In probably the last gasp for Mount Vernon, Ohio’s proselytizing teacher, John Freshwater, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 today that his termination for insubordination was correct. In addition the court ruled that Freshwater had his rights violated when the school district demanded he remove his personal Bible from his classroom desk but that his additional actions in defying that order was enough to justify removing him.
Since I’ve started working with the Secular Coalition for Ohio, I’ve been getting updates on proposed laws in the Ohio legislature that could be at odds with the separation of church and state. House Bills 303 and 304 were referred to committee in October and if passed by the Republican controlled state house, each would give students in public schools cover for religiously based bigotry not normally allowed.
House Bill 303 “Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2013” is a way to give “religious freedom” cover to religious bigotry in public schools. That way Timmy and Susie Q Public can be anti-choice, anti-gay, and against any religion not Christianity in their school activities and the school can’t really do anything about it.
The Secular Coalition For America (SCA) is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that lobbies our elected officials in Washington and now they want to expand into Ohio to cover state and local political issues of interest to secular Ohioans. I have volunteered as co-chair to form the Ohio chapter. We need your help.
The other day I posted an update to the Jackson, Ohio school district Jesus painting court case. Someone on twitter sent me a strong reaction tweet about it and the ensuing conversation shows that some theists don’t want religious freedom for others – just themselves.
Here is the original tweet:
Eight months after a lawsuit was filed against a Jackson County Ohio school district over a Jesus painting that had hung in a stairwell of the middle school building for 66 years, a final settlement has concluded the case. The Jackson City School District agreed to remove the painting from school district property and pay $3,000 in damages to each of the suit’s five anonymous plaintiffs as well as the legal costs for the ACLU and Freedom from Religion Foundation.
The district also tried to claim that since insurance paid out the damages, no taxpayer dollars were used. Taxes are used to pay the insurance premium, and will likely increase because of the claim, so like their idea that the Jesus painting was not a violation of the law, their idea about no taxpayer money being used to pay off the lawsuit is also wrong.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled today in the case Autocam Corporation v. Kathleen Sebelius, that since for profit corporations can’t exercise religion like individuals, they can’t deny insurance coverage for contraceptives for their employees just because the owners are religious.
The owners of Autocam Corporation filed a lawsuit against the coming government mandate that insurance plans cover contraceptives. The company, located in Michigan, is owned and controlled by members of the Kennedy family, all of whom are practicing Roman Catholics.
