Advice to Christian College Students of Atheist [Philosophy] Professors

Despite the fact that I'm 32-years-old and have a Masters degree in theology, I'm taking a freshman-level philosophy course at a local university. Have you ever had a class with an annoying “non-traditional” student? Yes, I'm that guy. As the class has progressed, it has become very clear to me that my professor is a committed atheist and philosophical materialist, and he knows that I'm a committed Christian. Too often, Christian college students who find themselves in my position do not know how to respond to their professors with “gentleness and respect,” as is exhorted by the Apostle Peter. (1 Peter 3:15) Below is my advice to the young college students who find themselves in a philosophy class with an atheist professor. (The principles here apply to any class with a non-Christian teacher.)

1. 

   Plato (teacher) and Aristotle (student) disagreed.

   Be respectful toward your professor. Your professor likely has a PhD or some other upper-level degree in his area of expertise. It is highly likely that he is smarter than you and has worked harder than you've ever dreamed of working. He deserves your respect for that alone. On the other hand, you must earn his respect.
2. Lean how to think, not what to think. Going to college is not just about amassing large amounts of information. More importantly, it is about learning how to think. This is especially true in philosophy and logic classes. Even if your professor rejects belief in God, he may have a valid argument, because it is well reasoned. (Note: an argument can be valid but not true.) Learn those skills of reasoning from him. Even if you come to a different conclusion, those skills will serve you well as a Christian and citizen.
3. Always use the principle of charity in argumentation. The “principle of charity” is more than just loving your neighbor, as Jesus commanded. It is a way of arguing philosophically. It means to grant your opponent the strongest interpretation of his argument. Otherwise, you run the risk of committing the “straw-man” fallacy—setting up a weaker form of your opponents argument and defeating it. Christians frequently do this with such topics as open theism, evolution, atheism, and communism. Do not explain your opponent's position in a way that your opponent would reject. When we commit the straw man fallacy, we seem desperate and appear as if we only want to win, rather than find truth. If your professor can see that you're committed to finding truth with him, rather than fighting against him, he's more likely to respect you back.
4. Do not ask questions to teach. This happens a lot for a couple of different reasons. One reason students ask questions is to show off to their classmates (and maybe the professor) how much they know. It's just plain arrogance. A second reason, which is a bit less self-centered, is to challenge the professor's assertions by asking a loaded question meant to provoke debate. It is a passive form of teaching. The problem is that you are not the teacher. No one paid tuition to hear you teach; they paid to hear the professor teach. Also, if you are invited to challenge the professor (again, a good professor will encourage this in civil discussion), do so in a bold, straight-forward way. Disguising your dissent as a question is passive aggressive and annoying to the professor and your classmates. Be transparent.
5. Do ask questions to learn. Ask sincere questions for the true purpose of learning what the professor wants you to learn. This means you should 1) try to keep your questions relevant to what the professor wants to teach and 2) only ask questions that you don't already know the answer to. Asking genuine questions, even if they relate to your Christian worldview, is perfectly legitimate.
6. Expect the professor to teach from within his worldview. A good professor will teach passionately about what he believes and understands. This means that an atheist professor will teach from and defend his naturalism. As long as he is rationally consistent and receptive to others' sincere questions and dissent, this, I think, is acceptable. We expect Christian professors to holistically integrate their faith into their teaching. Why expect any less from non-Christians, even if their worldviews are wrong? Expecting a Christian to teach from within the subjective acceptance of the Christian faith while, at the same time, expecting an atheist to teach from a neutral and objective position is a double standard. Also, I'm not convinced that it is even possible to teach from a purely objective perspective.
7. Stay calm. If you take a philosophy course (or any other course, really) under a non-Christian, it will almost inevitably cause some level of crisis or doubt in your faith. Don't panic. Just because the class raises questions that you don't have answers for does not mean that there are no answers. A professor equipped with experience, expertise, and a PhD outmatches a college student any day. Remember: for every atheist philosophy or biology professor who sees no logical reason to believe in God, there are equally educated and intelligent Christian professors out there who would argue the opposite. The truth of Christianity does not depend upon your understanding, so don't freak out.
8. Fill out the teacher evaluation. If you do have a terrible professor, this is where you express that. Universities use student evaluations as part of their overall evaluation of professors. Professors are held accountable to their students to some degree. If you have a lousy professor whose tenure has placed him above the accountability of student evaluations, you just have to get over it. Play the game, learn what you can, and move on with life. There is no reason to argue with a lousy professor (atheist or not), because they don't care about their students enough to care about your words anyway. In my experience, getting this sort of professor, however, is very rare.

My professor and I have a delightful and cordial relationship, because we respect one another, and, even if we come to very different conclusions, we both are seeking truth. I do pray that he comes to know the God of Scriptures who created him wonderfully and fearfully in His own image, but, if he doesn't, I've still developed a good relationship and shown him the Gospel and the kindness of Christ. What he does with that is between him and God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers,  

for they will be called children of God." 

--Jesus (Matthew 5:9)