ICC Note: A French school teacher was recently suspended from his position after a group of parents anonymously complained that he read Bible verses to their children. The school board is currently leading an investigation over the matter to determine whether or not the teacher was intentionally proselytizing or not. This suspension is one of several recent incidents in which Christianity has been pushed out of public schools, both in Europe and North America.
By Czarina Ong
03/04/2017 France (Christian Today) – A primary school teacher in France was suspended after he reportedly read passages from the Bible to his students aged nine to 11.
The teacher, 40, was working for a school in Malicornay in the department of Indre in central France, according to France Bleu. His Bible-reading activity came to the attention of the school’s headmaster, Pierre-François Gachet, after a “team of parents” wrote an anonymous letter complaining about the incident.
The parents accused the teacher, whose name was not revealed, of “proselytism,” or trying to convert his students to his own religious beliefs. Gachet subsequently suspended the teacher for his alleged failure to observe France’s strict secularism laws that require separation of religion in education.
The national school board is now conducting an inquiry into the teacher’s case. Gachet said results of the investigation will be known “before mid March.”
Gachet told La Croix that the aim of the investigation is to “determine whether the professor has poured into proselytism or whether he simply lacked discernment.”
“At the very least, he showed a very strong taste for religious teaching,” he added.
But as far as the local mayor is concerned, the suspension was a “disproportionate measure” since the teacher was actually “very much appreciated” by the pupils and parents.
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