California College Instructor Uses Bible as Health Care Text Book

It never ceases to amaze me how Christianists seek to impose their beliefs on regardless of the setting and regardless of how much science demonstrates that the Bible cannot be interpreted literally. A case in point has cropped up in California where an instructor at a public community college in Fresno has been presenting his religious views on homosexuality, abortion and global warming as fact to students in an introductory health science class. Freedom of religion does not mean that one gets to impose religious beliefs on others - something the Christianists and GOP members of the Virginia General Assembly in connection with my previous post cannot seem to grasp. Obviously, some one dropped the ball in the hiring process with this instructor. I continue to believe that Christianists and their theocratic agenda are a clear and present danger to constitutional government in the USA and many of its states. Here are highlights from the Fresno Bee:
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ACLU staff attorney Elizabeth Gill said at least two students at Fresno City College have complained that instructor Bradley Lopez quoted the Bible as proof that human life begins at conception, characterized homosexuality as a mental illness, and discussed apocalyptic Christian prophesies during a lesson on climate change.
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If the students' descriptions are correct, Lopez's teaching methods would violate California laws protecting gays from discrimination and prohibiting religious indoctrination at public schools, Gill said. She sent a letter to college president Cynthia Azaria on Monday asking the school "to act immediately to ensure that all its health classes provide only accurate and unbiased information."
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"Someone should realize you can't have a class like this presenting deeply held, and I'm sure honestly held, religious views as science," Gill said. "This is not a situation where people are taking a seminar on religion. Folks taking this class think they are getting Health Basics 101."
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Jacqueline Mahaffey, 24, who had Lopez as a teacher last semester, said his personal beliefs became apparent on the first day of class when he made a point of contradicting their textbook, which listed cancer as the leading cause of death. Lopez told the class that abortions killed more people than cancer. *During the second week, Lopez allegedly gave the students a genetics assignment that involved studying the Bible to research Jesus Christ's biological makeup. He also told students that "evolution is a dead theory" and invited them to visit him in his office "if you want to know about your Creator."
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Gill said that as a college instructor, Lopez is free to express his opinions but that because Fresno City College is publicly funded, his teaching cannot become "religious inculcation." Fresno City College is a two-year school with an enrollment of about 25,000.
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No doubt Matt Staver or some similar religious loon will rush to Lopez's defense alleging that Lopez is being persecuted because he is a "Christian."