A teacher fired for giving a student a bible has finally gotten his job back.
The story is told by Todd Starnes of Fox News who first wrote about this case back in 2014.
Walt Tutka, of Phillipsburg, New Jersey was a substitute teacher in that town. He is also a member of Gideon’s International….the group known of handing out bibles.
But he was fired after he gave a student a Bible. Here’s the backstory….the student happened to be the last person entering through a door. Tutka told the youngster, “The first shall be last, but the last shall be first.”
The student asked about the origins of the quote. Tutka showed the student the verse in his Bible, which led to the student asking for a personal copy of the Bible. And being a good Gideon, Tutka gladly obliged. And for that, he was fired.
First Liberty Institute took on Tutka’s case – and eventually scored a victory with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They agreed that the school district had discriminated against Tutka on the “basis of religion and retaliation.”
And on the eve of First Liberty’s deadline to file a federal lawsuit, the school district agreed to a settlement.
Hiram Sasser of First Liberty told Starnes, “We always knew Walt Tutka complied with all school district policies and federal laws, the EEOC agreed.”
Starnes added this closing comment….we hope the Phillipsburg School District learned a very important lesson. It’s not nice to bully people of faith — and it’s also illegal.