Now lines are being drawn at the school. Students are attacking one another on the basis of religion.
When I was in the 10th grade, officials at my public high school did a really foolish thing: They agreed to allow a group of fundamentalist Christian athletes to speak on campus at a mandatory assembly.
When some parents complained, the event was moved to a private facility off campus but still during the school day. Students were told to attend if they wanted but if not to report to class. I decided not to go and walked into my first class – “Fundamentals of Typing.” The teacher was not happy to see me. No one else had shown up, and he had been looking forward to spending time in the teachers’ lounge. He did that anyway, flipping on a class television and leaving the room. I spent an hour watching “Donohue.”
Later that day, several people asked me why I hadn’t attended the athletes’ presentation. Did I have something against religion? Needless to say, it was not my most comfortable day in high school.
I was reminded of that long-ago incident after reading about a fracas that has erupted in a middle school in Mount Vernon, Ohio, over the actions of John Freshwater, an eighth-grade science teacher. Freshwater is accused of proselytizing in class, and his actions have divided youngsters in the school, creating an unhealthy atmosphere.
Some parents say Freshwater preached about Christianity while discussing the meaning of Good Friday and Easter and that he takes part in meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes by offering “healing” services, when he is supposed to simply monitor them. There have also been allegations that Freshwater teaches creationism.
Perhaps the most bizarre allegation was lodged by anonymous parents who charge that in December of 2007, Freshwater used an electronic device to burn a cross on their child’s arm.
A local newspaper, the Mount Vernon News, has covered the controversy in depth. Most recently, Freshwater went on the warpath after school officials ordered him to remove a Bible from his desk. Given his history, they felt it was for the best.
Now lines are being drawn at the school. Students find themselves pressured to take sides. Students are attacking one another on the basis of religion.
“You’re either for Mr. Freshwater or you’re against Mr. Freshwater,” said parent Beth Murdoch. “There’s no in between. In the kids’ minds, I think, it is just the Bible issue. And who is going to go against the Bible? Nobody. But it seems like the ‘Christians’ are using that as an excuse to gang up on the ‘atheists.’”
Murdoch reported that some students, wishing to support Freshwater, brought Bibles to school. One girl brought a Torah and was criticized.
“I don’t think people realize the depth of what’s going on between the students,” Murdoch said. “It’s a mob mentality right now. It’s peer pressure. To not wear a t-shirt and to not bring your Bible when they say bring your Bible and wear a T-shirt, you’re asking for trouble.”
Murdoch told the newspaper that one of her daughter’s friends wore a shirt to school that read, “I don’t need to wear a special t-shirt to be a Christian.” She said that student was reportedly pushed into the lockers and called a “stupid atheist b*tch.”
Parent Christine Hamilton, who has two sons in the school, said both have been harassed because they are friends with the boy whose parents filed the complaint.
Remarked Hamilton, “In our country, everyone’s allowed their religious opinion, but some of the middle school kids are just jumping on a bandwagon. If you’re not for Mr. Freshwater, you are going to be harassed. That is flat-out what is happening in the middle school. Therefore, I think a lot of kids are for Mr. Freshwater because they don’t want to be harassed, they don’t want to be singled out. And who wants to be against the Bible? Nobody.”
This hardly sounds like an atmosphere conducive to learning. If Freshwater had done what he is legally required to do – keep his religious views to himself – none of this would have happened. Now the school is divided, and young people are at loggerheads. What teacher in his right mind would want to foster an atmosphere like this?
Freshwater sounds like he’s on a mission to win souls, and school officials did the right thing in reining him in. Their next task is to heal the divisions in the school community and get the students back on track and focused on learning. Debates about religion belong at home.
The reason school-sponsored religious worship is unconstitutional in public schools is that it’s not the job of any arm of government to promote faith. When a public school gets into the business of encouraging or sponsoring prayer, Bible reading and other religious activities, it is usurping a role reserved for houses of worship.
But there’s another reason why public schools should stay out of the religion business: It’s divisive and counterproductive to a school’s core mission of education. The unfortunate situation unfolding in Mount Vernon is yet another reminder of that.
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