James Corbett, Teacher Extraordinaire, Persecuted by Christians

Over the weekend I stumbled across a story right in my own back yard. It's about James Corbett, an extraordinary teacher who is being persecuted in California's courts by a bunch of Christians. His crime? He treats Christianity like any part of history, subject to genuine scrutiny and criticism.

Dr. James Corbett teaches Advanced Placement European History at Capistrano High School. Even his detractors admit that Corbett is a truly great teacher, and the Advanced Placement scores of his students confirm their opinion. Corbett's philosophy is simple:

"The only virtue for Socrates was "knowledge." He reached it by questioning the most deeply held beliefs of his students by which I mean all of Athens and ultimately all of us. What troubled the Athenians about Socrates, however, was not listed in the charges. His crime was that he prompted people to think. ... Every teacher who makes a student think takes the risk that he will be attacked by parents and others who see themselves as guardians of cherished political and religious myth."

Corbett goes on to explain how all students who sign up for his class know what they're getting into – they sign a paper saying the class is going to be provocative, their parents receive a letter, and they know from their fellow students. In fact, that's why many of them select Dr. Corbett's class: it's the best.

Apparently Chad Farnan, an average student who admitted that he hadn't even been doing his assignments, was fine with Corbett's study of European history, until they got to Christianity's role in that history. So Chad took a tape recorder to class (which is a violation of California law), and recorded a few two- to five-second snippets of Corbett's history lessons. Here are the gems:

Koran Burner Terry Jones was Kicked out of Germany

More scandals about Koran burner Pastor Terry Brown: He was kicked out of his German ministry in disgrace and fined by the government for lying about his education. You can read the details at The Guardian (UK).

Pastor Jones, Koran Burner, is also a Creepy Old Man

I guess we shouldn't be surprised to discover that Pastor Terry Jones, the man who plans to burn Korans on 9/11, is also a creepy old man. The Smoking Gun (a great resource for finding dirty laundry) found the DWOC Church Rulebook for the Dove World Outreach Center, and boy is it weird. It starts off with a bang:

"The goal of the Academy is for each student to develop a stabile [sic] lifestyle of Discipline in order to become a strong apostolic Fife [sic] Fold Minister..."

Ok, so maybe the man isn't good at spelling and grammar. So what? Maybe he's just a common guy trying to spread Jesus' word! Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, and read on... (By the way, from here forward I'll skip the "sic", because there are just too many! Assume the mistakes are his, not mine.)

• No back talking (pride), but asking for permission to speak
• When being confronted concerning a bad attitude or any other issue repentance and apology is expected instantly!
• Attitudes like pride, fear, resistance ... will be corrected instantly!
• Given orders, can not be changed...

Ok, so maybe he's barely literate and he likes strong discipline. I mean, he's a minister, teaching the gospel to students, right?

Well, not exactly. It seems they want to control every part of the students' lives.

• [Lunch] break ... is testing time
• Sweets, cake and things like that are not allowed
• No alcohol
• No eating out in restaurants
• Students will be put on the scale once a week to follow the tendency. Each student received his weigh goal, that must be reached, otherwise this category is failed.

Ok, so they're strict about diet. But surely they are family oriented, right? Wrong.

• During Academy you are not allowed to visit family members or friends or receive visits.
• ... wedding, funerals or Birthdays are no exception...
• No phone calls.
• Singles are not allowed to have romantic relitionships to the opposite sex.
• Family member working on the property, the students are suppose to have a healthy distance. ... Concentrate on the work ... there should not be anytime being left for small talk anyway.
• In order to obey God, we have to leave the family behind!

Ugh. This is the stuff cults are made of.

If I found one of my kids joining this cult,

Send Pastor Terry Jones to Afghanistan to Burn a Quran

I have the perfect solution for Pastor Terry Jones! Let's give him a ride to downtown Kabul in Afghanistan, and give him a Quran and a book of matches. Then we'll see just how committed to Christ and the Bible he really is!

I'll bet General Petraeus, who has strongly condemned Jones, would be happy to help out. Why, I'll bet Petraeus would love to give Jones a ride in a nice, fast jet straight from Florida to the front lines.

But maybe Petraeus doesn't want to rile things up in Afghanistan – who could blame him? So here's a better idea: Pakistan. It seems the United States Embassy in Pakistan has also condemned Jones for his self-centered, unpatriotic and foolhardy grandstanding. I'll bet they'd be glad to give him a ticket to Pakistan. The embassy could take Jones down to the center of Islamabad, hand him a Quran (they have a lot of Qurans in Pakistan) and a match, and let Jones do his grandstanding there!

It seems to me if Jones is really committed to Jesus and his Bible,

Creationists are "Surprised" That Convergent Evolution Works

I try to avoid commenting on anything from the "Discovery Institute" because any response lends legitimacy to their creationist drivel. But their latest attack on science is a subtle trick that once again relies on the ignorance of their readership.

Recently, scientists Christin, Weinreich (Brown University) and Besnard (Imperial College) discovered a fascinating side effect of evolution. Scientists have long known about something called convergent evolution, where species that evolve independently in different parts of the world end up looking remarkably similar. The tasmanian wolf (or thylacine, right) is a classic textbook case: it has remarkable similarities to North American and Eurasian wolves, yet it's actually a marsupial, related to the kangaroos.

The cause of convergent evolution is simple: a solution that works in one part of the world works everywhere. The traits that make wolves a successful predator in America also work for the thylacine in Australia.

Did you ever wonder why horses, cattle and antelopes and sparrows have eyes on the sides of their heads, while dogs, cats, owls and humans have eyes in the front? Simple: dogs, cats, owls and humans are predators, and they hunt horses, cattle, antelopes and sparrows. The prey animals need to have a 360-degree view because danger can be anywhere, while the predators need to see only the prey, and see it well. The stereoscopic front-facing eyes of predators converged (came about independently), as did the widely-spaced, 360-degree-view eyes of prey species.

Convergent evolution is a remarkable but well-understood part of the Theory of Evolution. But Christin et al reported on a remarkable evolutionary parallel that happens at the molecular level: in many cases the phenotype's convergent evolution (the eyes, teeth, organs or metabolic features that we can see) are accompanied by genetic convergent evolution. That is, the very same genes and gene sequences that control something in one species are found to control the same thing in another species!

That was quite surprising ... scientists had always assumed that when traits evolved separately and in complete isolation, there would be no genetic similarity. Yet there it was.

And that's where the trouble began. The Discovery Institute creationists seized on the word "surprising" in the scientists' article and started waving it around,

1001 Inventions: The Once-Great Islam's Great Decline

Nations and cultures in decline seem to revel in their past greatness. In fact, if you find a culture that's loudly proclaiming its past accomplishments, it's a sure bet that the culture is in decline. Young people look forward, old folks look backwards, and so it is with cultures and nations. Just go to the British Museum and you'll see what I mean: the country that once stretched around the world now rules an island, but loves to bask in its history.

Look at any culture that lauds its past, and you'll find a culture that's been defeated, beaten back, or overrun. You'll see a culture that's lost its greatness, and now can only remember its past.

Apparently this is true of religion too, and Islam is giving us a wonderful illustration. A new exhibit, 1001 Inventions: Science in Muslim Lands, is glorifying the "Golden Age" of Muslim scholars. During this period, from the mid-8th to mid-13th century, Islamic scholars led the world in

Helping Christians Push Back Against the Gay Agenda in the Classroom

Wow, it seems that Christians, who vastly outnumber all other faiths and atheists combined, are a persecuted minority in America! Those darned gay activists are managing to kick Christians around the block and force their gayness on everyone.

Today's underdog is Focus on Family. In this amazing video, we learn just how sinister the homosexual agenda is!

We've got some back-to-school tools that will help you identify and push back against the gay agenda in the classroom.

If there's one characteristic trait of the gay agenda in the public school system it's this: it's sneaky! ... It's designed to look like something else to make it hard for parents to realize what's going on. ... Homosexual activists have become very adept ... at sneaking in these homosexuality lessons into things with innocent sounding titles. ... We've seen teachers give books to students in the name of 'diversity lessons,' and let me just mention that the gay activists have become very adept at using ... cute little pictures of furry animals ... to familiarize [children] with the whole idea of same-sex parenting and gay marriage.

That's the key to this whole thing. We need to be accepting and embracing and tolerant, but there's not a lot of tolerance and embracing and accepting of Christian values and the families that want their children raised with Christian values.

Do I have this right? They're facing discrimination and intolerance ... because they're not allowed to discriminate against gays? Yes, that's what they're saying: its anti-Christian discrimination when Christians aren't allowed to discriminate.

What's really scary about this video is how they've completely twisted their hatred of homosexuality into a paranoid delusion. Nobody, nobody, is pushing homosexuality on anyone.