Re: [asa] Burning crosses in Mt Vernon

Surely you jest. What surprises me though is how the teacher's claim
that these were 'X' as well as the teacher's other conduct was
uncritically accepted by many of his supporters, many of whom had a
religious motivation.
It's a fair warning to all of us Christians that we should be careful
in our endorsements especially when it involves trust positions like
those found in teacher-student relations. The mere fact that the
'community approves of Freshwater' hardly seems relevant.

On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 9:35 AM, David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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Received on Fri Jun 20 12:44:41 2008