Statecraft Informer

“If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong.�

“(Jesus) 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.”

So said David Paszkiewicz, to his accelerated 11th-grade history class about the United States Constitution this fall.

Speaking to his sixth-period students at Kearny High School in New Jersey, he also claimed that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and only Christians had a place in heaven.

Just in time for Christmas, peace on earth, and joy to the world, comes a pretty hairy situation from a northeast U.S. high school. You know, Jersey, that hotbed of religious fundamentalism and piety.

The reason we know all about this admittedly self-righteous teacher, and Baptist youth pastor, is a sixteen year-old student of his, Matthew LaClair, said he felt uncomfortable with Mr. Paszkiewicz’s statements in the first week of school.

Afraid school officials wouldn’t believe his claims about the 38 year-old teacher with 14 years experience, and as the son of a lawyer, young Mr. LaClair began taping his history classes.

Believing either the teacher was preaching, or the preacher was teaching, the LaClair’s filed a complaint against the him with his superiors at the high school of 1,750 students.

While everyone prepares for the inevitable lawsuits, it seems Mr. Paszkiewicz (pronounced pass-KEV-ich) has already received some undisclosed “corrective action” from the administration.

Many in Kearney have expressed their outrage over the situation.

Perhaps because Mr. Paszkiewicz mentioned in class how a specific Muslim girl would go to hell, much of the community at large – including most of the Kearney High School student body – have lined up in solid support of their proselytizing teacher.

Those Muslims; if they’re not with us, they’re against us, right?

On the other hand, Matthew (pronounced HU-man-ist pa-RI-ah), has received death threats, hate mail, and the vitriolic vilification usually reserved for pedophiles, politicians and occasionally, priests.

Anyone interested in finding out more about this fun-loving, Christian, New Jersey enclave can check out the town’s electronic bulletin board: Kearnyontheweb.com.

Just goes to show you, no matter how reprehensible pedophiles, politicians or some priests may be, lawyers and their sons – especially those separation-of-church-and-state types – are the very epitome of serpents in our garden of Eden.

Let’s face it, although Christ may have died for our sins, and maybe even those of a tax collector or two, he certainly shed no blood for attorneys or their trouble-making sons.