School Tells Its Jewish Teachers to Accept Christ or Leave

The First Presbyterian Church of Sherman Oaks disclosed Thursday that its Jewish nursery school teachers must profess faith in Jesus Christ or quit by September, 1989, prompting the school’s director as well as Jewish and Christian teachers to announce their resignations.

The church, which operates the Sherman Oaks Presbyterian Nursery School, told the school staff at a meeting that it plans to add Christian instruction to its curriculum next September.

“Those who teach Christian teaching should subscribe to those teachings themselves,” the Revs. John and Pamela Powell said in a prepared statement. “Christian teaching is not simply an academic matter but a matter of an entire world view.”

In their statement, the Powells said the church’s lawyer told them the move was “entirely within the law because we are a religious organization seeking to teach our own religious principles.”

Twelve of the school’s 13 teachers announced their resignations after they were told of the changes at the meeting, said the school’s director, Wendy Cummings, who also resigned.

“Our school has been for everyone,” Cummings said. “How would I explain that their teacher had to leave because she was Jewish?”

The resignations are effective June 15, the end of the school’s academic year.

“We were devastated,” said Marilyn Freitag, 44, who has taught at the nursery school for 14 years and is one of five Jewish teachers.

“I take it as a personal assault,” Freitag said. “They’re saying they don’t want the Jewish influence. They don’t want the Jewish people teaching the children. . . . I think God would be ashamed of these people.”

“There were a lot of tears today,” said Norma Cooper, 56, another Jewish teacher at the nursery school.

About 85 children, ages 2 to 4, attend the school, which has encouraged faith in God but has not formally taught Christianity, said Kathy Fischer, chairwoman of the nursery school’s board.

Fischer estimates that 35% to 50% of the pupils are Jewish. She said all the children at the school say a daily prayer:

“Dear God, You are very good to us. Give us food each day to make us big and strong, so we can work and run and play. Amen.”

But starting in the fall of 1989, the nursery school’s curriculum will include at least 10 to 15 minutes of Christian-oriented Bible studies daily, Fischer said.

The church’s leadership “does not think it proper that the school continue to exist without this necessary Christian component,” the Powells’ statement said.

The Powells said children of all faiths will be welcome at the nursery school. But with the school’s Christian orientation, some teachers doubted that Jewish parents would want their children to attend.

“I cannot foresee that a Jewish family would want to enroll there,” said Cooper, who has taught at the school for 18 years.

Cooper said she objects to being told she must profess a faith in Jesus Christ to remain at the school.

“I grew up in my faith, and I have been faithful to it for all my life,” she said. “I cannot change that now.”

The statement by the Powells said the decision was made to conform “to the purpose of the church, which is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.”

But Christian teachers also felt compelled to leave.

“There was no way that I could stay at a school where they ask someone to leave because of their religious beliefs,” said Cheryl Short, 43, a Christian teacher. “To me, this is the way all bigotry starts.”

Short said the religious and ethnic diversity at the school has benefited the children and will be lost when the school’s curriculum changes.