ED Week reported that a California teacher's anti creationism comment
violated the anti-establishment clause in the first amendment. There are a
variety of comments in various places on the web. Here is a link to one
article.
The facts are that the teacher has made various anti-religious remarks in
his history class, although practically all have been ruled as legitimately
tied to historical commentary of the day. The one remark that was ruled as
violating the first amendment was calling creationism "superstitious
nonsense". This was made when covering a court case where a science teacher
was forced to stop teaching creationism.
The suit is a civil suit so the "violation of law" comments are probably
purple prose. The suit was in federal court.
The teacher was probably a bit confrontational, but the singling out of the
particular remark smacks of a judicial attempt to silence pro evolution
teaching, and it may be trying to advance an anti-evolution agenda. There
were many other comments made by the same teacher that could have violated
the first amendment, but they would not advance the anti-science cause.
When will this type of suit happen to college professors?