The First Amendment is in severe danger of being relegated to obscurity in favor of protecting the feelings of individuals.
A university professor found that out recently when he had his lawsuit dismissed by a federal judge who said he would have to violate his Christian beliefs and call a transgender student by the person’s preferred pronouns.
It all started in 2018 for Nicholas Meriwether, a professor at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, when he refused to call a male student by female pronouns.
The school reprimanded him for referring to the student as “sir,” and Meriwether sued to have his record wiped clean.
“In January 2018, a male student demanded that Dr. Meriwether address him as a woman because he identified as such and threatened to have Dr. Meriwether fired if he declined,” the lawsuit said.
“To accede to these demands would have required Dr. Meriwether to communicate views regarding gender identity that he does not hold, that he does not wish to communicate, and that would contradict (and force him to violate) his sincerely held Christian beliefs,” it said.
The professor said the student got in his face and got aggressive with him when he said he could not call the student “ma’am” or “miss.”
Meriwether said he offered to call the student by his last name, as the professor does for other students, but, big surprise, this was unacceptable to the student who filed a complaint.
“They demand this even though the concept of gender identity is entirely subjective and fluid, even though the number of potential gender identities is infinite (with over one hundred different options currently available), and even though the number of potential pronouns has likewise multiplied in recent years — all for the purpose of lending credence to cultural ideas Dr. Meriwether does not share or wish to advance,” the lawsuit said.
And perhaps even more frightening, Meriwether said that when he complained to the school he was told that “Christian doctrines regarding hell are harmful.”
The school allegedly said that religion “oppresses” people and that universities were in the business of liberating them of such constraints.
And judging by the crop of violent, morally defunct, irresponsible dimwits who support people like Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, they have done a splendid job.
You would think that a court in the United States would not tell a professor that he had to violate his religious beliefs to accommodate someone’s mental delusion, but you would be incorrect.
U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott agreed with the university that Meriwether did not have a First Amendment right to call the student “sir” and dismissed his lawsuit, The Hill reported.
Do you disagree with the judge’s decision?
“The speech here occurred in the context of plaintiff’s employment; it was limited to titles and pronouns used to address one student in plaintiff’s class: the speech was directed to plaintiff and heard only by her and her fellow students; and absent any further explanation or elaboration, the speech cannot reasonably be construed as having conveyed any beliefs or stated any facts about gender identity,” Dlott said.
The school gave the usual statement about how it values “freedom of expression” and that it keeps “an educational and work environment that is free from discrimination, retaliation and harassment.”
Yeah, sure you do — as long as that “expression” is not Christian and fits in line with your warped worldview.
According to The Hill, the professor has vowed to continue his legal fight, saying, “Philosophy especially — but certainly higher education in general — is all about the free exchange of ideas, but this exchange cannot happen unless faculty and students are in fact free to share their views.”
But the damage is done.
The path that this nation is on is dangerous, and electing one of these “woke” Democrats who are vying for the presidency would only speed the process along.
