Re: [asa] Burning crosses in Mt Vernon

If these allegations are true, obviously you have a sick individual here.
Is this supposed to imply that all creationists are sick enough to burn
crosses on students' arms?

On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 12:22 PM, PvM <pvm.pandas@gmail.com> wrote:

> http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2008/06/teaching-intell.html
>
> Teacher John Freshwater was accused by a family of one of his students
> of teaching creationism and burning a cross the student's arm using an
> electrostatic device. While the teacher admitted using the device, he
> claimed he was burning 'X' . However both the pictures as well as the
> testimony of students show a much different picture. Combine this with
> the teacher's unwillingness to stop proselytizing and teaching
> creationism and it is not a surprise that the family filed a lawsuit.
> The school board investigated and the report can be found online. The
> board is meeting today to determine what will happen to John
> Freshwater. Freshwater is getting most of his support from Matolyak, a
> pastor of an assembly of God church. As others report at Ed Brayton's
> blog
> http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/06/freshwater_investigation_repor.php
>
> "Matolyak is pastor of Freshwater's church, a fundamentalist Assembly
> of God church, and that congregation has been active in supporting
> Freshwater. Lately it's about the only local support he's been
> getting. His alliance with David Daubenmire's Christian Nation loons
> has considerably eroded any other support he might have had even prior
> to the investigators' report."
>
> Mr. Freshwater was insubordinate in failing to remove all of the
> religious materials from his classroom as ordered by his superior,
> Principal White.
>
> * Mr. Freshwater did burn a cross onto the complaining
> family's child's arm using an electrostatic device not designed for
> that purpose
> * The Ten Commandments together with other posters of a
> religious nature were posted in Mr. Freshwater's classroom. Most were
> removed after Mr. White's letter of April 14, 2008, but at least one
> poster remained which Mr. Freshwater was again instructed to remove on
> April 16, 2008, but did not do so.
> * Several Bibles were kept in Mr. Freshwater's classroom
> including his personal Bible on his desk and one he checked out of the
> library placed on the lab table near the desk. Other Bibles that had
> been maintained in the room were removed by the time the investigators
> viewed Mr. Freshwater's room.
> * Mr. Freshwater engaged in teaching of a religious nature,
> teaching creationism and related theories and calling evolution into
> question. He had other materials in his classroom that could be used
> for that purpose.
> * Mr. Freshwater engaged in prayer during FCA meetings in
> violation of the District's legal obligations for monitoring such
> organizations.
> * Mr. Freshwater participated and possibly lead a prayer
> during an FCA meeting that concerned a guest speaker's health. There
> is no conclusion as to whether such prayer was a "healing" prayer.
> * There is no evidence Mr. Freshwater violated the District's
> permission slip policy.
> * There is no evidence Mr. Freshwater made statements about
> FCA members "being the saved ones" nor was there any corroboration to
> the allegation Mr. Freshwater gave FCA members Bibles for them to
> distribute. He did have two boxes of Bibles in the back of his room.
> * Mr. Freshwater gave an extra credit assignment for students
> to view the movie "Expelled" which does involve intelligent design.
>
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-- 
David W. Opderbeck
Associate Professor of Law
Seton Hall University Law School
Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology
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