Instructor mentions "God"

[Silver]

This is what has been happening in my nursing class.

At the end of each class, he says something to the effect of "God bless you."

There are nine of us in the class. Some of them respond in kind, some of us (myself included) say nothing as we leave for the day.

Today, he brought up god between lecturing on nursing. He asked us to raise our hands if we believed in God, I did not raise my hand, and some students did raise their hand. He discussed, though I could tell he was also trying to be humorous about it, how when he was younger he considered himself ugly. He said that he prayed to god to help him find love when he was older. He then brought up the fact that he is currently on his fourth marriage, having been divorced three times previously, and he said how this is the last marriage. He said, jokingly, that he should not have been praying for love and he is done praying for love if his fourth marriage fails because god gives him exactly what he wants.

My personal thoughts: first, as an instructor, he should not be personally bringing up god. It is unprofessional. Secondly, how "christian" can he truly be if he has been divorced three times? (This is the same instructor who I mentioned in my Random Thoughts thread as pinging on my gaydar.)

[polymath257]

As a professor, I would *never* bring up my marital history or (lack of) religious beliefs unless it is directly relevant to the topic at hand. That was unprofessional.

[Brian37]

This is what has been happening in my nursing class.

At the end of each class, he says something to the effect of "God bless you."

There are nine of us in the class.  Some of them respond in kind, some of us (myself included) say nothing as we leave for the day.

Today, he brought up god between lecturing on nursing.  He asked us to raise our hands if we believed in God, I did not raise my hand, and some students did raise their hand.  He discussed, though I could tell he was also trying to be humorous about it, how when he was younger he considered himself ugly.  He said that he prayed to god to help him find love when he was older.  He then brought up the fact that he is currently on his fourth marriage, having been divorced three times previously, and he said how this is the last marriage.  He said, jokingly, that he should not have been praying for love and he is done praying for love if his fourth marriage fails because god gives him exactly what he wants.

My personal thoughts: first, as an instructor, he should not be personally bringing up god.  It is unprofessional.  Secondly, how "christian" can he truly be if he has been divorced three times?

Not just that, but why is he bringing up his personal life? If he needs therapy he can do a support group outside class. That is unprofessional as well.

But, if you really want to tick him off, NOT RECOMMENDED, next time he brings this shit up say, "If prayer works you wouldn't need doctors or nurses or hospitals." His logic sucks but if you are being graded, might not be a good idea to challenge him.

I hate that divorce is so stigmatized. Multiple failed marriages may mean you have conflict resolution issues but divorce itself shouldn't be stigmatized.

[julep]

How uncomfortable!  Maybe he thinks he's being relatable, but yuck.  

Be sure to mention it in the evaluations at the end of the semester; instructors pay attention to these.  (and so do the bosses)

[brewer]

This is typically the time I send an anonymous note to HR/the dean

[Fireball]

Remember that Kit is in a small class with a bunch of people who are believers. It is Florida, after all. He'd likely get singled out. If the god bot stuff continues, he'd have a case, but that could cost him the training for the cert.

[brewer]

Remember that Kit is in a small class with a bunch of people who are believers. It is Florida, after all. He'd likely get singled out. If the god bot stuff continues, he'd have a case, but that could cost him the training for the cert.

Does not have to contain specific's (class/professor), just generally that talking about religion in a non religious class is not appropriate and offensive.

[CapnAwesome]

Yeesh, asking to raise hands about who believes in God or not is creepy.

[Catholic_Lady]

I agree, Kit. Inappropriate for him to ask people to raise their hand if they believe in God. Don't know why on earth he would do that.

[Fireball]

I'm thinking (not so) hidden agenda. But then I've dealt with some truly shitty supervision. Not so much in school, though. I went to a type of mechanical training in the Navy. But the guys who went to the electronics technician school got a lot of Jesus pushed on them by the instructors.