(no subject)

[akashiver]

Teacher Fired for a Different Form of Cross Burning

The school board of a small central Ohio community voted unanimously Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and using a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms.

Comments

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

For a complete play by play (including how the community has rallied around him) check this post: http://community.livejournal.com/dark_christian/1057958.html

[lyceum-arabica.livejournal.com]

i feel i ought to say this in defense of central ohio... :-\

Columbus is the city where the suburbanites take their kids out to see the Pride parade each year... and this isn't your average pride parade. Along with traditional community groups and outreach programs, you have the cowboys in assless chaps dancing the two step on the back of a pickup truck, people tossing condoms to the crowd, art cars, furries, rocky horror people, local politicians, local political conspiracy theorists, and, inexplicably last year, a doritos truck handing out free samples of fruit chips. thing is *huge*. runs all around the city, down high street, and through Comfest. Comfest is an *enormous* hippie music festival, with a half dozen stages and acts ranging from 'punk caberet' to reggae, and an incredible diversity of vendors, food, people, stuff. For instance, I've seen a vendor with a chainmail yurt, gotten cucumber ice cream, browsed the enormous number of local artists and craftspeople, seen lots of shirtless folks (of both genders) as evening sets in, threaded my way through the suspiciously scented crowds (and their blankets, and their dogs) who sort of set up camp for the weekend at the various stages, seen solar energy demonstrations, gotten carnival food, watched belly dancers and acrobats in the street, and seen martial arts demonstrations on stage (along with every other conceivable variety of musical performance). Also, all this happens a couple blocks from the origins gaming convention, which fills the rather large columbus convention center with geeks from all over the country (it's great to watch them stumble outside and blink in the sunlight at the gay cowboys as the parade goes past). Also, last year there was a rather impressive zombie parade the friday before.

But somehow whenever i hear about columbus in the news these days, it's always the religious crazies. I worry that maybe it's like the dwarves... our greed was too great and we've dug too deep. There are some truly crazy people ('World Harvest Church" for instance) who live in what used to be separate tiny towns a moderate drive from the city. But with the huge increase in urban sprawl in the past few decade, they're actually part of the city now.... and their churches and school districts are teaching columbus kids and getting written up in columbus papers.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

like the dwarves

Your analogy wins.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

"With the exception of the cross-burning episode. ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district,"

"Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

[cataptromancer.livejournal.com]

Not to be too pedantic but....is it just me or was that article horribly written? Like, bad-student-paper bad?

[akashiver.livejournal.com]

Badly written, yes, but student-paper bad? The student paper here is much worse, I assure you. :)