[Physicist]

The pi=3 belief student (to take a very silly example; the bible does NOT teach this)

It's not silly: devout Christians have had differing interpretations over whether the Bible teaches that or not, just as they have had differing interpretations over whether the Bible teaches a 6,000-year-old universe. But what the Bible teaches is quite beside the point: the issue concerns what this particular student believes about mathematics, just as the real-life case concerns what particular students believe about biology. In all likelihood the professor has written many letters of recommendation for devout Christians who accept evolution.

would be fine as long as he can show the math professor the proper equations.

Fine to you, but if it's not fine to the professor, should he be compelled to say it's fine?

[HiTech RedNeck]

In all likelihood the professor has written many letters of recommendation for devout Christians who accept evolution.

And none for those who don't

[kittymyrib]

Fine to you, but not for the student who has to "truthfully and forthrightly" tell the professor what he wants to hear. Why is the professor's right not to be compelled greater than the student's right not to be compelled, particularly since he is helping to pay the professor who is discriminating against him? I certainly don't blame this student who didn't want to waste his time and his money dealing with a professor who was prejudiced against him.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It's not silly: devout Christians have had differing interpretations over whether the Bible teaches that or not,

It's never been a widely believed doctrine, like creationism is. The passage from which that was "deduced" talks about a round basin "10 cubits across" and "30 cubits around." This actually works pretty well (especially given that ancient artisans could fudge their cubits a little; they didn't have Stanley tape measures calibrated to some nationwide standard) when applied to the inside circumference and outside diameter of this particular basin.