"The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion."
--- Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence
This is the third in a series of articles about the middle school teacher ordered by his principal to remove His Bible from the top of his classroom desk. See the first article, "The PC Police Go Freshwater Fishing" and the second article, "More Freshwater News" as well as a related article, "Bible Now a Banned Book in U.S.A."
AGAINST FRESHWATER
[MOUNT VERNON, OHIO) Thursday, April 24, 2008 - "Freshwater controversy continues" – MountVernonNews.com reports this controversy has poured out into the Mount Vernon community. There are supporters and detractors of Mr. Freshwater.
According to an online article on the MountVernonNews website, “Retired middle school science teacher Jeff George (who) worked alongside Freshwater at Mount Vernon Middle School in the late 1980s and early ’90s . . . said there may be substance to other allegations that Freshwater used the classroom to advance his own personal beliefs. “The school administration has known for a long time that Freshwater was crossing the line, and he should have been fired a long time ago.”
“George recalls several occasions when Freshwater “didn’t always stay on track with science. What he was teaching was not true, and there have been numerous complaints over the years.” (On more than one occasion, evaluations in Freshwater’s file indicate that Freshwater was directed to work more closely with George in following the course of study.) . . .
““He (Freshwater) was promoting a particular belief system,” George said, “and preached against other religions, not just Muslims or Jews or Hindus, but also any Christian denomination that was different from his.””
FOR FRESHWATER
(MANSFIELD, OHIO) Thursday, April 24, 2008 - "We need more teachers like John Freshwater" – The following is a Letter to the Editor which appeared in the Mansfield News Journal on April 24, 2008. The following are some very enlightening words by David Green of Lexington, Ohio the Pastor, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Mansfield. I took the liberty to bold some of the words for emphasis.
“The Mount Vernon school district ought to be ashamed. I read in disbelief the story about Mr. Freshwater's Bible. The part that amazed me is that he was not accused of teaching from the Bible, he was accused of having his Bible on his desk. I think this teacher ought to be commended for having his Bible in the school, and I wish there were more teachers like him.
“The First Amendment does not grant people freedom from religion, but it grants freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers did not intend to keep religion out of school. In fact, it was just the opposite. I own reprints of such 18th and 19th century schoolbooks as The New England Primer and McGuffey's Readers. These books are full of references about God and the Bible.
“Now the schoolbooks do not mention God, and teachers are apparently not allowed to even show their Bible in the classroom where the kids can see. During the early years of our nation, it was unheard of for one child to rape another. They had guns, but they did not shoot each other. Now, God has been "expelled" from the public schools and rapes and school shootings are much too common. Coincidental? I think not.
“These kids need to know the Ten Commandments, the golden rule, and the fact they were made in the image of God. The Bible was good enough for our Founding Fathers, and it is good enough for our kids today. I appreciate Mr. Freshwater's stand on this, and would encourage him to continue fighting.
“Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote, "The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion." And in the Bible, we read a warning that we all need to pay attention to: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psalm 9:17).”
AGAINST FRESHWATER
[MOUNT VERNON, OHIO) Thursday, April 24, 2008 - "Freshwater controversy continues" – MountVernonNews.com reports this controversy has poured out into the Mount Vernon community. There are supporters and detractors of Mr. Freshwater.
According to an online article on the MountVernonNews website, “Retired middle school science teacher Jeff George (who) worked alongside Freshwater at Mount Vernon Middle School in the late 1980s and early ’90s . . . said there may be substance to other allegations that Freshwater used the classroom to advance his own personal beliefs. “The school administration has known for a long time that Freshwater was crossing the line, and he should have been fired a long time ago.”
“George recalls several occasions when Freshwater “didn’t always stay on track with science. What he was teaching was not true, and there have been numerous complaints over the years.” (On more than one occasion, evaluations in Freshwater’s file indicate that Freshwater was directed to work more closely with George in following the course of study.) . . .
““He (Freshwater) was promoting a particular belief system,” George said, “and preached against other religions, not just Muslims or Jews or Hindus, but also any Christian denomination that was different from his.””
FOR FRESHWATER
(MANSFIELD, OHIO) Thursday, April 24, 2008 - "We need more teachers like John Freshwater" – The following is a Letter to the Editor which appeared in the Mansfield News Journal on April 24, 2008. The following are some very enlightening words by David Green of Lexington, Ohio the Pastor, Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Mansfield. I took the liberty to bold some of the words for emphasis.
“The Mount Vernon school district ought to be ashamed. I read in disbelief the story about Mr. Freshwater's Bible. The part that amazed me is that he was not accused of teaching from the Bible, he was accused of having his Bible on his desk. I think this teacher ought to be commended for having his Bible in the school, and I wish there were more teachers like him.
“The First Amendment does not grant people freedom from religion, but it grants freedom of religion. The Founding Fathers did not intend to keep religion out of school. In fact, it was just the opposite. I own reprints of such 18th and 19th century schoolbooks as The New England Primer and McGuffey's Readers. These books are full of references about God and the Bible.
“Now the schoolbooks do not mention God, and teachers are apparently not allowed to even show their Bible in the classroom where the kids can see. During the early years of our nation, it was unheard of for one child to rape another. They had guns, but they did not shoot each other. Now, God has been "expelled" from the public schools and rapes and school shootings are much too common. Coincidental? I think not.
“These kids need to know the Ten Commandments, the golden rule, and the fact they were made in the image of God. The Bible was good enough for our Founding Fathers, and it is good enough for our kids today. I appreciate Mr. Freshwater's stand on this, and would encourage him to continue fighting.
“Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote, "The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion." And in the Bible, we read a warning that we all need to pay attention to: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psalm 9:17).”
MY THOUGHTS
Mr. Freshwater is a very excellent teacher. He is a remnant of the America of our Founders, a dying breed. Instead of condemning him as Mr. George clearly did above for living his faith during the week and not merely on Sundays, we should commend Mr. Freshwater for having the courage and integrity to say no to the PC police who told him to remove his Bible from the sight of the children. These same children have been exposed to far worse sights on vile video games, global warming propaganda films, immorality on prime time TV, the violence and sex in movies and music.
Churches, parents, students and the citizens of Mount Vernon and anywhere else in this country where faith is ridiculed, ostracized, demonized, stifled, persecuted and prosecuted need to stand up now to defend Mr. Freshwater's freedom. We need to say enough to the political correct, the homosexual crowd, the pro-abortion crowd, the ACLU, the education elite and all evil and leftist forces working to destroy the fundamental beliefs, the moral and the spiritual underpinnings of this nation. Here is a line in the sand.
You are wrong about violence issues in the schools. In the 19th century, teachers and parents were terrified about school and outside school violence. People advocated that adventure books be banned because of student violence, which was a staple of the schools. In fact, traditional belief advocated that children were broken and evil. They needed to be punished in order to become functioning adults. As a professor who studies violence in media, the images of the 18th and 19th centuries are romanticized images and far from reality. One need only look at societal violence of time to realize that schools were no different and possible worse. Also, there is no correlation between religion and better schools.
ReplyDeleteClearly you don't understand the need for a seperation of church and state. It is vital to the people of this town, this state, and this country that the right to religious freedom not be ignored, and that religion should have no place in government-funded education.
ReplyDelete