Today's Mansfield (OH) News Journal contained an editorial accusing the Mount Vernon School Board of singling out John Freshwater for punishment just because he's a good Xian. The editorial, written by Marvin Gassman of nearby Fredericktown, is a collection of the standard evangelical rationalizations for trying to force their religion on public school students; Xians are the majority, their rights of freedom of speech and religion are being violated, the bad guys are trying to eliminate Christianity, blah blah blah. In other words, the fundies should have all the rights and everyone else can literally and figuratively go to hell.
More incongruous is the assertion that although he (Gassman) has been at the hearing every day, he says he's seen no provable evidence that Freshwater has done anything wrong. I suppose if one is predisposed to thinking that proselytising in public schools is doing things right, and that anyone accusing a "Good Christian" of wrong-doing must automatically be a lying bad person, then Gassman's view makes sense. It's almost as if the editorial was written by a fundy preacher, and, son of a gun, it turns out Marvin Gassman is the pastor of the Morrow Bible Church.
The most gratifying thing about Gassman's editorial is that, at this time, all the comments disagree with the article and support the teaching of science without religious views attached. Maybe people are beginning to catch on to the fact that the insertion of religion into science classes is detrimental, as is any teacher who insists on inserting his religion.
Showing posts with label religion in school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion in school. Show all posts
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Christian Grip on Our Schools
John Freshwater was back in the news this week because the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that R. Kelly Hamilton, Freshwater's attorney, could not force members of the Mount Vernon School Board to testify at the hearing. The comments on the above linked article are a fair indication of the local views about the hearing except, this article having been printed in the Columbus paper, the number of comments supporting Freshwater are probably much fewer , and maybe a little less subjective, that if the comments had all come from the Mount Vernon area (but more numerous and subjective that most of Earth, I'll bet).
Mean while, the Christian Post had a couple of articles about the interaction of public schools and religion. I know I shouldn't go to the Xian home turf for material. It's unsportsmanlike, but sometimes I just need a laugh or to induce a headache when the aspirin's near its expiration date. Anyway, the first aricle was about the heart-break of having to tell public high school cheerleaders in Georgia that they could no longer display their banners with bible quotes at football games. The other article was about how 350 (I'm guessing public) schools in 43 states are offering courses in the bible (and I'm betting zero schools teaching the Koran or Rig-Veda. Any takers?). Texas has the most schools offering bible classes and #2 is (drum-roll) Georgia!
Comments supporting the cheerleaders' banners and the classes tend toward the "majority rules" rationale for perpetuating Xian bias in public schools, completely missing the point that the 1st Amendment's intent was to protect the rights of the minority groups against suppression by the majority. Also it is suggested that those on the other side of the issues are probably mean, immoral Xian-haters (and probably commie homo baby eaters). It is just like the way the atheist Muslims in Washington are taking away all their rights and destroying America. In summary; They're right and anyone who disagrees is the enemy. Most of these people couldn't shift a paradigm if it came with an automatic transmission and a copilot.
I'm sorry, I got a little off track there. My original intention was make early thoughts flow seamlessly into the next point I wanted to make (It could've happened. Oh yes it could. Could too. Could too! Could too infinity!). All right here comes the seamless part. Comments always seemed to express the problem as "keeping religion out of the classroom." It's like some book stores I've been in where the Religion section contains only books about Christianity and if you want a book about another religion, you have to look in the Philosophy section. It's not about keeping religion out of the classroom, it's about keeping A Religion and the blatant bias toward it, to the exclusion of all other beliefs, out of the classroom.
The problem in all these examples is that a protestant Xian majority has had a privleged place in American society for a long time and they have come to believe that it is part of the design of the US government and therefore anyone who suggests that a different belief is guarenteed equal treatment under the law is viewed as anti-America and therefore a legitimate target for their righteous hatred. I can only hope that continued court cases and public demands for equal treatment for all will slowly eat away at the strength of the intolerants until the vast majority of Americans see the obsurdity of their position and realize how ridiculous it is to support people like Huckabee and Palin who try to turn every political move into an evangelical sermon. Or maybe we could start by putting "kick me" signs on all their backs.
Mean while, the Christian Post had a couple of articles about the interaction of public schools and religion. I know I shouldn't go to the Xian home turf for material. It's unsportsmanlike, but sometimes I just need a laugh or to induce a headache when the aspirin's near its expiration date. Anyway, the first aricle was about the heart-break of having to tell public high school cheerleaders in Georgia that they could no longer display their banners with bible quotes at football games. The other article was about how 350 (I'm guessing public) schools in 43 states are offering courses in the bible (and I'm betting zero schools teaching the Koran or Rig-Veda. Any takers?). Texas has the most schools offering bible classes and #2 is (drum-roll) Georgia!
Comments supporting the cheerleaders' banners and the classes tend toward the "majority rules" rationale for perpetuating Xian bias in public schools, completely missing the point that the 1st Amendment's intent was to protect the rights of the minority groups against suppression by the majority. Also it is suggested that those on the other side of the issues are probably mean, immoral Xian-haters (and probably commie homo baby eaters). It is just like the way the atheist Muslims in Washington are taking away all their rights and destroying America. In summary; They're right and anyone who disagrees is the enemy. Most of these people couldn't shift a paradigm if it came with an automatic transmission and a copilot.
I'm sorry, I got a little off track there. My original intention was make early thoughts flow seamlessly into the next point I wanted to make (It could've happened. Oh yes it could. Could too. Could too! Could too infinity!). All right here comes the seamless part. Comments always seemed to express the problem as "keeping religion out of the classroom." It's like some book stores I've been in where the Religion section contains only books about Christianity and if you want a book about another religion, you have to look in the Philosophy section. It's not about keeping religion out of the classroom, it's about keeping A Religion and the blatant bias toward it, to the exclusion of all other beliefs, out of the classroom.
The problem in all these examples is that a protestant Xian majority has had a privleged place in American society for a long time and they have come to believe that it is part of the design of the US government and therefore anyone who suggests that a different belief is guarenteed equal treatment under the law is viewed as anti-America and therefore a legitimate target for their righteous hatred. I can only hope that continued court cases and public demands for equal treatment for all will slowly eat away at the strength of the intolerants until the vast majority of Americans see the obsurdity of their position and realize how ridiculous it is to support people like Huckabee and Palin who try to turn every political move into an evangelical sermon. Or maybe we could start by putting "kick me" signs on all their backs.
Friday, August 28, 2009
A Little More from Mount Vernon Schools
In further news from Mount Vernon School District, they have settled a federal law suit with a student whose family sued because the student was being taught religion in science class in violation of his constitutional rights. The school board's insurance co. agreed to pay $55oo to the the family and $1 each to 2 other individuals plus paying $115,500 of the plaintiffs' legal fees. A similar suit is still pending against John Freshwater.
An article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentions that the suit against the school was was brought by the family of the boy who said he was burned by Freshwater. At the end of the article, it is pointed out that 12 fellow teachers have testified on Freshwater's behalf. The article doesn't mention that most of those teachers are also members of the church Freshwater attends or that some of them had also been promoting their religion at school.
What angered me most in the Plain Dealer article was the mention that the plaintiff family has moved to another town and school district do to the backlash against them in Mount Vernon. Those doing the backlashing would, of course, be the loving, forgiving, good, evangelical Xians of the area who apparently feel that as long as their dogma is being taught, that trumps contractual agreements, state and federal laws, and any truth that might indicate Freshwater's guilt. Speaking of that kind of Xian, the photo in the Plain Dealer article shows Freshwater standing next to god's playground bully; Dave Daubenmire of Pass the Salt Min.
An article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentions that the suit against the school was was brought by the family of the boy who said he was burned by Freshwater. At the end of the article, it is pointed out that 12 fellow teachers have testified on Freshwater's behalf. The article doesn't mention that most of those teachers are also members of the church Freshwater attends or that some of them had also been promoting their religion at school.
What angered me most in the Plain Dealer article was the mention that the plaintiff family has moved to another town and school district do to the backlash against them in Mount Vernon. Those doing the backlashing would, of course, be the loving, forgiving, good, evangelical Xians of the area who apparently feel that as long as their dogma is being taught, that trumps contractual agreements, state and federal laws, and any truth that might indicate Freshwater's guilt. Speaking of that kind of Xian, the photo in the Plain Dealer article shows Freshwater standing next to god's playground bully; Dave Daubenmire of Pass the Salt Min.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The Freshwater Fiasco
I live about 15 miles south of the town of Mount Vernon, OH and followed with interest the battle between Jr. High science teacher John Freshwater and the school board that ordered him to remove the 10 commandments and his bible from view in his classroom. Freshwater agreed to remove the 10 commandments from the wall, but refused to remove his bible from his desk, saying it infringed on his rights.
I started hearing about this in mid- April of ’08 and his termination hearing is set for Oct. 1st. A large number of Christians in the area have rallied around Freshwater, insisting that his rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion have been violated, and a lot of the students have held a “bring a bible to school day” to show their support. Meanwhile the school board issued a statement saying that they were not opposed to religion but were required to do this because "under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs.”
Freshwater has filed a countersuit against the school district claiming emotional distress, lost time from work, and anxiety. He wants to have the case heard before a jury.
Most of this information has made the national news thanks to Fox News. What has not been widely reported is that the order to remove the bible came as a result of many complaints to the school board from parents of his students, because he was teaching creationism in class, making repeated religious references, and using an electric device to burn a cross into the arm of at least one student. The student reportedly has the scar to prove it.
The large fundamentalist Christian population in the area has come out in support of Freshwater because they believe that force-feeding Christian dogma to public school students is exactly what he should be doing. The kids that brought their bibles to school used the opportunity to mark non-bible–carriers as the enemy, and therefore legitimate targets for bullying and harassment. And lest you think that this really was about freedom of speech and freedom of religion, a Jewish boy who brought his Torah to school to show solidarity was also made a target of their righteous Christian hatred.
Supporters of the teacher staged rallies on the public square in Mount Vernon and came in large numbers to school meetings boisterously insisting that the separation of church and state was a myth and insisting that they were the victims of religious persecution. They also erected a large sign along the main route into town that read, “If the bible goes the school board should follow.”
As the summer wore on fewer and fewer people attended the rallies and a few of the people who agreed with the school board’s decision could be heard above the din, but the fundies still just didn’t get it. The message is that the separation of church and state isn’t a myth and every court case that used the myth defense has lost, and sometimes that loss cost big bucks. Just ask the Dover, PA board about the 2 million dollar hole in their budget. Furthermore we have the documents from the founding fathers that state that the U.S. is a secular nation that favors no particular religion. Heck, Jefferson coined the phrase “separation of church and state” while clarifying the intent of the first amendment to assure Connecticut Baptists that the Congregationalist majority couldn’t legislate them out of existence.
Another argument against Freshwater that I never heard is that he was hired to teach science to middleschoolers and if he was doing something other than that during class time, then he wasn’t doing the job he was hired to do. Who among us can get away with doing whatever we want during work hours without it having some negative ramifications. The only reason he got away with it for so long is that Christianity has special status in this area. If Freshwater had spent class time teaching French lessons instead of science, he’d have been gone long ago, but you don’t want to piss off the Big Guy upstairs or his huge fundamentalist following that could vote you out of office.
The biggest losers in this mess are the kids. Almost everything I have read has addressed whether or not John Freshwater is a victim and most writers seem to have forgotten that this whole donnybrook played out in a middle school full of about 1000 students. Shouldn’t the highest priorities of a school and its supporters be education, welfare of all the students and a safe, healthy learning environment? Why have these matters been largely overlooked in the discussion?
Freshwater had been allowed to teach at that school for 20 years in spite of similar complaints throughout his career. Granted, Mount Vernon’s large, vocal, right-wing evangelical population must be very intimidating, but 20 years is a very long time to sweep problems under the rug and hope they will go away. Is it any wonder that US science education ranks around 24th in the world, behind even war-torn, third-worldish Sri Lanka? Students receive science lessons watered down to avoid offence or where a teacher’s personal agenda takes precedence over facts. They take this diluted information home where they are assured by parents and clergy that their science education is largely invalid and the facts are not to be trusted. When they leave school they are only prepared for becoming Amish.
If these youngsters are not learning anything in school they should at least be in a safe environment. Junior High students almost universally reflect the religion of their parents and they don’t really get a choice in the matter. The adults in the school should be aware of that and protect these students but most teachers in Mount Vernon have been raised to believe that their religion is right and good and all others are wrong and bad. I’m sure if Freshwater had been espousing a non-Christian religion, he’d have been thrown out so fast his shadow couldn’t keep up. Heck, if he’d been promoting Islam he’d be in Guantanamo by now.
I saved the most important point for last. John Freshwater intentionaly injured a student! He asked for volunteers for an electrical demonstration and then used a device like an improvised branding iron to burn a cross shape into the arm of one of his students! I can’t understand why the community didn’t rise up with pitchforks and torches and come after him like peasants storming Frankenstein’s castle. This man shouldn’t be awaiting a decision from the school board, he should be in prison for child abuse and assalt and battery. Oh, but wait. This doesn’t count as a bad thing because he was doing God’s work. If the child was a godless infidel, it probably would have been OK to drive a stake through the evil kid’s heart, as long as he didn’t get any blood on the bible on his desk.
I started hearing about this in mid- April of ’08 and his termination hearing is set for Oct. 1st. A large number of Christians in the area have rallied around Freshwater, insisting that his rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion have been violated, and a lot of the students have held a “bring a bible to school day” to show their support. Meanwhile the school board issued a statement saying that they were not opposed to religion but were required to do this because "under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs.”
Freshwater has filed a countersuit against the school district claiming emotional distress, lost time from work, and anxiety. He wants to have the case heard before a jury.
Most of this information has made the national news thanks to Fox News. What has not been widely reported is that the order to remove the bible came as a result of many complaints to the school board from parents of his students, because he was teaching creationism in class, making repeated religious references, and using an electric device to burn a cross into the arm of at least one student. The student reportedly has the scar to prove it.
The large fundamentalist Christian population in the area has come out in support of Freshwater because they believe that force-feeding Christian dogma to public school students is exactly what he should be doing. The kids that brought their bibles to school used the opportunity to mark non-bible–carriers as the enemy, and therefore legitimate targets for bullying and harassment. And lest you think that this really was about freedom of speech and freedom of religion, a Jewish boy who brought his Torah to school to show solidarity was also made a target of their righteous Christian hatred.
Supporters of the teacher staged rallies on the public square in Mount Vernon and came in large numbers to school meetings boisterously insisting that the separation of church and state was a myth and insisting that they were the victims of religious persecution. They also erected a large sign along the main route into town that read, “If the bible goes the school board should follow.”
As the summer wore on fewer and fewer people attended the rallies and a few of the people who agreed with the school board’s decision could be heard above the din, but the fundies still just didn’t get it. The message is that the separation of church and state isn’t a myth and every court case that used the myth defense has lost, and sometimes that loss cost big bucks. Just ask the Dover, PA board about the 2 million dollar hole in their budget. Furthermore we have the documents from the founding fathers that state that the U.S. is a secular nation that favors no particular religion. Heck, Jefferson coined the phrase “separation of church and state” while clarifying the intent of the first amendment to assure Connecticut Baptists that the Congregationalist majority couldn’t legislate them out of existence.
Another argument against Freshwater that I never heard is that he was hired to teach science to middleschoolers and if he was doing something other than that during class time, then he wasn’t doing the job he was hired to do. Who among us can get away with doing whatever we want during work hours without it having some negative ramifications. The only reason he got away with it for so long is that Christianity has special status in this area. If Freshwater had spent class time teaching French lessons instead of science, he’d have been gone long ago, but you don’t want to piss off the Big Guy upstairs or his huge fundamentalist following that could vote you out of office.
The biggest losers in this mess are the kids. Almost everything I have read has addressed whether or not John Freshwater is a victim and most writers seem to have forgotten that this whole donnybrook played out in a middle school full of about 1000 students. Shouldn’t the highest priorities of a school and its supporters be education, welfare of all the students and a safe, healthy learning environment? Why have these matters been largely overlooked in the discussion?
Freshwater had been allowed to teach at that school for 20 years in spite of similar complaints throughout his career. Granted, Mount Vernon’s large, vocal, right-wing evangelical population must be very intimidating, but 20 years is a very long time to sweep problems under the rug and hope they will go away. Is it any wonder that US science education ranks around 24th in the world, behind even war-torn, third-worldish Sri Lanka? Students receive science lessons watered down to avoid offence or where a teacher’s personal agenda takes precedence over facts. They take this diluted information home where they are assured by parents and clergy that their science education is largely invalid and the facts are not to be trusted. When they leave school they are only prepared for becoming Amish.
If these youngsters are not learning anything in school they should at least be in a safe environment. Junior High students almost universally reflect the religion of their parents and they don’t really get a choice in the matter. The adults in the school should be aware of that and protect these students but most teachers in Mount Vernon have been raised to believe that their religion is right and good and all others are wrong and bad. I’m sure if Freshwater had been espousing a non-Christian religion, he’d have been thrown out so fast his shadow couldn’t keep up. Heck, if he’d been promoting Islam he’d be in Guantanamo by now.
I saved the most important point for last. John Freshwater intentionaly injured a student! He asked for volunteers for an electrical demonstration and then used a device like an improvised branding iron to burn a cross shape into the arm of one of his students! I can’t understand why the community didn’t rise up with pitchforks and torches and come after him like peasants storming Frankenstein’s castle. This man shouldn’t be awaiting a decision from the school board, he should be in prison for child abuse and assalt and battery. Oh, but wait. This doesn’t count as a bad thing because he was doing God’s work. If the child was a godless infidel, it probably would have been OK to drive a stake through the evil kid’s heart, as long as he didn’t get any blood on the bible on his desk.
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