Using it in modern language? What is that supposed to mean? You are reading far too much into a single word of the entire quote and making assumptions about his original quote, which is pretty clear and straightforward. It doesn't take much to understand what his point truly is, it takes a lot more to disprove his quote by over thinking it.
So what justifies the professor wasting over 15 minutes of students time that they paid for in order to prove a point and when he was proven wrong he acts insulted? The people who should really be insulted are the people who had to sit in that class and listen to a complete prick rant about how many of them are wrong in their faith? Maybe it proves that atheists like him are truly something that is wrong with the world.