Back in May, I posted this story:

California teacher Jim Corbett lost his case against student Chad Farnan. Farnan had accused his history teacher of make anti-Christian comments during class and the court agreed. Based on the lawsuit and the comments I’d read Corbett had made, I wasn’t siding with the teacher (though I agreed with what he said). I felt his comments were inappropriate.

In any case, there’s an interesting update to all this.

The student, Chad Farnan, is now a senior in high school and he’s been giving several speeches at Republican fundraisers in California.

“Now is the time to fight back, so our rights as Christians and conservatives can be taken back,” said Farnan, 17, a senior at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo. … “All these people support me, so I need to support them back and do fundraisers like this,” Farnan said in an interview. … “We need to pray for him because he is under attack for his faith,” said the fundraiser’s master of ceremonies, Deborah Pauly, a Villa Park councilwoman. … “It’s important for Republicans like us to support organizations like Advocates for Faith & Freedom,” Farnan said at the end of his speech Friday. “If we all stand together, we can change the world one step at a time.”

Like I said before, I wasn’t siding with the teacher in this case. And Farnan has the right to speak for whatever causes he wants to.

But I don’t know what he thinks ought to be “changed.” This was an isolated incident in which a public school teacher disparaged somebody’s faith. It doesn’t happen very often in the classroom. You hear far more stories about Christian teachers preaching in the classroom than you do about atheist teachers ripping on religion.

And who is “attacking” his faith? He can believe what he wants, he can pray in the classroom, he can bring his Bible to school, and he can worship at the flagpole. What “rights” does he want that he doesn’t already have?

I’m curious about what he plans to do next year. In college, religion is a much more open topic of discussion and he will be challenged about his faith. As he should be. Not by professors directly, but if he takes a science class, they won’t be talking about Jesus. If he dares to interact with students from other faiths, those discussions are going to happen, too.

You can’t shelter yourself forever and reality trumps religion every time.

(via Religion Clause)



