Kevin Pack, who was fired by Middlebury Community School trustees on April 2, claims that he was let go because of his atheist beliefs. Pack was hired to teach at Northridge High School in Middlebury, Indiana, in August 2013.
Pack, 29, is claiming religious discrimination by Northridge High School Principal Gerald Rasler and the Middlebury Community School trustees, who say that Pack was fired due to poor work performance.
“I was retaliated against and dismissed for filing the religious harassment complaint against Principal Gerald Rasler and for being an atheist,” Pack recently told GoshenNews.com. “I refused to pray, be a Christian or go along with any of [Rasler’s] evangelizing in the school, and they dismissed me over it.”
In school district emails, Principal Rasler made references such as: “Merry Christmas,” “May God grant you [safe] travel,” and “Please get on your knees and pray for four good weather days during finals.”
In response, Pack wrote a Dec. 11, 2013 email to Principal Rasler and the faculty which read, "Since I’m an atheist and a mystical sky daddy has nothing to do with weather, I won’t be kneeling. I will be relying on science and the oftentimes (sic) in exact (sic) science of metereology (sic). The only relability (sic) we seem to get from weather reports is how often they’re reliably wrong."
Middlebury Community Schools Superintendent Jane Allen said that school officials were advised not to talk about Pack's EEOC complaint, but the Middlebury Community Schools stated in a press release in April:
Unfortunately, some members of the local public and media did not understand or did not appreciate this sensible course of action, insinuating larger reasons for Mr. Pack’s removal from the classroom. Many of the rumors spread and other reasons implied were simply false. Mr. Pack was merely a poor teacher, whose overall performance regressed throughout the school year and showed no potential for improvement.
Full Article: http://www.opposingv...atheist-beliefs
