A French public school teacher has been cleared of sanctions for teaching about Christianity.
Matthieu Faucher, an atheist, faced a years-long legal battle after being accused of violating France’s official ”neutrality and secularism” standard by teaching about Christian history.
After school authorities received an anonymous complaint of proselytism, Faucher was suspended — despite parents’ protests. His superiors validated the sanction, and in June 2017, he was assigned to a different school.
Faucher denied failing “in his duty to neutrality and secularism,” and he won a suit against school authorities in a local court. The Ministry of National Edu-cation challenged the court’s decision, which was subsequently validated by an administrative court in Bordeaux on Dec. 22.
While he was happy about the Bordeaux court’s decision, Faucher said that “much bigger things are at play,” including the teaching of the history of religion by secular teachers.