A message of support for Matthew LaClair

[Guest Markus]

Hey Matthew, full support here from sweden!

[Guest rmp]

Hey Matt, just consider this another supporter saying thank you. I live in a relatively small town and I know that common sense and reason do not always rule the day. Thank you!

[Guest Carl]

All my support and best wishes to Matthew. Our constitution is there to prevent such abuses of athority in the name of religion and he should be rewarded for taking such an active interest in social affairs at his age. One day sir you will graduate and be free, but your mind already is. Thank you for your courage!

[Guest Teacher of science]

I did not discuss his attack on evolution in my last post.

Atomic theory, the theory of gravity and the theory of evolution are 3 central theories of science. The meaning of a theory in science is very different from the meaning of the word as used in our everyday language.

No one has ever seen an electron but today our world operates on the manipulation of this particle identified by atomic theory. I doubt if your teacher would begin an assault on the existence of the electron or any other of the basic particles of the atomic theory.

There is as much or more evidence verifying the theory of evolution than there is verifying the theory of gravity or atomic theory. They are playing on the lack of science knowledge of the public. Specifically the meaning of the word theory as applied to science.

Keep your principles.

[Guest Shirley Knott]

Good going, Matt. I wish you all the best.

Stay strong thru this ordeal, goodness and truth are on your side.

warmest best wishes,

Shirley Knott

[Guest Calvin Lin]

Awesome job, Matt. Your actions were well thought out and you've earned my respect. =)

[Guest sculptingman]

What the teacher did was illegal.

It was in direct violation of the constitution and all court precedent.

That Christian extremists are routinely excused from their duty to the constition is criminal.

The teacher should be in Jail. The principal should be fired, and any teacher making the slightest complaint should have their credentials revoked.

Matt should be recognized for being the one true patriot in the whole mess... the only one who takes allegience to his country and its principles seriously.

[Guest gbusch]

Good on you Matt!

[Guest Shayera]

Matt,

You're a bright, smart young man. And you did the right thing. There are a lot of us you support you. Good luck.

[Guest U Da Man]

Good job, Matt. Ignorant loudmouth preachers don't belong in public school classrooms. It's the law.

[Guest Guest]

No hes not alone! and thats the real problem here!! if the world could see this site it would think that kearny is un god/jesus holy sprit center of hate!! all this is doing is giving paul his 15 min of fame to boost his biss! it looks like this site has been hijacked by "the worst kind of people" its a good thing we DO HAVE TEACHERS THAT WILL TEACH JUST LIFE AND THE IMPORTANT SPRIT VALUES! if you do not like it iran is looking for you!!! no need to say goodby just GO!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seems you want exactly what Iran has. No seperation of church and state and a theocracy. Iran has it's government approved religion. You seem to endorse the same thing. You do know that Muslims accept the story of Jesus as part of their religious dogma don't you?

I would go to Sweden or the Netherlands... they understand the separation.

It's been hijacked by people who support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If that's the "worst kind of people" maybe you should move to Italy or Spain or South America.

[Guest Dale]

Hi Matthew,

Australia is clearly different from the US in that religion does not intrude into public life very much. We don't have people pushing religion in your face; people are much more reserved and private. As such I can only begin to imagine what it would be like to have a teacher preaching at you from within a school, and how horrible that would be.

I think you have made the right choice in exposing this teacher and his illegal behaviour, and wish you alll the best.

[oneellama]

A message to Matthew --

I am profoundly encouraged to see this thread and the very large number of positive and supporting posts that it has already prompted. I hope such messages continue to accumulate in overwhelming numbers, and I hope you get the opportunity to see them.

I do not doubt that this has been a difficult experience for all concerned: you, your parents, the teacher, others in the school, and your community. But I'm focusing this message on you, should you get the chance to read it.

I know from my own life experiences that it is hard to take a publicly unpopular position on a controversial issue. I suspect the reports of threats and negative treatment by others that I have seen are only the tip of the iceberg for you.

When I was in public school, my brother was in a classroom where the teacher coerced students under social pressure and from her position of power in the classroom to pray and even to have student readings from the Bible. At one point, my parents discussed making an issue of it with the school administrators or even filing suit. But the religious pressure in the school and in the small community was overpowering. We were among a small handful of students who did not attend church often, and when we did it was more for social acceptance than anything else. (That didn't necessarily always work; I once asked my Sunday School teacher whether Jesus might have been black, and that didn't go over real well.) My parents knew we were going to be moving within a year and concluded that the risks of pursuing the issue were too great for all the children in the family.

I think this happened because my brother's teacher was so motivated by her faith that she had no idea how inappropriately it made her act. She was supported by the school and community culture around her. It looks to me like Mr. Paszkiewicz is one of those people. From the comments on other threads, he is not alone in your community in this respect. It makes me very sad.

I'm a public school teacher. During my student teaching days, I was placed with a teacher who also made inappropriate classroom choices, motivated by her religion. Not surprisingly, I was in a risky position to be making an issue out of it. I chose not to. My wife, who is also a teacher, tells me she has coworkers who routinely cross the line into inappropriate or even illegal classroom behavior in order to promote a religious agenda. I think there is much more of this going on than merely the situation at Kearny High School, particularly with respect to the resurgence of creationism repackaged as "intelligent design."

Regardless of what some posters to this blog might say, I think you must be courageous. But now that courage, whether you intended it or not, has also made you somewhat infamous. That's a heavy load for a 16-year-old to carry, even with able support from your parents. So, for what it's worth, my advice is that you be very, very thoughtful in where you go from here. What you say and how you act will be more scrutinized even than before. Hold yourself to a high standard of ethical behavior and don't give your detractors unnecessart ammunition to distract attention from the valid issues you have raised. At the end of the day, you will want to be proud of the choices you have made, and trust that good things will result.

On that path, know that you have support. More than that, I think it will inspire some adults like me to take more risks based on what is rational and ethically sound, not just on what is safe. Thanks for that.

[Guest Quentin Long]

Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of support for Mr. LaClair. Freedom of religion is utterly meaningless if it doesn't include freedom from religion; I mean, how 'free' are you, religiously speaking, if you're only 'free' to choose one off of a list of Officially Approved Faiths, hm? I think we all know what sort of reaction you'd get from one of those "America is Christian" types if you suggested that 'freedom of religion' meant they had a choice between five flavors of Judaism, three of Islam, the Ba'hai faith, and Unitarian Universalism...

[Guest Masaro.]

Keep on fighting the good fight, Matt.

I truly appreciate your courage and wish you all the best.

[Guest jesuit]

As someone who attended Catholic grammar and high schools, I must say that the behavior exhibited by the teacher would not have lasted long. He would have changed or he would have been gone.

[Guest Mel-Mel]

Thanks for standing up for what's right, Matthew. This teacher had no right to preach to a captive audience, and certainly shouldn't have been talking about any scientific subjects, on which it's obvious he's had very little education. (Has anyone ever seen evolution, he asked? Of course, what are dogs but wolves artificially selected to be little and cute?) I personally don't understand how anything he was talking about had to do with history; why was he wasting your time talking about anything but the subject he's supposed to teach?

Furthermore, if the people in your town think your teacher's actions were ethical, then they have no cause to be demeaning to you in any way. A civilized person who knows he or she's right doesn't need to be nasty. Their comments are only proof that they have nothing rational to say. Hang in there, Matt!

As a last comment, if people say you asked questions that led him to say the things that he did, my answer would be so what? A good teacher aware of his role as a public servant would have steered the conversation back towards the topic at hand; which should have been history. A public high school teacher has no right to impose his or her religious beliefs on students who are perhaps not yet old enough to resist such impositions from an authority figure. Matthew, I'm glad you had the strength to do otherwise and stand up for the Constitution! Welcome to the world of critical thought!

[Guest Nate]

Matthew, thank you for standing up for what's right, and your rights. Proselytizing and evangelism from public authority figures in our schools is beyond inappropriate. Good job.

[Guest Dominic]

Preaching religious dogma does not belong in any school.

Matthew has done a very important thing and I applaud him.

[Guest Reenie]

Matthew, I feel like you did what you did for me! Attending public high school in the early 1960s I was subjected to a lot of religious "junk"--hymns sung in assemblies, etc. I always felt so sad for my Jewish friends. What kid should have only the "option" of leaving the class when religion is discussed?! Turns out, decades later, my Jewish friends say they were less offended than I was--but who knew--and who cared besides me?? I'll never know because I was too shy to speak up. You did--many thanks!!

[Guest Justin in Alaska]

Matt, keep it up, man. You'll likely face continued harassment from ignorant or small-minded folks, many of whom cannot understand that the right to be educated by the state while remaining free of religious dogma is guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution. We are increasingly surrounded by people who can only respond to uncertainty and insecurity with intolerant, close-minded doctrine. Christianity and most other major religions may offer comfort and solace to adherants, but the also simultaneously promote superstition, xenophobia, and conflict with others who do not believe as they proscribe. We all face a long, uphill battle to defend our rights to live free of religious persecution and dominance by one group or another. Your detractors would do well to consider how they might react if they were subjected to proselytizing by Sikhs, Buddhists, Muslims, animists, Mormons, wiccans, Hindus, Moonies, Jews, Unitarians, Jainists, atheists, Rastafarians, or any of the other hundreds of major and offshoot belief systems in the world today.

[Guest Leon]

Matthew, you did the right thing, and you showed more cleverness (taping it) and courage (exposing it) than I would have. The teacher is an ass, and so are those in the community who have vilified you for showing him to be a liar and a fraud. You may have to leave the area sooner or later, but don't consider it a bad thing to be permanently away from such people.

[Guest Andy]

Matthew,

Thank you for braving the negative response and doing the right thing. We need more of that in America.

Andy

Richmond, CA

[Guest Leon]

Matthew, you did the right thing, and you showed more cleverness (taping it) and courage (exposing it) than I would have. The teacher is an ass, and so are those in the community who have vilified you for showing him to be a liar and a fraud. You may have to leave the area sooner or later, but don't consider it a bad thing to be permanently away from such people.

[Guest Andrew G. Evans]

Matt, way to be! You're certainly not alone my friend.