From the NY Times:
Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary.
“If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,” Mr. Paszkiewicz was recorded saying of Jesus. “He did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sins on his own body, suffered your pains for you, and he’s saying, ‘Please, accept me, believe.’ If you reject that, you belong in hell.”
That’d be dandy (if a bit strong) for a Sunday School class, but it’s downright bizarre in an 11th grade history class in a public high school. Dinosaurs on the ark?
The audiotapes are here; listen for yourself. I found the teacher’s statement that “the public schools shouldn’t teach religion… but the scriptures aren’t religion” to be particularly entertaining.
I’d think this was just some eccentric, but the reactions from the community are just as strange:
In this tale of the teacher who preached in class and the pupil he offended, students and the larger community have mostly lined up with Mr. Paszkiewicz, not with Matthew, who has received a death threat handled by the police, as well as critical comments from classmates.
Greice Coelho, who took Mr. Paszkiewicz’s class and is a member of his youth group, said in a letter to The Observer, the local weekly newspaper, that Matthew was “ignoring the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gives every citizen the freedom of religion.” Some anonymous posters on the town’s electronic bulletin board, Kearnyontheweb.com, called for Matthew’s suspension.
The student has violated the teacher’s rights? Looks like they have some problems with the civics curriculum there, too.
via memeorandum
Comprehensive coverage at The Lippard Blog.