Jennifer Dennis studied her 13-year-old son’s skin and was uncertain which to be more astonished by: the shape made by the strange dots running the length of his forearm, or how they got there.

“When I looked at it, the shape was definitely a cross, like a Christian cross,” said Dennis. “Zach said his teacher did it with an instrument that gave off something like a lightning bolt. It was red, like a sunburn or if you burn your arm on the oven.”

The next morning, Dennis was standing in the reception of Mount Vernon middle school demanding to know what had been done to Zachary.

That was three years ago and the small, deeply religious Ohio town is bracing itself for the answer to Dennis’s question after the lengthy de facto trial of a man who is either a decorated teacher martyred for his Christian faith, or a religious zealot who spent years undermining the very science he was paid to teach.

Along the way, the dispute has prompted Bible-waving students to march on their school, set teacher against teacher, and forced Jennifer Dennis and her family to leave town.

At the heart of the controversy is John Freshwater, who taught at Mount Vernon middle school for 21 years.

Freshwater said he had done the same science experiment to hundreds of students before Zachary Dennis, using a Tesla coil, which gives off an electric spark.

Story continues at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/brand-cross-christian-science-teacher