Ohio teacher says her Bibles left alone

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio, March 26 (UPI) -- An Ohio teacher says her colleague shouldn't be fired for having a Bible on his desk since she has two on hers.

Lori Miller testified at the long-running termination hearing of Mount Vernon,Ohio, middle-school teacher John Freshwater and expressed concerns that he was being singled out.

The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported Thursday that while Freshwater was in trouble with the district for having a Bible and other religious displays in his classroom, Miller said no one ever told her she had to remove the two Bibles and other religious items she kept in her classroom.

"I still have a Bible on my desk and my administrators know that, and I have not been asked to remove them," said the seventh-grade math teacher.

Miller said she also played religious music in her room and openly prayed. "I would praise the Lord all the time in my classroom," Miller said. "I had kids come up all the time asking if I would pray for them."

The Dispatch said the off-and-on hearing that began last fall would continue after the district lawyer reviewed Miller's testimony.