God's Not Dead: Real Life

You can't make this stuff up.

“Don’t take this class if you believe the Bible is inspired or infallible.”

That was how a professor at UC Berkeley had launched his “Jewish Civilization I: The Biblical Period” course, a class in which a stunned doctoral student David Kurz sat.

“This stuff isn’t taught in synagogues or churches because they don’t want to piss people off,” the professor had continued. “… Anyone can take this class, as long as you play by the rules of the game. … If you disagree with the approach we use, that’s an F.”

Kurz — who earned his bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology from Princeton University and master’s degree in biological science from the University of Cambridge — was shocked at the professor’s declaration.

Kurz decided to challenge the professor:

I politely peppered my professor with questions to try to better understand his intellectual paradigm. Just to be clear, there is a correct answer you want us to accept, I asked. “Correct.” What about rigorous biblical scholarship claiming, for instance, that Moses did, in fact, write the vast majority of the Pentateuch? “That doesn’t exist.” It does, I argued. “I don’t want people who are going to disagree with me all semester,” he repeated. I thought a university was an environment in which multiple viewpoints and debates were encouraged, I countered. “Not in this classroom” came the maddeningly smug response.

After the class, I was left shaking my head, a mixture of indignation, sadness, confusion and frustration exploding inside me. As I packed up my things, other students came over to me and thanked me for my questions, explaining that they, too, were upset about the professor’s overly harsh attitude toward religion and religious students. We all felt the arrogance of the professor and the injustice of the situation, but did not know what to do about it.

And the comment box ... Classic. Atheists found their way to the article and act as typical Gnus that they are.

I also want to note that CollegeFix.com, depending on the article's topic, tends to get its typical posts from opposing groups e.g. God's Not Dead gets atheists and such groups usually play the standard cards of which I'm all too fluent it.

There are have been numerous accusations that the stories on CollegeFix.com are exaggerated (see: Steven Glick story, David Kurz story) and many who believe that the atmosphere once inside the classrooms on the majority of campuses, whether they be private or public institutions of higher learning, is not liberal -- many believe that it's a neutral atmosphere. Clearly, as sites like CollegeFix.com and Mind the Campus prove otherwise. What's interesting about those who say that both Glick and Kurz are lying is that both have written articles about their respective incidents in their school newspaper, detailing what has happened to them (unlike pieces written in Yale Daily News about racism and sexism without actually giving clear examples). The notion that maybe misunderstanding in on the students part is reasonable, but as I think about it I do not believe that is necessarily so. I am convince that what both Glick and Kurz write about is fairly accurate on how the event(s) took place. If they were indeed lying then the professors that they accuse would have called them out on being liars. So far they have not issued a statement to clear things up.