What can be done about a teacher who teaches the bible as fact?

Pathofreason
Superfan
Pathofreason's picture
Posts: 320
Joined: 2006-12-23
User is offlineOffline
What can be done about a teacher who teaches the bible as fact?

A friend of mine is in a world history class at a college that has no religious affiliation. Her teacher continually teaches the bible as fact and argues with anyone who opposes him. Beyond going to administration what can be done about this teacher?

Co-Founder of the Atheist/Freethought website Pathofreason.com

www.pathofreason.com

Check it out


Kevin R Brown
Superfan
Kevin R Brown's picture
Posts: 3142
Joined: 2007-06-24
User is offlineOffline
Uh. Point-out that there is

Uh. Point-out that there is no firmament over the Earth? That we aren't in a Geocentric universe? That the Earth is billions of years old?

 

Honestly, dude, an administrator really needs to be brought-in here.

Quote:
"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."

- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940


butterbattle
ModeratorSuperfan
butterbattle's picture
Posts: 3945
Joined: 2008-09-12
User is offlineOffline
 Quote:Argues with anyone

 

Quote:
Argues with anyone who opposes him.

If any people in the class have read the Bible and have a decent understanding of key verses, I would suggest that they simply team up and argue back. Beat up the professor. (intellectually, of course) If you've taken a class in philosophy, logic, etc, that would also help immensely.

edit: Okay, you could just get an administrator, but that's not fun at all. 

The belief that the Bible is the infallible word of God is so obviously wrong and ridiculous that's it's really not that hard to annihilate. Try some ethically sensitive verse. For example, this one is perfect for the job.

"Say to the Israelites: "A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding."" Leviticus 12:2-5 

Or, this obvious contradiction,

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

"Beloved, let us LOVE one another: for love is of God; and every one who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is LOVE." 1 John 4:7-8

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." Exodus 20:5-6

I've never witnessed a theist even make an actual argument against this one. Your professor will probably charge that you are taking verses out of context, without explaining how they are out of context. Nope, none of them are in a parable.

1) Love is not jealous. 

2) God is love.

3) God is jealous.

Isn't there a problem here?

And more...

"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." Deuteronomy 13:6-10

If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. Exodus 21:20

"Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. Numbers 31:15-18

And, the stupid "it's Old Testament" argument.

"For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

"Because God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother must certainly be put to death.'" Matthew 15:4 

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19

These are just some of my favorites of course.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare