Burning crosses

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/20/mtvernon.ART_ART_06-20-08_B1_R2AHRH3.html?sid=101

This article is reasonably astonishing. A teacher in Ohio was recently dismissed after (illegally) teaching creationism for 11 years. It was well known within the school that this was taking place. He also taught that homosexuals are evil and gave students bibles to hand out to others.

Just when you are thinking this couldn't get much worse, it also turns out that he was branding crosses onto student's arms with a telsa coil. His defence appears to have been that they weren't crosses, they were Xs. I'm at a loss to understand how this would make it acceptable.

The report on all this insanity is here: http://www.dispatch.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/dispatch/local_news/stories/2008/06/19/Freshwater.pdf in which the teacher tries unsuccessfully to explain the incident away.

As shocking (literally) as the cross burning incident was, the real outrage is that his illegal and immoral teaching of creationism was allowed to persist for at least 11 years. The school and the authorities knew what was happening, but were perfectly content for it to continue.