{"id":14553,"date":"2024-03-18T07:33:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T02:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/18\/fired-biology-professor-fights-back-and-wins-has-a-message-for-fellow-christians\/"},"modified":"2024-03-18T07:33:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T02:03:51","slug":"fired-biology-professor-fights-back-and-wins-has-a-message-for-fellow-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/18\/fired-biology-professor-fights-back-and-wins-has-a-message-for-fellow-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired Biology Professor Fights Back and Wins, Has a Message For Fellow Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-cbn-component-name=\"wysiwyg_editor\">\n<p>A Texas college professor who said he was fired after university leaders reportedly found his teachings too \u201creligious\u201d has been reinstated to his position more than a year after being terminated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listen to them on the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"482\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?p=CCBNC3640195386\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Johnson Varkey and his attorneys at First Liberty Institute recently announced Varkey had won his adjunct professorial job back at St. Philip\u2019s College in San Antonio, Texas, after being fired in 2023 \u201cfor teaching standard principles about human biology and reproduction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes after a \u201cfavorable settlement\u201d was reached with the Alamo Community College District; the school system voluntarily reinstated Varkey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was so excited,\u201d the professor told CBN News after the announcement. \u201cAnd thank the Lord for that outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Varkey said he\u2019s grateful to First Liberty and to the Lord for helping him get back his position.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am excited to go back and teach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Watch Varkey share his story:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Fired Professor Fights Back and Wins, Has a Message For Fellow Christians\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lKM3fz6OMBQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>As CBN News previously reported, a biology professor for the past 20 years, Varkey consistently taught the same facts about the human reproductive system without any problems. But that changed last year, when he received a notice of dismissal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was surprised and I was shocked, because, you know, never expected for such a letter from, or such an email from, the school because I\u2019ve been teaching that for that school for the last 20 years and without any complaints,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Varkey believes his lessons on human biology and sex being determined by chromosomes X and Y sparked complaints leading to his dismissal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the 12th of January [of 2023], I received an email from the vice president of the department of the school that they are doing an ethic violation investigation on me, so I responded to his email and asked him, \u2018What are the complaints?&#8217;\u201d Varkey said. \u201cSo, what he said was the human resources will contact me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The professor said, although he asked about complaints, he received no response from HR and didn\u2019t get a chance to defend himself before his firing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I got the letter of termination, what the VP mentioned was that some of the complaints were offensive to the homosexuals and transgender,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I presume \u2026 that, very possibly, it is based on a human reproductive system, which I taught, which was in November [2022].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Varkey and his attorney believe he was potentially unfairly targeted by some who disagreed with his views or outside work as a pastor.<\/p>\n<p>First Liberty filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), but before receiving an official response, St. Philip\u2019s College issued the reinstatement.<\/p>\n<p>Kayla Toney, associate Counsel at First Liberty Institute, told CBN News her legal firm was initially \u201coutraged\u201d after initially finding out about Varkey\u2019s plight, noting the fact his \u201cspeech had been targeted\u201d was deeply concerning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were many First Amendment violations that we saw right away, first his religious exercise,\u201d Toney said. \u201cHe is a committed Christian; he\u2019s also a pastor in addition to his role as a biology professor. So, we think there was some religious targeting by students who knew he was a pastor and thought they could accuse him of something like religious preaching.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The attorney said her client was \u201csimply teaching straight from the textbook and following those lesson plans that he had used for 19 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beyond that, Toney cited academic freedom concerns at the center of the case, arguing professors like Varkey should be free to teach from textbooks without fear of reprisal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also saw some due process concerns that Dr. Barkey never had the opportunity to meet with the students who were upset, or learn what their complaints were, or have a conversation, even with his supervisor, which was part of the college\u2019s own procedures for a complaint or a termination,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Varkey could return to the classroom as soon as this spring, with Toney noting the EEOC complaint will be dismissed as part of the settlement pending he is able to teach again \u201cas planned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The professor said he hopes his successful quest to fight for his job will inspire other Christians who might face similar issues and barriers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say, don\u2019t quit, because there are people very supportive just like First Liberty,\u201d he said, urging people to be brave and take a stand. \u201cStand for the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www1.cbn.com\/cbnnews\/world\/2024\/march\/fired-biology-professor-fights-back-and-wins-has-a-message-for-fellow-christians\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Texas college professor who said he was fired after university leaders reportedly found his teachings too \u201creligious\u201d has been reinstated to his position more than a year after being terminated. Listen to them on the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d Dr. Johnson Varkey and his attorneys at First Liberty Institute recently announced Varkey had won his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[]},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}