Meet David Paszkiewicz
by Tim Chaffey
Meet David Paszkiewicz. He’s a high
school history teacher in Kearny, New Jersey.
You may have heard of him.
Three weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with David to talk about the
incident that made him the target of numerous websites dedicated to attacking
Christianity. What did David do
that angered these folks so much?
He dared to answer some of his students’ questions about his Christian faith
during class.
During the first week of classes of the 2006-2007 school year, Mr. Paszkiewicz
and his history class made national headlines.
Knowing that Mr. Paszkiewicz also worked with the youth group at his
church, the students began to ask questions about their teacher’s belief in the
Bible. Little did he know, one
particular student was recording everything.
In fact, this student directed much of the discussion with his questions.
This same student is an atheist whose dad is a lawyer and member of a
secular humanist free thought society.
This student is lauded by many of these websites as a hero.
What these sites do not mention is that this same student had already caused
several problems at the school. For
example, he tried to get a janitor reprimanded because the janitor was
“violating his free speech” by not allowing the student to vandalize school
lockers with political stickers that would damage the paint.
He refused to stand during the pledge of allegiance and rather than
quietly objecting, he rustled papers and was disruptive.
While in Junior High, he protested the school’s dress code by wearing
what he called a gothic gown. Most
people called it a dress. These
comments are not made to disparage the student but to show that he was not an
innocent victim that had Christian beliefs shoved down his throat as many of
these websites portray. (Rather than
citing any particular website I would invite you to just run a search for "David
Paszkiewicz" and you will see exactly what I mean.)
Two particular quotes landed David in hot water.
He criticized the Big Bang theory because it claims to be a theory of the
origin of the universe but the one thing the Big Bang does not explain is the
origin of the universe. It never
explains where the matter in the singularity came from.
Of course, some people just cannot tolerate a public teacher’s critique
of the Big Bang. This comment
caused an astrophysicist to write to the New York Times that Kearny’s students
were going to be “ignorant and scientifically illiterate.”
The other quote was perhaps even more controversial in our “tolerant” society.
After being asked why God would send unbelievers to hell, Mr. Paszkiewicz
said, “[Jesus] did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to
heaven, so much so that he took your sin on his own body, suffered your pains
for you and he’s saying, “Please accept me, believe me.”
If you reject that, you belong in hell.
The outcome is your prerogative.
But the way I see it, God himself sent his only son to die for David
Paszkiewicz on that cross…And if you reject that, then it really is to hell with
you.”
It’s easy to see why this statement caused such a firestorm and many who hold
similar views would argue that he should not have said this in class.
Nevertheless, since David was never given a fair shake in the media, I
thought I would allow him to give his side of the story.
I received the following unpublished article from David along with
permission to post on the website.
Ant-Christian Bias in the Northeast
A high school History teacher in Kearny New Jersey was accused of being a “Hell
bent preacher” and teacher of “flat earth theories” concerning Science because
he dared to answer student’s questions about Hell and the age of the earth.
In September of 2006, I was accused of preaching in my US History
Accelerated class. It was the first
full week of school and the class dynamic was current events discussion.
What began as questions concerning everything from the war on terror to
Hurricane Katrina ended up turning to religion. It was lively and students were
engaged. Unbeknownst to me however,
an atheist student (who had asked many of the questions) recorded my responses
and later accused me of preaching religion in the classroom.
My two most controversial quotes were:
The atheist student never once expressed any displeasure in class concerning the
discussions and acted very interested even staying a minute or two after class
to ask more questions. Without my knowledge, he went to the principal and
accused me of preaching religion in class.
As a result, a whirlwind ensued:
1.
My department chairperson spoke to me immediately and informed me that the
principal needed to see me.
2.
The principal approached me shortly afterwards.
During this meeting I denied “preaching” and stated that the class was
having high level discussions. I
stated that these topics did include such things as terrorism, the Bible,
biblical salvation, Heaven, Hell etc. but I would not characterize it as
preaching. I was responding to
questions.
3.
Later, the principal and my department chair met with me and made it clear that
there was to be no preaching in the classroom.
4.
A meeting was scheduled with the complaining student, the principal, my
department chair and myself.
5.
I met with the Superintendent of Schools who reiterated the same.
6.
I was observed by my department chairperson.
7.
I received a letter of reprimand.
8.
I received RICE letters prior to both the November and January BOE meetings
explaining that my employment at KHS could be terminated.
9.
I was observed by the assistant superintendent.
Despite this diligence by the administration, I ended up being harassed
and maligned in the media for eight months.
The story made the New York Times
six times and was on
Anderson Cooper 360.
Local media was biased against me and was relentless in its attacks.
Fortunately, the citizens of my town were behind me and supported me
overwhelmingly and I kept my job.
Since the
incident, I have been in full compliance with the discipline I received, even
though I believe my constitutional rights have been violated.
As an American, I do not leave my freedom of speech or freedom of
religion at the schoolhouse door.
My only infraction has been to give honest answers to student’s questions.
This, by the way, is an explicit command to the believer in Scriptures.
I Peter 3:15 states, “Always be
prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have within you.”
I have been reprimanded for obeying the Scriptures.
Some have said that this is crossing the line between church and state,
but these are the facts:
1.
I was answering student’s questions.
2.
The students in question are gifted high school juniors in an accelerated class.
3.
When the questions seemed to get sensitive, I suggested, “These questions are
getting a little sensitive, we could very easily change topics.”
The students responded as a chorus, “Oh no, go on, this is interesting!”
4.
I did not engage in religious activity.
There was no prayer, no worship, no devotional bible reading, no offering
taken, and absolutely no coercion of the students to agree with my opinions.
5.
In addition, there is no way this sophisticated group of Juniors could have
misconstrued any of my opinions for a state endorsement of religion
6.
Also, of the 27 diverse (Catholics, Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, Mormons
and Buddhists) students represented in the class, only the atheist student
complained. In fact, the rest were
very supportive with two of the most academic speaking in my defense before the
BOE.
In closing, the only line I believe I crossed was disagreeing with the
Big Bang theory and atheism. Both
of which are deeply held religious beliefs of the state religion of Secular
Humanism
Thank you for your time and attention and may God bless you.
David A. Paszkiewicz
Social science Teacher, KHS
Youth Pastor, Kearny Baptist Church
During our meetings, David relayed how a lot of the good people of Kearny were
behind him during this time. He
also told me that some of his students made t-shirts expressing their support of
their history teacher. As a fellow
teacher, I can appreciate how good this must have felt for David to know that
his students really cared about him.
Whether or not you agree with David’s theological beliefs or with his allowing
the discussion to go the way it did, you need to think about the following:
-
Why is it that it is intolerant and terribly wrong for a Christian teacher to
express his opinions in a public school while at the same time an atheistic
teacher has complete freedom to express his beliefs?
-
Why is it that our society proclaims “tolerance” of all beliefs and yet is
extremely intolerant of Christians?
-
Does the right of free speech not apply to Christians, too?
If a public school teacher can proclaim that there is no God, then a
public school teacher should have just as much right to proclaim that there is a
God.
-
Why does our country continue to allow the religion of secular humanism to be
taught in schools if schools are not supposed to be involved in the propagation
of religious beliefs? For more on
this subject, please read
this article on the Christian Answers website.
-
Mr. Paszkiewicz was not proselytizing in class.
He responded to his students’ questions.
He did not force them to share his beliefs, he simply expressed his
beliefs. Shouldn’t students be
exposed to different viewpoints so they can make educated choices about what
they want to believe?
Regardless of your view, it is important for people in this country to start
thinking about the double standards that exists in our society.
The founding fathers never advocated the removal of Christianity from the
public sector. They did, however,
wish to ensure that one particular denomination would not become the state
religion. The last century has seen
a concerted effort from the ACLU and humanist organizations to remove all
vestiges of Christianity from America.
Christians cannot sit back and let that happen.
In conclusion, I would ask that you pray for David Paszkiewicz and his family.
They have been through an incredibly stressful ordeal.
Pray that God would give them peace, wisdom, and strength to endure.
Also, David recently gave a long interview for a documentary film that is
being made detailing some of the events in this case.
Pray that the film will be balanced, get the facts straight, and that God
would be glorified through David’s efforts.
(8/27/07)