Religious Studies P/Timer Sues BCC

IN 12 YEARS of teaching religion part-time at Broward Community College, James W. Johnson prided himself on approaching the sensitive subject objectively.

But the college does not, Johnson said in a lawsuit filed in Broward County Circuit Court in September.
Johnson says BCC’s philosophy and religion department favors evangelical Protestant professors, textbooks and perspectives, using tax dollars to advance a particular religious viewpoint.

“The approach to the instruction of religion … promot[es] a religious agenda,” Johnson maintains in court documents.

Johnson, who is Catholic, says religious differences ultimately cost him his teaching job. He’s seeking a return to the course catalog, as well as unspecified compensation.

BCC spokeswoman Jillian Krueger Printz says the college isn’t prepared to discuss Johnson’s claims. But, she says, “Religious freedom, on our campus, is something that we encourage.”

Johnson was educated at a college seminary and earned an advanced degree from a Catholic university in Rome, according to his lawyer, Ware Cornell.

In court documents, Johnson says he was turned down when requesting more courses and applying for full-time jobs because of what he views as the BCC religion department’s turn toward fundamental Christianity.

Some colleagues used a textbook that says “Christian creationism offers the only satisfying answer to the question about life’s origins” and embraced other fundamentalist views, Johnson says in court papers. He also says the college has increasingly hired and assigned courses to evangelical ministers.

Johnson’s court complaint says he, in contrast, tried to present “the importance of acknowledging different perceptions of truth.”

To Johnson, state-supported BCC is discriminating against nonfundamentalists and violating the Florida Constitution’s prohibition against using state money “directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination.”

Johnson also argues in court papers that he was unfairly cut from this fall’s course schedule for raising these complaints. He could not be reached in person despite attempts by phone.