Regarding the New Jersey teacher who was pushing Jesus in his history class (hat tip: Steve M), some guy named Don Singleton asks:
Did he establish a religion, or prohibit anyone's free exercise of their religion.Simple answer: of course, and yes.
The teacher, David Paszkiewicz, is an employee of the government teaching in a government-funded classroom to students required by the government to attend. For him to teach his religious beliefs as fact is to give them de facto government sponsorship--and that's exactly what 'establishment' means in a First Amendment context.
And yes, telling a Muslim student she is going to hell is at the very least discouraging her free expression of her religion. Just how free is she to express her religious beliefs when her peers have all been told those beliefs damn her to hell? More to the point, just how quickly would Don Singleton argue this point if some teacher told her students they were going to hell for believing in Christ?
But then poor old Don doesn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. His response to the point about Paszkiewicz saying dinosaurs were on Noah's Ark: "Do you have proof they were not?"
I think that tells us all we need to know about this guy.
[That's all, folks]
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