MISSION VIEJO, Calif. -- High school history professor James Corbett, who was successfully sued by a former student, Chad Farnan, for disparaging Christianity in class, flung a tirade of character attacks on the student in an editorial published in the Orange County Register Friday.
Corbett has appealed his case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-member panel of judges heard his case in February; a decision is pending.
In Corbett's editorial about the 2-year-old case he outlines his class requirements, and among his many statements, claims Farnan had "scholarly deficiencies."
"My best guess is that Chad was in over his head and sought to shift the blame for his lack of work ethic to an imagined religious slight and the Advocates were then there to hold his hand," he stated in the editorial.
Similar to the disparaging statments made in the Capistrano Valley High School history class against Christians and recorded by Farnan three years ago, Corbett writes:
“Noah’s ark,” Chad said, “when the whole world flooded,‘cause the whole world used to be under water. That’s scientific ... I saw it on the History Channel.” I presume Chad believes in the prophecy of Nostradamus, ancient aliens and the Loch Ness Monster, but if he does, he needed my lessons in critical thinking more than I realized."
The judge in the case held that Corbett did violate an establishment clause by stating “an unequivocal belief that creationism is ‘superstitious nonsense,’” according to a press release from Advocates for Faith and Freedom, the group defending Farnan. The court went on to hold that Corbett’s statement “constitutes improper disapproval of religion in violation of the Establishment Clause.”
In Farnan's Web site he previously wrote: “This was not an easy thing for me to do. As my family and I listened to the tapes of Dr. Corbett and his anti-christian views, we prayed for him everyday and hoped that he would stop.”
Farnan, who said he often prayed for his teacher, taped a lecture by Corbett in which he stated that “when you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth.”
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Chad Farnan bio from Pepperdine University's Water Polo site: Graduated with honors in 2010 from Capistrano Valley High School where he was a two-year varsity letterwinner at set guard for head coach Steve Yancy ... Averaged three goals per game during his senior season and was named to the All CIF third team, All South Coast League first team, and the South Orange County All Star water polo team ... Voted offensive MVP and was named as his school's athlete of the month ... Four-year varsity letterwinner in swimming and three-time All American ... Helped lead his school to three South Coast League crowns, two CIF Division I titles and the 2010 California State Championship ... Career best marks included a 21.1 in the 50 free and 53:40 in the 100 back ... Made school's honor roll all four years ... Scholar-Athlete.
Story by Alex Murashko, founder of Outreach New Media and AlexMurashko.com
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