Hopefully this will end the Freshwater Saga for good.

Both the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and Panda's Thumb are reporting that the Supreme Court of the United States has declined to hear John Freshwater's appeal of his firing as a science school teaching in Mount Vernon OH.  All I can say is Yay!

"Over at last for Freshwater" and "Freshwater: It is finished" spells it out pretty clearly.  It's a case that should have ended years ago, preferably with a jail sentence for Mr. Freshwater for using an electrostatic device to burn crosses into students arms. 

What annoys me the most about this entire case is not the cross-burning into arms, not the teaching of Creationism/Intelligent Design, not his continual disregard for the for the policies and procedures of his superiors, nor even the need for other teachers to re-teach science education to his former students . . .but the cowardice of John Freshwater.

Yes, I know a lot of people think he is brave for standing up for his beliefs.  But I disagree.  To me only a coward lies about his actions when confronted during the school boards investigation.  Only a coward who also knows just how wrong he was in his actions would teach his students to lie for him.  Let us never forget that he not only lied, which I see as a refusal to accept responsibility, but he taught his students that it's OK to lie.  This is not a man I want in the classroom and the only word that comes to mind is cowardice. 

He told you one thing to your face and when you weren't looking, did something else and said something else.  This is not a brave man, this is someone who cannot be trusted, certainly not with the education of our children. Don't we try and teach our kids that one of the true essences of being an adult isn't how you behave when someone is watching, but how you behave when no one is looking.  We try and teach responsibility and even honor, but then they go to school and their teacher says something like 'Remember those crosses I burned into your arm, you need to call them 'X's now or I might get in trouble.'

This is the man one of the Answers in Genesis folks, kennie ham's ministry site, referred to:

 " . . .Mr. Freshwater and others like him who truly are missionaries in our public school system."(http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/georgia-purdom/2011/01/18/scientists-and-science-should-not-be-questioned/)

Missionaries?  Well since kennie himself thinks lies in support of his beliefs are OK, I guess he would see a kindred spirit in someone else who lies and then tries to use his religious beliefs to support his actions.  Lying and teaching children to lie for you is not the action of a missionary, unless the lesson you wish to teach is more the variety of Dicken's Fagin.  I don't normally picture that when the term 'missionary' is used, but I might have to change my opinion whenever AiG uses it.

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fagin#mediaviewer/File:Fagin_from_Oliver_Twist.JPG