Christian Biology Professor Fired for Teaching Biology Files EEOC Complaint

St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, fired Christian professor Dr. Johnson Varkey after students complained that he was teaching biology in his Human Anatomy and Physiology class.

Specifically, he taught that a person’s sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes. Females have XX chromosomes, and males have XY chomosomes.

First Liberty Institute, Dr. Varkey’s legal counsel, sent a letter to the school demanding his reinstatement. He alleged that St. Philip’s College violated the Free Speech Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, among other provisions.

First Liberty announced that it filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the school on Dr. Varkey’s behalf.

In his role as an adjunct professor, Dr. Varkey taught Human Anatomy and Physiology to more than 1,500 students since 2004. During Dr. Varkey’s twenty-year employment as a biology professor at St. Philip’s College, he received positive student feedback and was never disciplined.
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The only reason the College gave for firing me was the student complaint(s) of ‘religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, antiabortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter.’

Dr. Varker said he never “preached or proselytized in class” and that the accusation was made “clearly in connection with the fact that I serve as an associate pastor. I would mention this by way of introduction at the beginning of each semester, so my students were aware.”

He said the college assumed he was preaching rather than teaching.

St. Philip’s College is a historically black community college, founded by a clergyman to educate and train freed slaves. Firing a Christian for teaching scientific facts that certain groups don’t like dishonors the memory of how and why the school was founded and undermines its mission to provide a quality education.

Photo credit: By Nightryder84 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, link

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