As Simon Brown reminds us over at AU's Wall of Separation, among high school science teacher John Freshwater's questionable decisions was to burn a cross into a student's arm to demonstrate the properties of a Tesla coil. The State concluded that Freshwater had been teaching creationism and otherwise injecting his religious beliefs into his class, and fired him as a result of those findings.

So why is the high court of Ohio hearing his appeal? Brown argues there is no good reason. The Columbus Dispatch gives us the argument of Freshwater's attorney:

“This Court must intervene if students and teachers in America's public schools are to remain free to engage in open, respectful dialogue about competing academic theories and their respective merits. Nowhere is such freedom more crucial than in a science classroom, where the asking and answering of questions is the very basis of the universally acknowledged “scientific method,” Freshwater’s attorney, R. Kelly Hamilton argued in his request for the court to hear the case. 

 (Aside: Freshwater is represented by R. Kelly?)

School districts should be able to replace teachers who insist - after repeated warnings as Freshwater was given - on teaching his religious views as part of the science curriculum. Hopefully, the state's high court, after reviewing the record, will use the opportunity to reinforce that important safeguard of religious liberty. Teaching creationism, in any guise, is an improper use of a science classroom funded by taxpayers.