The story about Mt. Vernon 8th grade science teacher John Freshwater, [url=http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/04/17/bibleteacher.ART_ART_04-17-08_B1_689V0PQ.html?sid=101]who refused to remove a bible from his desk[/url], has taken an interestingturn. It appears that not only did he keep a bible on his desk, but healso held healing sessions during school, went on tangents aboutintelligent design and creationism, and amazingly, [url=http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/04/22/bible_on_desk.html]burned crossesinto students' arms while demonstrating an electrical device[/url].
When [url=../../Articles/Opinion/Columns/2008/04/21/23928/]Jesse Hathaway wrote[/url] about this story in The Post hedepicted Freshwater as a humble science teacher who had no intentionsof indoctrinating anyone, he simply gained comfort from having hispersonal bible by his side. If this were the case I would probably haveto agree with Hathaway that reprimanding him is unnecessary. While in aperfect world this shouldn't happen, I think realistically taking sucha hard-line approach to such innocuous cases would create sympathy forthe more egregious breaches. Ironically though, these kinds of breachesare the ones Freshwater desires to commit. His lawyer says in thearticle that he and Freshwater believe that the separation of churchand state is a fraud. He also spent class time trying to deludestudents into thinking the theory of intelligent design had scientificmerits.
I cannot with a clear conscience follow a directive that makesreligion and the religious viewpoint any less credible by those whodeem themselves more enlightened.
I don't know how Hathaway missed these glaring examples ofFreshwater's desire to have religion play an active role in theclassroom, seeing as how the entire foundation of his defense forFreshwater rests on the notion that Freshwater had no intentions ofvoicing his religious views in the classroom.
If Freshwater's own words are not enough, perhaps the more visceralimage of Freshwater burning crosses into students' arms is sufficient.I don't know what could be a more explicit example of pressing one'sreligious views onto students could be. Perhaps holding an exorcismduring school hours? Oh wait, he did that too.
I have my own views on religious views such as Freshwater's, andperhaps because my views are contrary to his I am more willing tostrongly denounce his classroom behavior. I think it is very importantthat he not be able to use his position as a public educator to makethe case for his religion. Not because I think his views are wrong,which I do, but in the interest of protecting those of differing faiths.
People's religions are very important and personal to them. They alsohave an indelible feeling that their belief is the ultimate truth,hence being a religion. Because of this it is a natural conclusion forthe Freshwater's of the world that their message needs to be shared,especially to children.If you know you are right why shouldn't thetruth be shared in the classroom, a place of learning? The problem isall religions feel they are as much the keepers of the truth as theother, and each desires as much as the other to get a hold of theclassroom in order to proclaim it.
In a free society it's extremely important that government not allowone keeper of the truth to get a hold of the reigns of government,which includes schools, and start dominating the other keepers of thetruth. This shouldn't me seen as a judgment on a particular faith, butas a measure to keep one faith from oppressing the other. This is evenmore vital given the enormous conviction of some people in theirbeliefs. Just look at Freshwater. Even within a pretty strict frameworkhe is burning crosses into students' arms and preaching Christianity.Just imagine what he would try to accomplish without the currentrestrictions. For those readers with Christian leanings for whom a badtaste is left in their mouth from my criticism of a fellow Christian,imagine if he were Muslim or Buddhist, using his position of power overyour children to challenge your deeply felt beliefs?
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Graham Bowman
