What part did they whitewash? The lying part, of course.

Actually, the story was broken back in November 22 by the Newark Star-Ledger. For some reason, it took the Times a month—and an intervening midterm victory by Democrats—to get round to “covering” [cough] the story.

Here is the crucial material that the Times omits. The teacher lied:
From the Star-Ledger:

On Oct. 10 — a month after he first requested a meeting with the principal — LaClair met with Paszkiewicz, Somma and the head of the social studies department. At first, Paszkiewicz denied he mixed in religion with his history lesson, and the adults in the room appeared to be buying it, LaClair said. But then he reached into his backpack and produced the CDs.

The Christianist teacher lied. Isn’t there something in the Bible about (the teacher) bearing false witness against his neighbor? Exodus 20:16 perhaps?

It’s bad enough that students in our public schools were subjected to this abuse:

Shortly after school began in September, the teacher told his sixth-period students at Kearny High School that evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific, that dinosaurs were aboard Noah’s ark, and that only Christians had a place in heaven, according to audio recordings made by a student whose family is now considering a lawsuit claiming Mr. Paszkiewicz broke the church-state boundary.

“If you reject his gift of salvation, then you know where you belong,” Mr. Paszkiewicz was recorded saying of Jesus. “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.”

While science teachers, particularly in the Bible Belt, have been known to refuse to teach evolution, the controversy here, 10 miles west of Manhattan, hinges on assertions Mr. Paszkiewicz made in class, including how a specific Muslim girl would go to hell.

Oh, and naturally, Matthew’s received death threats.

Jesus would be proud. Especially about the lying part, don’t you think?