'Intelligent Design' Teacher Fired

Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 2:23:12 pm PDT

In Ohio, the Mount Vernon school board has voted to fire a science teacher who preached “intelligent design” to his class.

That’s not quite the whole story, though; he also used a high frequency generator to burn a cross into a student’s arm.

The Mount Vernon School Board passed a resolution to terminate the employment of John Freshwater, an eighth-grade science teacher for the past 21 years.

Freshwater, according to an independent report, used an electrostatic device to mark a cross on the arm of one of his students, causing pain to the student the night of the incident and leaving a mark that lasted for approximately three weeks.

According to the Ohio Department of Education, the student’s family has filed a lawsuit.

Freshwater was also reprimanded several times for refusing to move his Bible from his classroom desk and teaching creationism alongside evolution, according to the 15-page independent report. The report also cites evidence that Mr. Freshwater told his students that “science is wrong because the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin and so anyone who is gay chooses to be gay and is therefore a sinner.”