Ohio high court upholds firing in school Bible case

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

A public school district was legally justified in firing a science instructor who refused to remove religious materials from his classroom, a divided Ohio Supreme Court said Tuesday in a ruling that stopped short of addressing issues the case raised about the teaching of creationism and intelligent design.

With three justices dissenting, the court ruled the Mount Vernon district had grounds to fire John Freshwater in 2011 for insubordination for keeping religious books and a poster of a praying president.

“Freshwater is fully entitled to an ardent faith in Jesus Christ and to interpret biblical passages according to his faith. But he was not entitled to ignore direct, lawful edicts of his superiors while in the workplace,” Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor wrote in the lead opinion, which affirmed lower-court rulings.

Freshwater’s Virginia-based attorney, Rita Dunaway, said she was disappointed but couldn’t comment further because she hadn’t talked with Freshwater about the decision or possible next steps.

The court concluded the district infringed on Freshwater’s First Amendment rights by ordering the removal of his personal Bible from his desk but found he was insubordinate for keeping other items that were not part of his exercise of religion.