Earlier today, David Barton proved just how far he's willing to go to push the "Christians are being persecuted" meme.  His guest on "Wallbuilders Live" was John Freshwater, a former middle school science teacher from Mount Vernon, Ohio.  Freshwater claims he was fired because he refused to remove his Bible from his desk (he's a devout Pentecostal--Assemblies of God).  He claims to have kept it on his desk for years until a new principal came along and fired him in 2008.  Listen to the whole thing here, if you can stand it.

Well, turns out the truth is a bit less cut-and-dried.  Turns out Freshwater was actually fired for doing a crappy job and teaching creationism as science.  He did such a poor job teaching evolution that a lot of high school teachers had to spend a lot of time reteaching it.  He also tried to teach creation as science, and repeatedly bashed gays as well.

Additionally, two students claimed Freshwater burned a cross onto their arms.  All in all, behavior that would get a teacher fired anywhere in this country.  Just last month, a court upheld the firing.  And this in one of the reddest counties in Ohio--Obama lost by 20 here.