He is standing firm. Please pray for teacher John Freshwater...
From "Ohio Teacher Refuses to Remove Bible From Classroom" by Alexander Sheffrin, posted 4/18/08 at the Christian Post.com
An Ohio school teacher of over 20 years has come under attack recently by school administrators because of a Bible that he has kept on his desk for his entire career.
Earlier this week, instructor John Freshwater was notified by the school’s principal that he would have to remove both a tapestry of the 10 Commandments and his Bible from the classroom in line with what the principal said was the establishment of religion clause which bars religion from the classroom.
Although Freshwater agreed to remove the 10 Commandments, he stood firm on keeping his Bible which he said governed his entire set of values and beliefs – values and beliefs that were protected by the constitution, he said.
“The removal of it (the Bible) will be nothing short of the infringement on my deeply held religious beliefs,” he said in a statement, according to the conservative Focus on the Family’s Citizenlink, which monitors attacks on Christianity.
“Discrimination against religions and religious views is un-American. In a land where we treasure free speech rights, no force or forces have the right to expel from the public forum those who have views with which they disagree. It is what has made America free,” he explained.
School officials representing the school district, however, issued a statement of their own.
District officials don't oppose religion but are required "under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to protect against the establishment of religion in the schools. (This is nonsense. The First Amendment says CONGRESS shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion. Having a Bible on your desk can hardly be construed as the establishment of religion. The First Amendment says absolutely nothing about schools at all, it pertains to keeping CONGRESS out of religion...)
As a public school system the district cannot teach, promote or favor any religion or religious beliefs,” they wrote in their statement, according to The Columbus Dispatch. (Public schools DO promote a religion and religious belief system in the classroom. It's called secular humanism and to deny that is either dishonest or naive.)
Supporters and longtime associates of Freshwater, however, argued that throughout his entire career he had never once tried to preach or teach from the Bible while in the classroom.
And most recently, in an act of solidarity with the well liked science teacher – and defiance towards school administrators – students throughout the school have announced the beginning of what they called “take-your-Bible-to-school day."
It is, in fact, not possible for public schools not to promote religious belief. Religious belief is what we believe about God. The God of the Bible either exists or He doesn't. Public schools now operate on the assumption that He does not exist - or He is irrelevant. If He does exist, they have unwittingly eliminated the truth. This is not neutrality.A belief system is indeed being promoted by our public schools. The question is WHOSE belief system? The answer is, the belief system of liberal educators. It is called Secular Humanism.
Please note the irony that today is also the Day of Silence, where kids and even teachers, in thousands of schools around the country, will be allowed to use the classroom to promote acceptance of pro-homosexual beliefs. I find it absolutely astonishing that teachers are allowed to actually promote homosexuality but not even hint at Christianity. The walls and halls of some of our public schools are plastered with the Rainbow Triangle Gay Pride logo yet teachers get in trouble for even having a Bible on their desk...
When did we become so foolish?
