Public school teacher gives lesson in right-wing Christian Tolerance®

Posted by Joshua Holland at 7:04 AM on November 14, 2006.

From the Lippard Blog, via Pharyngula:

A history teacher at the local public high school [in Kearny, New Jersey] may have bitten off more than he cares to chew this fall. Self-described conservative Baptist David Paszkiewicz used his history class to proselytize biblical fundamentalism over the course of several days at the beginning of this school year.

Among his remarks in open class were statements that a being must have created the universe, that the Christian Bible is the word of God, and that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark. If you do not accept Jesus, he flatly proclaimed to his class, "you belong in hell." Referring to a Muslim student who had been mentioned by name, he lamented what he saw as her inevitable fate should she not convert. In an attempt to promote biblical creationism, he also dismissed evolution and the Big Bang as non-scientific, arguing by contrast that the Bible is supported by what he calls confirmed biblical prophecies.

After taking the matter to the school administration, one of Paszkiewicz's students, junior Matthew LaClair, requested a meeting with the teacher and the school principal. LaClair, a non-Christian, was requesting an apology and correction of false and anti-scientific statements. After two weeks, a meeting took place in the principal's office, wherein Paszkiewicz denied making many of these comments, claiming that LaClair had taken his remarks out of context. Paszkiewicz specifically denied using the phrase, "you belong in hell." He also asserted that he did nothing different in this class than he has been doing in fifteen years of teaching.

At the end of the meeting, LaClair revealed that he had recorded the remarks, and presented the principal with two compact discs.

The teacher then declined to comment further without his union representative. However, he fired one last shot at the student, saying, "You got the big fish … you got the big Christian guy who is a teacher…!"

No apology has been forthcoming from the teacher or from the school. The parents state that because of the administration's inaction, they have taken the matter to the school board this week, from whom they are awaiting a response.

When I sit out the McCarthy-era version of the Pledge, it is not because I do not care about, respect or love my country. Just the opposite, it is because I do.

Our country has taken many dangerous turns lately. We have given away many of our freedoms through the so-called Patriot Act. Radical elements threaten to turn our democracy into a theocracy. Groups the majority does not understand, like homosexuals, intellectuals and liberals, are regularly treated with scorn, contempt and disrespect.[…]

I do not sit because standing is too hard, or because reciting the Pledge takes too long. It would be much easier to stand and not have people telling me I am "unpatriotic," a Communist, or spitting on America. Most of these comments have not been made by students, but teachers and staff members, the adults who are supposed to be teaching us citizenship! Standing would indeed be a small act. Sitting is the big one.

• I don't live in Uzbekistan
• I don't pay taxes in Uzbekistan, nor would I send my children to an Uzbekistani school if I had any
• I have no clue whether the Uzbekistani Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state, but ours does
• On a very fundamental level, I don't care what people say in Tashkent
• I am not the AP or Reuters and make no claim to covering everything that you might find interesting -- only what I do
• If you see a story about a Muslim teacher in an American public school trying to similarly indoctrinate his or her students, e-mail it to me and I guarantee I will receive the news with equal offense and snarky opprobrium

Tagged as: religious right

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.