are at least two sides to every story...and you can take that literally.

I think that would be unlikely.

I think usually it's the other way round. Rather than coming out and saying that one fires a teacher because he misled people about religion, organisations often state some other reason (ie. he was incompetent and couldn't teach) and the real reason (he misled people about the Bible) is kept private.

The statement that one was incompetent would of course be a lie and a cover for the real reason, so if they came out with that they were probably honest about it.

That is, of course, unless they deliberately wanted to make people think they were religious fanatics (and possibly sabotage their own reputation) in order to cover up professional bickering . . . a nice distraction that carries the risk of tarnishing a school's image as "the bigotry of a school that's authoritarian about religion."

. . . but then again I heard that America is full of fundamentalists . . . which means they probably have a lot of support.

As for my personal view about Genesis -- well I think people would be misled either way (to see or not to see it literally). If we told people that they had to see it literally, they would not see the value of not seeing it literally (ie. metaphorically) or vice versa. This, I think is dangerous because it turns people into slaves. People become institutionalised, and then they can't leave the institutions of the religious system in which they had been indoctrinated. They start thinking that there's no other way to be Christian but to do it as others do it in the church they attend, as they believe that the "true church" has to be somewhere on this planet. But the truth is that it's not the only way.

What if Genesis was a description of a reality that didn't exist on earth as we know it? What if Adam and Eve were humans from another earth-like universe, and banishment from Eden was banishment from that reality/universe? They were still human and it was still some kind of earth. Maybe it was a "heavenly earth" or a "spiritual earth."

 

[17th Angel]

What if Genesis was a description of a reality that didn't exist on earth as we know it?

You mean like.... Eve wasn't made from Adam's rib? As REALITY here on earth knows existance of the woman was created that way obviously??????

lol... How come Adam apparently came first? Yet the male is a mutation of the female? Power trip perchance? OR maybe! Not as reality here on earth knows existance!!! ZOMG!

 

[Dondi]

What if Genesis was a description of a reality that didn't exist on earth as we know it? What if Adam and Eve were humans from another earth-like universe, and banishment from Eden was banishment from that reality/universe? They were still human and it was still some kind of earth. Maybe it was a "heavenly earth" or a "spiritual earth."

I wrote of that possibility here in this thread. Just a possibility.

 

[wil]

I think that would be unlikely.

I think usually it's the other way round. Rather than coming out and saying that one fires a teacher because he misled people about religion, organisations often state some other reason (ie. he was incompetent and couldn't teach) and the real reason (he misled people about the Bible) is kept private....

I've not read that the college gave that reason....it is claimed by the TEACHER that that was the reason for his dismissal....hence my feeling that the college will have a different reason...

 

[China Cat Sunflower]

I'm with Wil here. There has to be more to the story. It would be an exceedingly freakish thing for a public community college to fire a teacher on these grounds. Not saying it couldn't happen, but if it did you can bet the ACLU will be all over it. The Des Moines Register is a good little paper, and the story did say that all the principles at the college declined comment, so we haven't, unless someone has checked this almost week old story out and would like to share, heard the other side.

Chris