The board of administration of an Ohio school decided on Friday to fire a middle school teacher after he burned a cross into the arm of one of the students attending his class. The school’s administrators voted to get rid of the teacher because he refused to keep his religious beliefs out of the classroom.

John Freshwater, who has been working as an eighth-grade science teacher for the past 21 years, will no longer work with the Ohio school after the Mount Vernon School Board passed a resolution to terminate his employment.

The science teacher reportedly used an electrostatic device to mark a cross on the arm of one of his students. The student went through severe pain and the marks left by the teacher on his arm lasted for about three weeks.

The student’s family already sued the teacher according to the Ohio Department of Education.

Freshwater reportedly refused several times to remove his Bible from the classroom desk. According to the report, the teacher has been teaching creationism and intelligent design alongside evolution. According to an independent report, Freshwater allegedly told the students attending his class that "science is wrong because the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin and so anyone who is gay chooses to be gay and is therefore a sinner."

The Board of Education of the Mount Vernon City School District met Friday in a special session to address the case.

Freshwater’s supporters reportedly gathered in a parking lot yesterday asking God to inspire the school board to make the right decision, but a few hours later the decision to terminate the teacher’s employment was announced.

Freshwater will request a hearing before the school board to contest the firing, said his attorney, R. Kelly Hamilton.