MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) _ Demonstrations on the town square show just how divided people are over the school board's decision to fire a science teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs in the classroom and using a device to burn the image of a cross in students' arms.



John Freshwater, who is battling to save his job at Mount Vernon Middle School, is either a courageous fighter for religious freedom or a public employee who brazenly violated the church-state divide.



"This is going to be a mess," said Dr. Allan Bazzoli, who has written letters to the local newspaper criticizing Freshwater. "Resident against resident, and worse, student against student."



Mount Vernon, a small city in central Ohio surrounded by farmland, is dotted by churches of just about every denomination. The town has a strong evangelical presence, and many in that community have taken up Freshwater's cause.



"You can't drive two blocks here without running into a church," said Sam Barone, the executive director of the nonprofit Community Foundation of Mount Vernon/Knox County. "There may be communities elsewhere in the country that may be considered areligious, but this isn't one of them."



Freshwater, 52, was fired last month after an outside consulting firm released a report concluding that he taught creationism and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom.