The former coach of the Fryeburg Academy boy’s lacrosse team, who resigned in March over an inflammatory Facebook post aimed at Muslims, said Wednesday that the message was meant to show his political dislike of President Obama, and he does not agree with all its contents.

In an interview with the Press Herald, Scott Lees also disputed that he was notified by the academy of its social media policy guidelines that instruct teachers and staff to be wary of what they post.

“My intent in posting that was political, it’s not bigotry,” said Lees. “I am not a bigot. If I was told, ‘You gotta watch what you post,’ by the academy, I would have never posted it.”

The academy, however, has said Lees signed a copy of the social media policy that offers guidelines on how staff and faculty are to conduct themselves online.

The letter that Lees shared was written in January 2014 by Dave Agema, a Republican National Committee member from Michigan, in response to a 2009 speech by Obama at Cairo University in Egypt where Obama lauded the contributions of Muslims to American history and culture. The speech was meant by the president to improve relations with the Muslim world.

Agema’s letter asserts that Muslims have not made meaningful contributions to U.S. history, instead alleging that Muslims promote human slavery, were absent during the American civil rights movement, and were supportive of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (Many of the claims are either unverifiable or false.)

However, Lees said that he posted the letter in haste without much thought because he found it interesting. Lees said he believes that Obama “doesn’t fully support Christians and he tends to favor the Muslims.”

“My main objective was I disagree with President Obama and how Muslims shaped our society,” Lees said. “The fact is, the United States is based on Christianity, from the beginning, the war against the British, and after that, the Constitution of the United States.”

Lees said he understands that a Muslim could construe the letter as “somewhat offensive,” but he did not realize it at the time. He said he once hosted a Muslim guest in his home, proof that he harbors no ill feelings toward members of the faith.

The posting came to the attention of a Fryeburg Academy administrator who was friends with Lees on Facebook. The academy asked and Lees agreed to remove the posting. Administrators had planned to fire him, but Lees resigned before they took action.

Since then, the circumstances of Lee’s resignation have generated a tidal wave of responses, after his story was picked up by conservative media online, he said.

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