Losing My Religion...the Freshwater Fiasco

Have any of you been following the news regarding the Mt. Vernon “science teacher” John Freshwater? A couple of days ago Fox “News” covered a story regarding his disciplinary hearing (for basically not teaching his students the approved curriculum, branding kids with crosses and promoting intelligent design). A large group of “concerned citizens” showed up to support this idiot! Fox was there to give these nut jobs their 15 minutes of fame and allow them to speak on camera about how terrible it is that the board has decided to fire Freshwater. The Columbus Dispatch has been printing pro-Freshwater letters to the editor as well. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but this issue has just about pushed me over the edge. When did everyone just lose their minds in this country?

Yes, dear readers, this is going to be one of those soap box ranting posts. Turn back now if you don’t want to hear me out…

The last letter to the editor that I read was from a doctor. Apparently, in his mind, any one who is foolish enough to have been brain-washed into believing that evolution is a sound scientific fact (technically, it’s a theory…but I digress) is not only wrong but (get this!) an atheist as well! I was incredibly offended by this man’s declaration…and greatly concerned that such a man is an accredited doctor somewhere.

Having spent the last five years being spit on and judged by the “good Christians” of central Ohio for my support of equal treatment of LGBT individuals, I shouldn’t be surprised by these (and other) comments regarding Freshwater. Yet the very idea that ‘buying-into the liberal fantasy of evolution’ made me an atheist in someone else’s eyes upsets me beyond reason. I want to be clear: I’m not upset because I think being an atheist is just terrible and I wouldn’t want to be called one. Truthfully, I have more than a few friends who are atheist and I feel that is their own personal decision. I think what upsets me is the endless ways the extreme conservative Christians judge anyone who isn’t lock and step with them. I feel like I am a good person. I know I am a Christian, and I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior. I believe in God. So I am tired of the judgment. I’m tired of not being the “right kind of Christian.” I am weary of the whole damned thing to be frank!

Looking back at this year’s Pride Parade, I realized that it wasn’t the “God Hates Fags” protestors which disgusted me. (I mean, I know they are going to be there and I know they are just pathetically wrong.) It was this one man standing along High Street who was wearing a t-shirt from the Creationist Museum in KY which really pissed me off. I took one look at that man and immediately told him that evolution exists and that the museum was a fraud. And I was angry when I did it! Even now I am not sure why I responded so negatively to him. Another man had directly attacked me, on a bullhorn no less, for marching in the parade with my children. He called me a bad mother. He claimed I wanted to raise “little homosexuals”. I let his words roll off my back…but I freaked out over a stupid creationism t-shirt!

I should disclose my own beliefs about this topic: For reasons which only make sense to me, I believe in a little of both. I feel evolution is real and has been proven time and again through scientific discoveries. I do not feel any revulsion that man is related in someway to apes. Yet, I still think that the spark of life was more than a ‘big bang’. I feel that someone/thing higher than us had a hand in it. Why do we take the whole life/Earth was created in six-days story so literally? A day may not mean 24 hours…perhaps it was decades or more. So, there’s my two cents. I believe both sides have some of it right. I'm sure I'll be flooded with comments from both sides on how this can't possibly be a sound belief - but it's what I'm sticking with until further notice.

As for Freshwater? In my opinion, the man has no place in a public school. He is (and has been for years) teaching his own religious beliefs as fact to students. (He posted the 10 Commandments on the door to his class room!) I could care less if he has a bible on his desk, but he is not following the curriculum. By bringing religion into the classroom, he is endangering future financial support for his public school by ignoring the rules. Teachers in the next grade levels have had to “re-teach” his students! What more needs to be said about him? He is unfit to serve as a science teacher. (Perhaps he would be more useful in a philosophy class?) If he wants to teach intelligent design, he can – in a private school. If parents want their children to be taught this principle, they can send them to Sunday school at whichever church they attend. They can also teach them this concept in their own homes. They can also choose to send them to a private religious school – and get a voucher to do it. People need to get over this “they are trying to take God out of school” idea and look at this issue with sanity. Public school means the public attends it and funds it…and that means people who are not Christians (and therefore do not believe in Christianity) attend and fund it. Should these people have to pay for Freshwater’s views? Are their rights/beliefs less important because they are the minority? I guess that question could apply to many other issues.

When I decided five years ago to come out as a vocal supporter of equal rights for LGBT people, I never knew how it would affect me. I have difficulty not judging “church people” as the enemy. I feel like I am having a crisis of faith. Why would a loving God allow his followers to act so hatefully? Why would my fellow Christians spend so much energy (and money) working against the very things I am drawn to protect? Can there really be two kinds of Christians? Who is to say which one is the “right one”? It makes me very sad (and tired) to feel this way all the time. Yet open any paper – or turn on any TV – and this issue is there in your face. You can’t escape it. So how do you deal with it?

I try to remind myself that these rabid conservatives are a minority of people – who get the majority of attention because of wealth, connections and being “in vogue” with the trends in our country these past eight years. I try to remind myself that most people do not feel this way. These are extreme cases, but the path I chose to walk brings me in contact with them more than an average person. I try to remind myself that there are many good, caring Christians who believe what I believe. Still…I feel like I am losing this battle and that I’m losing my connection with God because of it.