NYT: Teacher Defends Religious Comments in Class

[Doondoo]

The teacher who is the subject of a potential lawsuit regarding proselytizing in a public high school history class denied on Tuesday night that he had preached in class and said that the student who taped him had never expressed discomfort to him about his comments.

The teacher, David Paszkiewicz, 38, spoke for the first time with reporters about the controversy outside a school board meeting here during which the board took the first step toward approving a policy that specifically requires teachers to “refrain from advocating one religion.”

.......

Demetrios K. Stratis, Mr. Paszkiewicz’s lawyer, told reporters on Tuesday night that Matthew’s questions in class led the teacher down a path. “It doesn’t defy common sense to say he was set up,” Mr. Stratis said before the board meeting, which was attended by about 150 people.

.......

In the recordings, Mr. Paszkiewicz said of Jesus, “If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong.” He also said: “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.”

In other comments, he is recorded saying that dinosaurs were on Noah’s ark, and that the Big Bang and evolution were not based on science.

But on Tuesday night, Mr. Paszkiewicz insisted, “I’m very careful to follow the guidelines and stick with the curriculum.”

As for the recordings, he said, “I really wish the entire world would listen to them.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/nyregion/21kearny.html?ex=1329800400&en=1ee7c779609dfbb5&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

[C_U_L8R]

1. Dinosaurs on the ark ???

What religion is that ?
The First Church of Barney ????

[SlowDownFast]

3. Hilarious!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[woo me with science]

14. So THAT's what happened to the dodo birds!

The velociraptors got 'em! That's a long time for a poor dinosaur to go hungry, 40 days and 40 nights...

[BOSSHOG]

2. "He was set up." Not taking responsibility for actions

a classic "conservative" and "christian" attribute. I guess the only reason he said what he said was because the heathen student forced him to. Ah, to long for the future theocracy where zealots can lie and tell fairy tales without all that nasty freedom stuff.

[saigon68]

6. Sounds like Libby

[Jackpine Radical]

26. That child is the spawn of Satan, I tell ya!

Entrapping a nice Christian man who was only trying to save the souls of the kids by explaining to them how they are going to burn in hell.

[GeorgeGist]

4. How gullible!

You would think the 'saved' would know better than to let themselves be 'set-up'. :rofl:

[YankeyMCC]

5. So which its it?

He denies it but then says the student never complained? How could the student complain if it never happened?

Talk about morally reprehensible behavior this teacher should not be anywhere near a public school.

[gratuitous]

7. Mr. Paskiewicz seems a mite confused

And let's face it, would you complain to a teacher who seems a bit (and maybe more than a bit)unbalanced, and seems eager to consign folks to Hell? I have no idea about his abilities as a teacher, he could be a wonderful guy, but the school administration should make it clear, in no uncertain terms, that sharing his personal religious beliefs is more properly reserved for non-class time. That's not what he's being paid to do when he standing in front of a classroom.

[jahyarain]

28. he could be a wonderful guy?

a wonderful guy wouldn't try to scare a bunch of kids into believing his superstition.

[gratuitous]

33. Well, I wasn't in the classroom

I don't know what his demeanor was, how long he devoted to his inappropriate remarks, or anything else about the guy, so I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

So, what's he really like?

[John Q. Citizen]

9. That's a good point. Which is it?

[underpants]

20. The students complaints WERE too on the Ark

they just died afterword

:bounce:

[sakabatou]

8. .

[saltpoint]

10. If Mr. Paszkiewicz wants to proselytize for Jesus, he needs to go do that

on his own time and dollar, not on the public schools' time and dollar.

Public education is not the venue for imposing one's private faith.

All of us, including school students, should be afforded the respect of our differences.

This teacher failed in that basic tenet.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Set up? Hardly. I doubt he would have modified his statements or

refrained from making them. Given the way he pointed out how non-Christians behing in Hell, well we know what he would have said to a kid who didn't want to hear what he was selling.

[brooklynite]

42. True or False?

When this issue was raised, did he admit it, or did he deny it? My recollection is that he denied saying anything, and it was only because the student produced a recording to refute him that this became a cause celebre.

[yardwork]

12. How would Mr. Paszkiewicz feel if a Wiccan teacher down the hall was proselytizing?

Suppose a Muslim teacher across the hall was telling their class that Muhammad was the one true Prophet and everyone else was going to hell (which most Muslims, in my experience, wouldn't even say). What if a Jewish teacher was urging her students to convert to Judaism (which would be against the tenets of Judaism, so it wouldn't even happen).

I am so sick and tired of some people believing that they have a God-given right to jam their personal beliefs down everybody else's throats, when they wouldn't allow someone with an opposing viewpoint to utter a word.

[Bandit]

13. If dinosaurs were on the Ark what happened to them?

:shrug: I thought dinosaur bones were put here by Gawd to test our faith....I wish they would make up their minds...

[slackmaster]

15. Dino burgers, dino ribs, dino roasts, dino jerky

They had to eat SOMETHING.

[Tesha]

16. The Real Reason Dinosaurs Became Extinct

> If dinosaurs were on the Ark what happened to them?



The Real Reason Dinosaurs Became Extinct

[Bigmack]

17. Another oppressed Christian...

He's just a part of that poor persecuted minority in Murika.

When I try to post the link to the graphic, it says "illegal", so try
Googling "oppressed Christians" in Images at google.... nice pie chart.

[knitter4democracy]

18. I taught in Catholic schools, and I rarely went that far.

Sure, the kids try to set you up. They set you up to talk about anything and everything other than the subject. It's the teacher's responsibility to keep things on track and not let a good discussion devolve into something that has nothing to do with the class.

I had to teach the RCC line, but even then, I would tell the kids to talk with their parents, religion teachers, and priests or faith leaders about it. I was really uncomfortable with saying things like what that guy said (well, and the whole Creationist crap isn't something I'd ever say anyway). I would say things like, "Praying about that might help," or "You know what your parents and religion teachers have taught you--now it might be time to work through that."

That guy was trying to proselytize, and he was caught. He was stupid about how he went about it, and that's all there is to it.

[HockeyMom]

25. You were teaching in a Catholic School,

to presumably, all Catholic students. This teacher was teaching in a public school. He had no right to proselytize HIS faith to his students who may not have been of the same religion as the teacher.

When my daughter was in Jr. High she had a teacher who always used to talk about Jesus. Although I am a Christian, I did not like the idea of this teacher "pushing religion" in public school. If I had wanted my daughter to be taught religion, I would have put her in parochial school of MY choice. I wrote a letter to the Principal complaining about this. Apparently, other parents did also. We live in a very diverse community with Christians, Jews, Hindu, etc. Why should parents have their children proselytized to by a teacher of another faith? It is the parents right to raise their children in any faith, or none, which they themselves choose. This teacher was reprimanded and the following years was gone, who knows where.

Sorry, this is just plain WRONG.

[knitter4democracy]

27. Nope. We had an almost 40% non-Catholic student population.

Yes, I had every right to stand up in the front of the classroom and preach about the Catholic faith, but if I had, I would've been fired. My job was to teach English, not faith.

Things got complicated by having Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and other kinds of Christian students as well. That's another reason I backed off and would refer them to their parents and faith leaders. I also let the kids know that I was available to talk with, if they so chose, after school, and a few did about their own faith journeys, but that was for after school.

I went to an evangelical college, and we were all taught exactly when we could and couldn't talk about our faith in schools and exactly how we could and couldn't in the classroom. Most of the time, we all agreed with our profs that talking about our faith was never to replace curricular class time, and that we were never to proselytize on school time. After school, maybe, if it were student-led. Other than that, we were to mostly be silent witnesses. There were a few who really felt that teachers were to be missionaries, but the vast majority disagreed with them.

[yellowcanine]

35. I taught biology in a Catholic high school. Went into birth control, etc, the whole nine yards.

And if I had taught that there were dinos on the Ark I probably would have been reprimanded and maybe fired. And rightly so.

[VegasWolf]

19. So this clown is saying all Jews and Muslims are going to Hell. nt

[PassingFair]

31. Love it.

When a X-Tian tells me I'm going to hell, I tell them:

"It's YOUR hell, YOU go there!"

[depakid]

39. One thing I'll say for mormons

is that you can't get into mormon hell unless you've been a "bad mormon." Of course, you can't get into mormon heaven, either.

The rest of us go to some sort of place that sounds a bit like purgatory....

[yardwork]

40. I've started responding along similar lines

I am no longer Christian, but I grew up in an almost 100% Christian community - fundamentalist right-wing all the way - and for a long time I have felt a little intimidated by their "concerns" that anyone not toeing their line is going to hell.

Recently, as part of my finding the Pagan path, I realized that I don't believe in hell at all. It's their fiction and their worry, not mine. Has no impact on me whatsoever, as I am a total unbeliever in hell or satan.

How liberating.

[PassingFair]

43. Good for you!

:pals:

Sometimes I forget how LUCKY I am that I wasn't raised in that particular kind of fear.

Thanks for the reminder!

[zanne]

21. PUBLIC high school?!

I thought it was a private school. He should be fired toute suite.

[Zhade]

22. It doesn't fucking matter WHAT the kid asked, the teacher broke the law.

FIRE HIM!

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JackBeck]

24. You're still here? You know you'er really making me horny. Wanna make out?

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gorbal]

30. To be fair

I think he has received all the punishment he needs for now. (They should keep the camera in his classroom however.)

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RiverStone]

37. I would not trust him...

Anybody, and in particular a Certified teacher, who so blatantly pushed his religious agenda on kids
should NOT be trusted. If he said "if you reject that, you belong in hell" to one of my kids - I'd go first to him and call him on that bullshit, then to the Principal or School Board.

I don't think a warning is enough for someone so whacked out (to say that in a public school!)

His professional judgment (or lack of) is too clouded by his religious beliefs. He needs to be canned.

[yellowcanine]

34. So a high school student "tricked" a teacher into preaching? I don't think so.

[HuffleClaw]

36. a complete nutter

“I’m very careful to follow the guidelines and stick with the curriculum.” ????????


wow, how deluded IS this clown?



- the 'dinosaurs on noahs ark' bit was hilarious.

[fidgeting wildly]

38. The fundies love a martyr.

I think that as more and more people come to understand how silly "intelligent design" is, we're going to see more of this kind of thing in schools, hospitals, and other public places. Fundies LOVE a martyr for the faith, and they love to feel oppressed. I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually encouraging teachers, pharmacists, etc., to do things like this. They want to be in the news, and they will spin this as persecution.

[Felix Mala]

41. What kind of history was he teaching? There's virtually nothing about Jesus

in the historic record outside of the Bible. If he's teaching world history, only power hungry, would-be tyrants would be drawn to Christianity as it's been practiced the last 1500 years since Christianity is more focused on controlling people than the actual teachings of Christ.