A San Juan Capistrano high school student and his parents filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging that his history teacher violated his constitutional rights by making "highly inappropriate" and offensive statements in class regarding Christianity.

James Corbett, who teaches Advanced Placement European history at Capistrano Valley High School, consistently "demonstrates a sense of hostility toward religion," causing Christian students to "feel ostracized and treated as second-class citizens," according to the lawsuit filed in federal district court in Santa Ana by Chad Farnan, 16, and his parents, Bill and Teresa.

The lawsuit contends, among other things, that Corbett told students during class that "when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth"; said that religion is not "connected with morality"; compared Christians to "Muslim fundamentalists" who want women to "stay pregnant, barefoot, and in the kitchen and have babies until your body collapses"; and suggested that churchgoers are more likely to commit rape and murder.

Corbett did not return a call for comment. Capistrano Valley High School Principal Tom Ressler described Corbett as a "solid" teacher who has been with the Capistrano Unified School District for more than 15 years. Ressler said Corbett's class was popular among Advanced Placement students and has a high pass rate.

"It's really premature to say anything about this," he said of the allegations. "People can make allegations all they want; we have to see the reality and context of what was said."

Teresa Farnan said her suspicions were aroused on the first day of school when her son -- a sophomore honors student required to take Corbett's class for college admission -- asked her whether America was founded on Christian values, which he said his teacher had denied.

"He had learned in the eighth grade that our country was founded by persecuted Christians," said the mother, who describes her family as nondenominational Christian, "so I sent him to school with a tape recorder."

During the next two months, Chad Farnan said, he taped Corbett's lectures with the recorder in plain sight on his backpack.

"I'm not sure whether he saw me," the student said. "He's against Christianity and bashes it all the time. He's been indoctrinating us and not teaching the class; we don't need to be hearing his political views during school time when we should be learning."

Eventually the Farnans contacted Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a nonprofit organization based in Murrieta dedicated to "protecting religious liberty," a spokeswoman said.

The group filed the lawsuit on the family's behalf, attorney Jennifer Monk said, because it believed Corbett's behavior violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"The teacher is a representative of the state and the Constitution requires government neutrality toward religion," she said. "This teacher's conduct and words clearly show he is hostile toward religion and is indoctrinating these kids, who are a captive audience."

The lawsuit -- based entirely on Corbett's comments during one Oct. 19 class that the Farnans describe as typical -- asks that the teacher be removed from the classroom. "We will not seek damages if the teacher is removed," Monk said.

Chad Farnan, who attended Corbett's class until the lawsuit was filed, said Wednesday that he would remain in school but stay out of the class until the matter is settled.

Full complaint (which is more amusing, actually) is at:

http://www.faith-freedom.com/uploads/cases/Complaint%20for%20Declaratory%20and%20Injunctive%2 0Relief_12.11.07.pdf

I'm completely behind this lawsuit. I know that doesn't surprise you.

You can't have it both ways. Make up your minds.

Behind it as well.

I was made to say "under god" in school.

I was made to say "under god" in school.

I think thats prolly wrong to make kids do that Herm.

If you don't say "Under God", you do not root for Brett Favre and are clearly not an American.

jk, but didn't you tell us this before Hermy? Didn't you have to "clean out the sandbox" and other shit like that?

Believe it or not, a blog I read said the ACLU condemned the statements or something like that.

I looked for a statement directly from the ACLU and couldn't find one, so this blog's entry is really not worth the bytes it took up on the internet...yet.

I really hate quoting unsubstantiated shit(and rarely do it), but thought I'd throw it out there.

Religion don't mean a thing. Just another way to be right wing.

The teacher comes across as an inappropriate dumbass, even when he's making points I agree with (e.g. Rush Limbaugh). I had a liberal European history teacher who brought in news clippings (particularly stuff tied to historical events -- he liked to demonstrate relevancy). He never acted like this. If anything, he bent over backwards to try and explain contrasting points of view (usually there were more than two) when it'd come up.

But, if I grok things correctly, the student never so much as approached the teacher or school or anyone else -- just withdrew from the class and filed a lawsuit. AFAICT, this is about publicity, moreso than parents wanting to do the right thing for their child, getting them into conservative universities like USC and UCLA.

From what I read...so takes it for what its worth, the teacher has had complaints. The principal told them to eff off. So some of the students parents got lawyers and went to School board. This was not the first time the teacher did this, if what i read was correct, and the School board knew of it.

Yeah, but neither the student nor parents filing the complaint ever talked with the teacher or principal. Who knows? Play the tape to the principal and maybe you hear a different tune. I know that lawsuits take money away from students and give it to lawyers, and that's rarely a good thing.

Yeah, but neither the student nor parents filing the complaint ever talked with the teacher or principal. Who knows? Play the tape to the principal and maybe you hear a different tune. I know that lawsuits take money away from students and give it to lawyers, and that's rarely a good thing.

Why should they go to a principal that has already blown off other parents? If thats true?

Lawsuits don't really take money from kids. It's usually E & O insurance. Will the premiums go up? Maybe. But don't hire dumbass teachers and neglect information when it comes to you that you have a problem.

If they were aware that this was going on and did nothing, the payout will be much larger than normal. Assuming there will be one.

Why should they go to a principal that has already blown off other parents? If thats true?
I'd trust my own judgement on such matters over some other parent's.


Lawsuits don't really take money from kids. It's usually E & O insurance. Will the premiums go up? Maybe. But don't hire dumbass teachers and neglect information when it comes to you that you have a problem.

If they were aware that this was going on and did nothing, the payout will be much larger than normal. Assuming there will be one.
What's interesting is that the school (and the teacher, in small part) was at the center of a past lawsuit that's very much related:

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/peloza.html

Christian-baiting has its place. Internet message boards, for example. I think it's a pretty irresponsible thing for a history teacher to engage in with the kids though.

To counter the effect of "jesus glasses" he should simply teach facts and critical thinking skills. The smart ones will put two and two together for themselves. The rest are doomed to become new sheep in the flock (hey, that's religion's metaphor not mine) anyway.

As for whether the school board should throw the teacher under the jesus bus, that mostly depends on whether he's willing to see the error of his ways or not.

Never without your condescension when it comes to religion, are you gee? People do realize that Religion is studied academically as well as just practiced don't they?

Agree that its clearly inappropriate no matter what side the guy is on and that regardless of if other folks had gone through the chain of command the kids parents could have made at least an effort to address those directly responsible. America is far too litigeous. Get the dude to knock it off. Done. At any rate. At least in my experience in school. The crackpots who thought so much of themselves to push their own agenda on kids were easy to spot and easier still to ignore.

Never without your condescension when it comes to religion, are you gee? People do realize that Religion is studied academically as well as just practiced don't they?


Not only do I realize it's studied academically I also realize the difference between studying mythology and believing it literally.

The literallists are just the loudest, not the largest.