We read:
"A judge has upheld the firing of a central Ohio public school science teacher who was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class and of keeping a Bible on his desk.
Knox County Common Pleas Judge Otho Eyster said in his two-page ruling Wednesday that he found clear and convincing evidence that the Mount Vernon school board was right in dismissing John Freshwater early this year.
The school board in the community about 40 miles northeast of Columbus first tried to dismiss Freshwater in 2008 after investigators reported that he preached Christian beliefs in class when discussing topics such as evolution and homosexuality, and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible from his classroom.
Freshwater said Thursday that he's considering his next step. "At this time I am reviewing all of my options and speaking with (The) Rutherford Institute and my personal attorneys," he said in an email to The Associated Press.
The Rutherford Institute is a Charlottesville, Virginia-based civil liberties group which has been involved in the case. Attorney and institute president John Whitehead said Freshwater has 30 days to file an appeal and said his group is ready to move in that direction.
Source
14 comments:
I'm mostly with the school on this one. Unless it is a church based school, creationism shouldn't be taught in schools. I remember it being discussed in the most general of terms as an alternate theory to evolution. The details were left to be discussed by my church. That's the way I like it. I don't want government schools teaching my children religious matters. Science teachers should teach science, not preach. On the other hand, if he wants to have his bible by his side, he should be allowed.
I agree with what 'Liz said' has said. If the man/person is employed to fulfil a specific function, he/she is not entitled to inject his own agenda into it.
Another imperial judge doing the will of the ACLU and the rest of the socialists commie dirt reptiles
Of all the abuses and atrocities that teachers commit and manage to keep their job... get accused of anything to do with God and you're shown the door.
I too agree with Liz and I'll go further.
Much of the content in this forum seems to surround individuals who feel that their religion gives them a mandate to inflict their views on other people allegedly for their own good.
I am sick and tired of these people who feel that they know what's good for me and who want to "share" their religion with me.
You are at liberty to believe that those who don't follow your religious tenets are infidels or "kaffirs" and that your deity will punish them if they don't join you. But such views have to be kept out of classrooms, graduation ceremonies, political forums, sports events etc. Expound on them to your heart's content in your own communities and on soap boxes somewhere.
I too agree with Liz, even though i am against the ongoing assault on religion in general, and Christianity in particular. And much of it coming from academia.
I don't like people trying to sell their religious beliefs to me, even when they're people of my own religion. Many of these people may be surprised to learn that i'm quite capable of making my own decisions.
It's funny how we tend to forget that while we're engaged in a religious war around the world with radical Islam, there's also one going on right here at home.
I disagree with Liz on this based on the fact that Christian ideals are pretty much on par with ideals in general. Jesus Christ was the perfect man after all. He was our lord and savior and died for our sins.
I'm sick of people trying to dismiss the Bible as something bad. It's time we stood up and started showing people how the morals and guidelines put forth in the Bible are truly the way people should live. Then maybe this country wouldn't be so up in arms all the time.
This one is a tough one for me in that I don’t see enough information in the article to convince me one way or another.
Depending on the extent to which this teacher allowed his personal beliefs to interfere with imparting core class material to the students, or induced them to fear grading retaliation for not accepting his beliefs, I could easily go either way.
Keeping a bible on his desk should be entirely irrelevant unless it is officially deemed akin to pornography. (Clearly the direction many in the left want to go.) Given that the “crime” of keeping a bible on his desk was deemed worthy of mention suggests that this teacher may have been the subject of a leftist witch hunt. Would they approve his firing if instead he kept a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book on his desk? Likely not.
Still, if his “preaching” substantially undermined the core science curriculum, and he refused to desist, then his firing was appropriate. Imagine an economics teacher who would not desist from preaching Marxism, his termination would likewise be appropriate.
Tidford Tatt said;
"Imagine an economics teacher who would not desist from preaching Marxism, his termination would likewise be appropriate..."
Appropriate yes, but that doesn't happen. In todays American academia, Marxism is considered more acceptable (and more widespread) than religion.
Liz said it right.
A bible on the teacher's desk is his business. The school was out of line on that matter.
In my years of teaching the opportunity came to sit in on a high school Biology lecture. The topic was evolution, and and it was during the heyday of evolution vs. creationism.
Mr. R. began his lecture thus: "We are going to study evolution. Evolution is only a theory, not a proven fact, but it's the best explanation science has at the moment for the origin of life and man on earth. There are other theories. If you are interested in them, I encourage you to discuss them with your parents and or your minister. I am not interested in which theory you choose to believe. What you believe is your business. My only concern is that when we finish this unit you can answer the questions on the unit test."
Having made it cleaqr he wasn't trying to influence anyone's beliefs, proceeded with his lecture.
He gave no clues as to his beliefs on the matter.
Would that all teachers would understand their task is to teach students how to think, not to teach them what to think.
Remove the bible and replace it with a koran.
Then all will be well!
Yep, if the teacher had a copy of the Koran clearly visible on his/her desk, it would be seen by many here as a "display" and something intimidating to the class and indicative of his/her Islamic bias in any teaching he/she did.
If the teacher wasn't trying to intimidate or just impress the students with his holy-book, he would have modestly put it inside his desk or in a bag or at least where it wasn't so obvious.
Time for judges to have term limits
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