I guess I'd be a bitter man, too

"Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at [Iowa] Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday.

"'I'm just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master's degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job,' Bitterman said.

"[He] claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted."

Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal
The community college instructor says the school sided with students offended by his explanation of Adam and Eve.
By MEGAN HAWKINS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

"Students in the class, also broadcast to a classroom in Osceola, said Bitterman told them to question their religious beliefs. As a debate became heated, he told student Kristen Fry to "pop a Prozac."

"Fry said she left the class in tears, then contacted a lawyer.

"'I talked to a lawyer and was told that what he was doing was illegal,' she said. 'He was not allowed to be derogatory toward me for being a Christian. I told my adviser I would sue if I had to.'"

Students say fired Red Oak community college instructor was insulting

"Fired adjunct professor Steve Bitterman's comments to the Register show his total disregard, if not contempt, for those who view the Old Testament as the word of God.

"The Old Testament would be a great teaching reference since it has been found to be historically accurate and is a literary masterpiece.

"The CIA's World Factbook sites that 78 percent of U.S. citizens are Christian.

"Faith is the basis of the Christian religion, and faith is defined by Webster's dictionary as "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof." What role would faith play if every biblical account had to first be authenticated by academic scholars?

"Bitterman didn't get fired because he took an academic approach to a Bible story. He was fired because he didn't truly understand the book he taught from.

- David Swain"

Teacher's misuse of text warranted his dismissal

"It's completely understandable to have conviction for your own set of beliefs, and the wish to have those beliefs honored and respected by people around you is natural.

"But what is so utterly bull-headed and blind about all of this is that Bitterman's firing wasn't just a childish attempt to prove 'We're right and you're wrong.' It was the outright proof of just how easily we continue to let bullies take control.

"And that's really all this is: a case of some zealot fundamentalists nagging until they get their way - just to prove a point. It's an attempt to once again pull in to question the seperation [sic] between church and state, begging every 'freedom-loving American' to really think about how little freedom Christians in this country really have.

"But that argument is tired. Let's be honest: It's really just a lame excuse. In all reality, there doesn't seem to be much weight to the argument of the nation's religious majority claiming such injustice."

"Students should learn to take comments with grain of salt", by the Southern Methodist University The Daily Campus Ed Board