Tag: public schools

December 30, 2009

The case of John Freshwater, the Mount Vernon Ohio teacher who tried to teach his religious beliefs in his 8th grade class room is still going on more than a year since the news broke. They are currently finishing up direct witness testimony for an employment hearing that has lasted 14 months and cost has cost the school district more than $500,000 in legal fees.

June 27, 2008

It seems that 5th grade students were trotted outside their schools and given copies of the New Testament by members of Gideons International, and evangelical society known for handing out Bibles as part of their missionary work. When the ACLU got involved, some people took the opportunity to attack them.

June 21, 2008

On Friday, June 20th, the Mount Vernon Ohio school board voted 5 to 0 to terminate John Freshwater, an 8th grade science teacher, from his job. He is at the center of a dispute over his pushing of his religious beliefs on his students during school hours.

April 24, 2008

What bothers me about John Freshwater and his actions is they border on obsession, an unhealthy obsession. They HAVE to proselytize 24/7 and if they aren’t they feel like losers or they want to blame others and become the victims.

Most people who have unhealthy obsessions usually require mental help or worse they get put in jail for hurting others – but it seems no one really considers religious obsession wrong.

May 26, 2007

Conservative Internet news site WorldNetDaily posted a story yesterday about some teachers in Albemarle School District in Virginia, who are refusing orders from the administration to pass out adverts for the children’s summer camp called Camp Quest. The camp is the first summer camp that caters to atheists, humanists, and freethinkers. This isn’t the first time the school district has been in trouble for their lack of equal access. A flyer for a Unitarian Universalist holiday program was not passed out. A lawsuit was filed and the school district lost.

September 15, 2006

In 1996, Nancy Powell’s son, who was in 1st grade at the time, was present when the Boy Scouts held a recruitment presentation in his school cafeteria during lunch time. Knowing at the time the religious discrimination that the Boy Scouts practice, Powell filed a lawsuit against the school district. She claimed that the recruitment event was an illegal mixing of church and state. Even though the school finally won the suit, they had changed their policy and now no group is allowed to recruit children during school hours. Powell succeeded in her cause. So what is the big fuss over what is probably the oldest youth group in America – steeped in tradition and patriotic fever?