Universities have spent years scrubbing Christianity from their classrooms while every other belief system gets a free pass.
Now an Arizona State dean just put something in writing that proves every word of it.
What the dean flagged as proof of religious bias has been standard Western philosophy curriculum since the 13th century.
Arizona State Professor Owen Anderson Flagged for Anti-Christian Bias
Dr. Owen Anderson has taught philosophy and religious studies at Arizona State University for over two decades. He's a Princeton fellow who’s published multiple books. His Religions of the World courses earned student scores of 4.7 and 4.45 out of 5.
None of that mattered.
In his 2025 annual performance review, School Director Miriam Mara penalized Anderson for alleged "bias" and "slant" toward Christianity. The evidence against him included anonymous student complaints and his own course materials.
One student complained that "if I were a Hindu or Buddhist, and truly believed in reincarnation, I would be offended if I were asked to denounce it." Another insinuated that "grades are based on using the term 'god' and thus having the correct religious view."
The director found these complaints "sobering."
Anderson challenged the ruling. He pointed out that ASU uses an objective rubric – specific activities earn specific points – and that Mara had abandoned the rubric entirely in favor of subjective impressions.
The appeal went to Todd Sandrin, dean of the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.
It went nowhere.
The Dean's Written Ruling Against Christian Philosophy
Dean Sandrin upheld the negative evaluation.
The dean flagged Anderson's course materials for containing "unqualified normative language." He took issue with exam prompts asking students to explain how St. Thomas Aquinas would answer certain philosophical questions.
He also flagged a true-or-false statement on Anderson's exam: "Death should not make us think about life."
That is now officially a problem at Arizona State University.
The official course descriptions for Religions of the World and Issues in Death and Dying both call for Bible study. Introduction to Ethics lists major Christian ethical frameworks in its curriculum. Anderson was penalized for teaching what the university itself put on paper.
"[Dr. Sandrin] is the last level of appeal for me at ASU," Anderson told The College Fix. "The dean just gets to give me this review and move on and the record shows that my classes are slanted toward Christianity."
Anderson called it what it is. "I believe this is overt discrimination against me," he told The College Fix.
ASU's Pattern of Christian Discrimination on Campus
ASU has gone after Anderson before for teaching Christianity in a philosophy classroom.
In 2024, ASU's Religious Studies Department blocked Anderson's long-standing Introduction to Christianity course from receiving a new general education designation. A faculty reviewer wrote that "the syllabus reflects a Christian way of teaching Christianity" – as if that were disqualifying.
ASU currently offers multiple courses on witchcraft but only one course with Christianity in the title. The director of Anderson's own school invoked the "goddess" during a faculty meeting. No one is reviewing her for bias.
Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, told The College Fix he is "puzzled that the University seems to have done nothing to determine whether the complaints were valid."
"A professor teaching in a secular university about religion inevitably will irritate some students because students bring with them strong sensitivities on these matters," Wood said. "That doesn't mean the professor is 'biased.' Bias implies that he grants special favor to his own views."
Trump Task Force Report Documents Anti-Christian Bias at Universities
What happened to Anderson is what the Trump administration spent 200 pages and 1,100 footnotes documenting.
In April 2026, the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias – drawing on 17 federal agencies – laid out how Biden's government targeted Christians across American institutions for four straight years.
President Trump signed the executive order creating the task force at the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2025. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated plainly: "No American should live in fear that the federal government will punish them for their faith."
Anti-abortion activists faced aggressive federal prosecution while attacks on Christian pregnancy centers went largely unaddressed. Federal employees who cited religious objections to vaccine mandates were told their beliefs were "insincere."
Biden's Justice Department advised the White House that religious objections to vaccine requirements were simply not credible.
The machine that produced those results is the same machine that runs American universities – and Owen Anderson just spent a year living inside it.
- José Niño, "Teaching Christian Philosophy Lands ASU Professor in Trouble," Headline USA, June 22, 2026.
- Claire Harrington, "ASU professor docked for 'Christian bias' after asking students about 'highest good,'" The College Fix, June 22, 2026.
- "Task Force Publishes Report on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias and Restoring Religious Liberty," U.S. Department of Education, April 30, 2026.
- "Task Force Publishes Report on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias and Restoring Religious Liberty," U.S. Department of Justice, April 30, 2026.
- Claire Harrington, "Christian professor's 'Intro to Christianity' class torpedoed at ASU," The College Fix, September 20, 2024.
