Like the popular movie “God’s Not Dead,” this teacher persecuted the student.
Something awful is taking place in America today. During most of U.S. history, if someone was clearly of another faith, basic curiosity may have led to questions being asked, but no one cared. What is happening in these post-modern times is that people who worship God in any way are being mistreated, talked down to, and are even seeing their First Amendment rights come under fire, as Faith Reel revealed today.
A student named Grace Lewis was enrolled in “a class offered by Polk State College, in Florida.” Lewis is known for being a very good student, often holding a 3.9 G.P.A. She is, after all, taking college classes while still in high school. That achievement was diminished greatly when she got four zero grades because she held to her faith in the existence of God.
Failing grades were given to Lewis simply because she refused to deny what she knew to be true when questioned. This militant atheist demanded she drop his class and worked tirelessly to convert students.
The questions were pointed and the teacher did not seem to allow honest rebuttals. For example, “Why did Christianity, and it’s male God’s, seek to silence these women?” What women?
Also, it was stated as fact that “…Christianity is one of the most violent forms of religion the world have ever seen.”
The first question may be pertaining to how the first century did not allow female teachers in the churches. Since first-century women could not read, this command made sense, a fact purposefully ignored by the teacher.
As for the supposed violent nature of the Christian faith, if the teacher used the recent bombings to say that Islam was the most violent religion of modern times, the outrage would have never ceased.
The sixteen-year-old high school student has contacted a lawyer and is fighting back, thankfully. Lance L.J. Russum was the instructor of the virtual class Lewis was taking.
Russum, as early as week one, started saying that the source of all religion was simply the result of humankind’s “imagination.” By week four, the anti-God opinions were said to be stated as absolute truth, and by weeks 11, 12, 13, the teen was awarded zero’s for not agreeing with his absurd proclamations.
While quick to squash the freedom of religious thought that his pupils have, the teacher himself had a picture a Jesus Christ flashing the middle finger from the heavens on his Facebook page. It seems that he is quite comfortable with such freedoms when he is exercising them.
Her attorney, Matthew Staver, is the founder of “Christian and Liberty Council.” They were contacted by the family of Lewis after she got no less than four zero marks for not denying God. Staver said that Russum is a militant atheist who is demanding that others become one, too.
The student participated in an assignment to keep a journal and to have it read. The teacher read that this pupil believed in God, pulled her aside, and told her that she needed to drop his class. This has happened to at least one other student, as well, reports have said.
The dean of the college was contacted by Staver, but he has so far refused to make the situation right. Instead, Polk told Fox News that “this accusation is baseless, without merit, and completely lacking factual support,” according to Eileen Holden, college president.
While the four zeros were not addressed (which is part of the reason for the legal fight), after the girl contacted an attorney, her grades suddenly improved.
“Dropping the class would have been good for me, but not good the students coming behind me,” the Christian student said when asked why she remained enrolled. She does not feel that students should be afraid to believe in God while attending college courses or any other classes.
“This is not what education should be,” she added.
Her lawyer has said that he wants them to go back, review the grades, and to deal with this “militant atheist” teacher who on his emails said that Adolph Hitler was not violent enough. While he is free to hold such views, Staver accurately argues that he is not free to make everyone else accept them.
The Fox host observed as the video closes that to get four zero’s in today’s college structure is almost unheard of, a nuance that is quite telling.
Polk College now will have to address why such outlandish views are held and forced on students. Also, thanks to Ms. Lewis, they will have to do so before the next batch of students suffers as she did.
