Steven P. BarrettREMEMBER THE "CREATIONIST" CROSS-TATOOING PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER IN OHIO?
July 7th 2008 23:44
Steven Barrett
ANYBODY REMEMBER THAT RECENTLY FIRED "CREATIONIST" TEACHER FROM CENTRAL OHIO WHO WAS FIRED FOR DEFYING THE MOUNT VERNON SCHOOL DISTRICT'S PROHIBITION AGAINST PUBLIC PREACHING CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES, HIS FAITH-BASED "CREATIONIST" VIEWS AGAINST EVOLUTION AND BRANDING CROSS-SHAPED TATOOS ON AT LEAST ONE OF HIS STUDENT'S ARMS?
HE'S BACK IN THE NEWS. Only this time with a little help from a fellow self-professed Bible Christian columnist, Phil Harris. ("The Liberal's Agenda - Antichrist or just anti-Christ?" Townhall.com, 7/7/08) Ordinarily I have no problems whatsoever with people calling themselves Bible Christians. All Christians should read the Good Book more and not be ashamed to think of themselves in some way as "Bible Christians." Even Pope Benedict has recommended the same to Catholics.
HOWEVER ... some of our fellow Bible Christians take this step a bit further than they should -- even to the point of disobeying legally -- and by extension as St. Paul reminded the first Christians -- divinely ordained public officials when it came to NOT preaching while teaching as a public school teacher.
Just as some Bible Christians are wont to practice the venial sin of selective "proof texting" to get their "point across" (okay, columnists and bloggers do this, too) Harris left something out of his diatribe on behalf of Freshwater.
Nowhere did I see hide nor hair of any trace of even the slightest mention about Freshwater's use of a low-level device to "burn" tatoos in the shape of crosses on several of his students' arms. One kid's parents took Freshwater to the Federal Courts for redress.
If you think I'm being hard on Harris, it's only because he was hard on another commentator who seemed just as selective for vastly different reasons -- while there was nary a mention of those crosses.
Harris' comments about Lee Elder's take on Freshwater, not to mention the rest of Harris' laundry list of all enemies seen and unseen, real or imagined, stacked against Christianity certainly make me wonder if some of these 21st Century Cromwellites will ever lighten up:
The issue about the Bible on the teacher's desk is small potatoes compared to Freshwater's continual insubordination and burning crosses -- even if they came off a few weeks later. What surprises me most is that some people in the so-called Christian Right will use this (deservedly fired) teacher as a poster-child to protest "persecution."
Let them try running that bull by Catholic and Anglican Bishops who stood up to the likes of Idi Amin in Uganda -- and became croccodile meat for their efforts.
Harris said "There is no sense here, common or otherwise" -- but let me add my own ending here: -- for any teacher to justify burning crosses on kids' arms in any schools, Parochial, "Christian," and certainly not public.
ANYBODY REMEMBER THAT RECENTLY FIRED "CREATIONIST" TEACHER FROM CENTRAL OHIO WHO WAS FIRED FOR DEFYING THE MOUNT VERNON SCHOOL DISTRICT'S PROHIBITION AGAINST PUBLIC PREACHING CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES, HIS FAITH-BASED "CREATIONIST" VIEWS AGAINST EVOLUTION AND BRANDING CROSS-SHAPED TATOOS ON AT LEAST ONE OF HIS STUDENT'S ARMS?
HE'S BACK IN THE NEWS. Only this time with a little help from a fellow self-professed Bible Christian columnist, Phil Harris. ("The Liberal's Agenda - Antichrist or just anti-Christ?" Townhall.com, 7/7/08) Ordinarily I have no problems whatsoever with people calling themselves Bible Christians. All Christians should read the Good Book more and not be ashamed to think of themselves in some way as "Bible Christians." Even Pope Benedict has recommended the same to Catholics.
HOWEVER ... some of our fellow Bible Christians take this step a bit further than they should -- even to the point of disobeying legally -- and by extension as St. Paul reminded the first Christians -- divinely ordained public officials when it came to NOT preaching while teaching as a public school teacher.
Just as some Bible Christians are wont to practice the venial sin of selective "proof texting" to get their "point across" (okay, columnists and bloggers do this, too) Harris left something out of his diatribe on behalf of Freshwater.
Nowhere did I see hide nor hair of any trace of even the slightest mention about Freshwater's use of a low-level device to "burn" tatoos in the shape of crosses on several of his students' arms. One kid's parents took Freshwater to the Federal Courts for redress.
If you think I'm being hard on Harris, it's only because he was hard on another commentator who seemed just as selective for vastly different reasons -- while there was nary a mention of those crosses.
Liberals get their shorts tied into a knot very quickly when it is suggested that their faith is somehow diminished by the ideology they keep. Unfortunately, the ideology that gives liberals delusions of harmony has nothing to do with freedom, diversity, or goodness. It has everything to do with hiding the "Light" under the bushel basket, so that the darkness may flourish unhindered. Whether they are conscious of this or not varies from liberal to liberal, but the destination is the same regardless.
The Lawyer/Radio/Television personality Larry Elder brought this to my attention this afternoon on his FoxNews program called Showdown. He was interviewing the Ohio teacher that has been in the news after refusing to remove his Bible from his desk. John Freshwater's Bible has been on his desk for the last 21 years, so he drew the line in the sand when the school board demanded that he hide it.
(emphasis Harris')The Lawyer/Radio/Television personality Larry Elder brought this to my attention this afternoon on his FoxNews program called Showdown. He was interviewing the Ohio teacher that has been in the news after refusing to remove his Bible from his desk. John Freshwater's Bible has been on his desk for the last 21 years, so he drew the line in the sand when the school board demanded that he hide it.
Harris' comments about Lee Elder's take on Freshwater, not to mention the rest of Harris' laundry list of all enemies seen and unseen, real or imagined, stacked against Christianity certainly make me wonder if some of these 21st Century Cromwellites will ever lighten up:
Of course, Larry followed the segment with his own diatribe on what "he" would have done, were he John Freshwater, saying if anyone expressed concern or was offended by his Bible, he would have removed it without question. That this educator did not teach lessons from the offending Bible, or wave it about over his head makes no difference to Larry. The Bible's presence on John Freshwater's desk should be of no more importance to those seeing it than should the color of John Freshwater's socks.
Such is representative of the war on Christianity, and on a more personal level, the veiled persecution of Christians in this supposed land of the free. There is no sense here, common or otherwise; rather, it is truly the making of law for the sake of the anti-Christ. It is a battle waged by those of a minority religious belief system, essentially atheist, but animated mostly in opposition to anything to do with Jesus Christ.
Such is representative of the war on Christianity, and on a more personal level, the veiled persecution of Christians in this supposed land of the free. There is no sense here, common or otherwise; rather, it is truly the making of law for the sake of the anti-Christ. It is a battle waged by those of a minority religious belief system, essentially atheist, but animated mostly in opposition to anything to do with Jesus Christ.
The issue about the Bible on the teacher's desk is small potatoes compared to Freshwater's continual insubordination and burning crosses -- even if they came off a few weeks later. What surprises me most is that some people in the so-called Christian Right will use this (deservedly fired) teacher as a poster-child to protest "persecution."
Let them try running that bull by Catholic and Anglican Bishops who stood up to the likes of Idi Amin in Uganda -- and became croccodile meat for their efforts.
Harris said "There is no sense here, common or otherwise" -- but let me add my own ending here: -- for any teacher to justify burning crosses on kids' arms in any schools, Parochial, "Christian," and certainly not public.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by Damo
If he was one of my staff I'd be looking for any excuse to be rid of this person.
I just chased up the school findings.
Really Long Link
The key findings of the report are quoted below.
•The Ten Commandments together with other posters of a religious nature were posted in Mr. Freshwater’s classroom. Most were removed after Mr. White’s letter of April 14, 2008, but at least one poster remained which Mr. Freshwater was again instructed to remove on April 16, 2008, but did not do so.
•Several Bibles were kept in Mr. Freshwater’s classroom including his personal Bible on his desk and one he checked out of the library placed on the lab table near the desk. Other Bibles that had been maintained in the room were removed by the time the investigators viewed Mr. Freshwater’s room.
•Mr. Freshwater engaged in teaching of a religious nature, teaching creationism and related theories and calling evolution into question. He had other materials in his classroom that could be used for that purpose.
•Mr. Freshwater engaged in prayer during FCA meetings in violation of the district’s legal obligations for monitoring such organizations.
•Mr. Freshwater participated and possibly led a prayer during an FCA meeting that concerned a guest speaker’s health. There is no conclusion as to whether such prayer was a “healing” prayer.
•There is no evidence Mr. Freshwater violated the district’s permission slip policy.
•There is no evidence Mr. Freshwater made statements about FCA members “being the saved ones” nor was there any corroboration to the allegation Mr. Freshwater gave FCA members Bibles for them to distribute. He did have two boxes of Bibles in the back of his room.
•Mr. Freshwater gave an extra credit assignment for students to view the movie “Expelled” which does involve intelligent design.
Comment by Anonymous
Damo --you sure did your homework on Freshwater. Wow. They had a ton of stuff on that guy. I'm really surprised he wasn't yanked years ago and put under some form of observation. You really have to be pushing the envelopes, and BOXES to get yourself fired from a public teachers job. You know what else is missing from both Harris' column and the earlier story about Freshwater -- no support from the Ohio chapter of the National Education Association. As a general of thumb, the union in any state or town will at least try to work something out, tell the errant teacher this is the last time they'll go to bat for him on something like this and hope the patchwork will hold.
But Harris' biases got in the way of his better judgment. He doesn't appear to be a literalist insofar as the Book of Revelations is concerned so I'm surprised he took such a quick and harsh line against both the town and Lee Elder.
Thanks to both of you for your comments