Last month, a Mount Vernon middle-school teacher named John Freshwater received national media attention by refusing to comply with a request by the City School Board to remove a Bible from his desktop. The 51-year-old science teacher claimed that "because the Bible is personal and private property, the removal of it from my desk would be nothing short of infringement on my own deeply-held religious beliefs, granted by God and guaranteed under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution." Coupled with his refusal are a wide range of allegations which point to Freshwater's continued promotion of Christianity and intelligent design throughout his 21-year career in the district. Allegations include Freshwater's distribution and promotion of intelligent design coursework (a handout titled Darwin's Theory of Evolution: The Premise and the Problem), a complaint filed by parents accusing Freshwater of using an electrostatic device to burn crosses into students arms and reports which quote Freshwater as saying "Satan be removed from this man" in a "healing session" which took place on school property. Personally, I find it appalling that Freshwater continues to teach in the district and by looking at the framework of the First Amendment, it's easy to see why Freshwater's claims are both baseless and misdirected. The creation of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights ultimately began shortly after the Revolutionary War in the early 1780s, during a period in U.S. history known as the Confederation Era, in which most of the governmental power was in the hands of the states as opposed to a national government. This changed when a fraction of citizens, led by Alexander Hamilton, wanted to create a federal government with more power, essentially moving toward what then would have been viewed as big government. On the opposing end, the Anti-Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, consisted of rural farmers from the South and the West. The Anti-Federalists believed that by allowing big government, in the form of the U.S. Constitution, it would minimize their participation in governmental decisions, especially in the outlying rural regions. The dissent by the Anti-Federalists was enough to force the Federalists to promise a Bill of Rights, which included the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion, speech and the press. Hamilton and his supporters knew that by guaranteeing that the new central government would not take away the individual rights of free speech, press and religion it would be enough to persuade most Americans to accept the new constitution. Now, more than 200 years later, one thing that certainly hasn't changed is the yearning by Americans to have protections guaranteeing free expression of their beliefs, albeit religious, political or other. But as both parent and student supporters align themselves with Freshwater, the issue needs to focus not on Mr. Freshwater's First Amendment rights, but rather the rights of his students. In a related case in late April of this year, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued a small Louisiana school district for a similar violation of student rights. According to an ACLU press release, "the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled against a public school in Tangipahoa Parish that handed out Bibles to fifth graders, saying the school infringed on students' religious freedom." The ruling stated, "the school's defense - that a student could choose not to accept the Bibles - is not enough, given the enormous pressure most children feel to fit in with classmates or follow teachers' wishes." As a middle-school teacher, Freshwater's students are only a few years older, and their ability to speak out against their teacher's repeated religious endorsements was inhibited by the pressures to conform to the norms of the classroom. Not only that, but once Freshwater became a vehicle of the state (as a public school teacher) he forfeited his right to free expression while at work. Freshwater must remember that, while on the job, he is expected follow to the guidelines set by his employers and maintain a neutral voice in matters concerning religion and specific personal beliefs. By and large, the First Amendment is as American as apple pie and should be regarded with the utmost respect and dignity. What makes our country so great is the ability for the minority to have a strong voice, and, when secured by the First Amendment, repression should be impossible.t&c;
MIKE WISE IS A SENIOR JOURNALISM MAJOR AND COLUMNIST FOR THE T&C.;
