Freshwater in a polluted land

There is a middle school teacher in a small rural community in Ohio who has been ordered by his principal to remove his Bible from the top of his classroom desk.  As a result of this incident and the public's reaction to it, the Superintendent has assigned a monitor or observer to watch the teacher's every move in the classroom, ostentatiously to "protect" the children and to see to it that the Board of Education (PC politburo?) policies (orders) are carried out.  On top of that, an outside investigator has been hired to conduct an "objective" assessment of the situation and to report back to the Board for further action. 

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? 

What is the crux of this matter, what  fiendish behavior is involved?  Was it an alleged rape or sexual abuse of a child?  Was it a matter of molestation?  Was it the teacher's administering corporal punishment?  Was it selling drugs to a student?  Was it showing pornography?   Was it poor performance?  Why would this teacher who was named the 2007 Teacher of the Year award need to be monitored and investigated?  What heinous thing did he do?

It all stems from the fact that the man had refused to remove his personal Bible from the top of his desk when his principal ordered him to do so.  What?  Is this Communist China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, or Cuba?  That is correct. The whole incident was triggered by Mr. John Freshwater's refusal to remove his personal Judeo-Christian Bible from his classroom desk.  His principal had confronted him last week with a demand for him to remove the Ten Commandment document from the collage of historical documents and apparently some other religious pictures which Mr. Freshwater had arranged on his classroom windows or walls.  Freshwater complied with all of the requests, but drew the line when asked to place his Bible out of the sight of his students.

"SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE"

This seems to be a case of political correctness creep.  Political correctness has infected our schools and society as a whole.  The liberal left has essentially taken over the schools.  The National Education Association is a poltical orgaination first and foremost.  They do not care about educating our children, they care about dues and furthering their own socialist agenda. 

The superintended referred to some nonexistent "separation of church and state" doctrine supposedly found in his version of the First Amendment.  The whole separation of church and state is a myth and a concoction of the activist courts and their comrades in harm, the ACLU et al.   There is a coach in New Jersey who lost his case in the 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals recently.  The tyranical judge overturned a ruling that allowed Coach Marcus Borden to pray silently along with his player's team prayers.  He is appealing this hidious decision.   See "Coach Marcus Borden: He can't even pray silently . . ."

I have been following the Freshwater case closely, reading everything I could read in the local newspapers and listening where I can to local talk shows.   I have posted several articles on the A Good Choice . . . blog.   See "The PC Police Go Freshwater Fishing",   "More Freshwater News",   "We Need More (John) Freshwaters",  as well as a related article, "Bible Now a Banned Book in U.S.A."

WHAT ABOUT RELIGIOUS LIBERTY? 

It seems to me that when the community, the parents, and students became aware of the Principal's initial confrontation or "attack" on Mr. Freshwater's rights, they became outraged.  They demonstrated publicly.  The school administration and the Board of Education wanted to cover their behinds and trumped up additional "charges" to make themselves save face.   Therefore they quickly put a monitor in the classroom and hired an outside investigator to be put on the case.  I think they did this to cover-up their ineptness in handling the matter.   This is a good teacher, a dedicated teacher, a loved teacher, a teacher who cares.   They screwed up and in order to save face will seek to remove the teacher.  Their ultimate goal is to get rid of the teacher, to put the controversy behind them. 

The action the people of Mount Vernon, Ohio is to continue to express their support for Mr. Freshwater and their outrage at the school administration and the Board of Education.  If it means recalling the elected Board, so be it.  This ongoing removal of freedoms of religion and speech must end.  This move away from America's founding principles and values must end.  

WHAT'S AT STAKE? OR WHO BURNS AT THE STAKE?

What happens in Mount Vernon, Ohio could have a ripple affect one way or another around the country.   Let us hope that it will be a positive ripple, which draws attention to plight of our failed education system.  Our failed education system is primarily caused not by lack of money, but by the removal of all moral authority, virtue and values from the curriculum and operation of our schools.  Our failed education system has effectively removed God from the schools and  substituted a pagan, secular humanistic philosophy, creed andreligion, which elevates man and makes him god.  That is the root of the problem in education today.  That is one of the main polluters of our land.  Where is the EPA when you really need them?

David Green in a letter to the editor in the Mansfield New Journal summarized the problem well, "..."Now the schoolbooks do not mention God, and teachers are apparently not allowed to even show their Bible in the classroom where the kids can see. During the early years of our nation, it was unheard of for one child to rape another. They had guns, but they did not shoot each other. Now, God has been "expelled" from the public schools and rapes and school shootings are much too common. Coincidental?  I think not.

He continues, "These kids need to know the Ten Commandments, the golden rule, and the fact they were made in the image of God. The Bible was good enough for our Founding Fathers, and it is good enough for our kids today. I appreciate Mr. Freshwater's stand on this, and would encourage him to continue fighting.

He concludes his letter with two quotations, ""Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence wrote, "The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion." And in the Bible, we read a warning that we all need to pay attention to: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Psalm 9:17).""

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