By Anugrah Kumar
A Florida professor, who drew widespread criticism after telling his students to step on a piece of paper with Jesus written on it, said he believes in Jesus as his lord and savior, but his institution should not bar the use of the exercise, which is part of a textbook, just because it’s offensive.
“I am very religious,” Prof Deandre Poole of the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed, days after the institution put him on administrative leave last Friday. “I see how the name Jesus is symbolic. For people like myself, Jesus is my lord and savior. It’s how I identify myself as a Christian.”
Poole, who in his intercultural communications class last month allegedly told his students to write “Jesus” on a piece of paper and then to step on it, added he has been connected to churches all of his life, and has served as a Sunday school teacher.