John Freshwater, Back in the News, Nationally

Righting First Amendment Wrongs

This article includes an update on the John Freshwater Bible-on-the-Desk controversy as well as a video which outlines what is behind the attack on Christian teachers such as John Freshwater.

I have not written about John Freshwater very much lately. The alleged President has sidetracked me with all of his socialist shenanigans. So I now return, attempting to catch up on the John Freshwater story. John Freshwater is the middle school science teacher in sleepy little Mount Vernon, Ohio, who got in trouble by refusing to take his personal Bible off of his desk when told to do so by a superior. Subsequently the school administration disciplined him for allegedly marking a student’s arm with a Tesla coil during a science class demonstration. Also, he was accused of being too much of a Christian in his role as a public school teacher. Today our godless secular humanistic educational system frowns on anyone or anything that apparently even thinks a thought about God or, His Son, Jesus Christ. God forbid!

THE CONTRACT HEARING

Later this week (on Thursday and Friday) his contract hearing is scheduled to resume.

The Freshwater fiasco has been going on since the Spring of 2008. After over 20 years teaching in the Mount Vernon schools, he was suspended without pay since the end of the 2007-2008 school year for the issues named earlier. Last September Freshwater filed a civil lawsuit against the parents, who had accused him of marking their son with the Tesla coil. I believe that that lawsuit is moving through the courts.

THE NATIONAL MEDIA

Many newspapers, websites and blogs across Ohio and America reported that Freshwater filed a lawsuit against the Mount Vernon School District for $1 million on Monday, June 8, 2009. That lawsuit with its 16 counts can be read here. His lawsuit has definitely garnered attention.

Much of the leftist media, websites and blogs have nothing positive to say about Freshwater. They consider him to be a foolish Creationists/Intelligent Design adherent, who rejects evolutionary ‘science,’ which in reality is just an unproven theory itself. The education elite even balk at merely teaching the weaknesses of the unproven theory of evolution, so much for academic freedom. Can you spell (the movie) E-X-P-E-L-L-E-D?

Here is an example of what is being written in the leftist press. Steve Gobles wrote in the Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal, “Basically, he is accused of undermining legitimate science -- evolution theory -- and pressing make-believe "science" based on Scripture . . . The lawsuit -- and its hefty $1 million asking price -- could have an impact that goes well beyond Mount Vernon and Ohio. Superintendents elsewhere have to contend with teachers who think Genesis is a science textbook, too, and so they will be watching closely." This is a natural evolution of taking God and the Bible out of our schools in the sixties. What we have is chaos and a broken and failed educational system.

Yesterday, David Hart blamed Freshwater in the Boiled Frog blog article for the failures on our present education system,

"While I expect that Freshwater's complaint in federal court will be dismissed, the damage has been done. Students have embraced mythology and superstition in contrast to real science. Our fifteen year-olds are in the bottom fourth of the 30 largest industrialized nations in math and science scores. "Teachers" like Freshwater bear some measure of responsibility for that failure. Moreover, Freshwater has created another group of homophobic bigots. Also disturbing is the idea that Freshwater was comfortable with outright lies about his conduct. It appears that he feels that he is permitted to lie in furtherance of Christianity. Apparently "false witness" can be applied selectively."

This is absolutely ludicrous. Freshwater's science class were the best of the three middle school science classes as far as state testing scores. Quite the opposite, Freshwater and other Christan teachers are actually trying to hold the tide of further regression and failure of our schools, not the cause of its failure. The number one cause of underperforming, unproductive schools is the expulsion of God, the Bible and Judeo-Christian values and principles from our schools!

Realistically, academic freedom is non-existent on most American campuses. It was thrown out in the 1960s with God and the Bible. You can mark a progressive decline of education in this nation since that point in history. It has reached a climax where here an outstanding, award-winning, teacher beloved by his students is given the ax on some freedom-of-faith robbing charges and some trumped up charges to purge him from the indoctrination center. He doesn’t fit the program or profile of what is a ‘good’ teacher in the eyes of the bureaucrats.

Last night (Monday) there is a School Board Meeting, which I was not able to attend. This is the first meeting following the filing of the lawsuit by Mr. Freshwater. It will be interesting to see if that lawsuit changes anything surrounding the on-going contract hearing and the relationship between Freshwater and the school board and administration. Here is a recent newspaper report, "Citizens square off with MV school board," of the public comments, mostly favorable to Mr. Freshwater, recorded at the Mount Vernon School Board Meeting last night. See also Accountablility in the Media's videos of some of the public hearing portion of the Mount Vernon School Board meeting.

Although I do not agree with many of the editorial comments and slant of Richard Hoppe in his Panda's Thumb blog, he does articulate a nice summary of the Freshwater fiasco in his article titled, "Freshwater brings suit against Board of Education." In that article he predicts, "The hearing is scheduled to resume on June 18, but in light of this new federal lawsuit and the refusal of the Board members to testify in the hearing, it’s unlikely that date will be kept."

Many people from both sides of this controversy are following this important case. I believe that the first amendment rights of John Freshwater, other teachers and other Americans are at stake her. Unfortunately, we are turning more and more from being a fundamentally Christian nation into a godless, secular socialistic state. Even the current occupier of the White House denies that America is a Christian nation, extolling our 'large' Muslim population instead, in his anti-American jaunts to the Europe and the Middle East.

However, we were undeniably established as a Judeo-Christian centric nation and the vast majority of Americans consider ourselves as still being Christian. It is the elite who have maneuvered into positions of power and control in Washington, in academia, in science, in entertainment, in the media, and in much of corporate America - all would rather be politically correct than honest. They along with the ACLU, People for the American Way and 'Americans' United for the Separation of Church and State are seeking to undermine the foundation upon which this nation was built and stands. They would rather revise America's history than accept something that opposes their skewed beliefs and values, which are all antithetical to those of our founding fathers.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Here is a video, which I found on the Values Voters News website. It describes what is really underlying the attack on John Freshwater and his Bible and Christianity here in America. John Freshwater is briefly mentioned in this video.