Teacher Regularly Mocked Christianity in Class

Country: Austria

Date of incident: April 2, 2011


A secondary grammar school teacher in Innsbruck regularly mocks and denounces Christian faith in class. The supervisory school authority has now reprimanded him.

When teaching about tolerance, he used excerpts from a book saying: “One has to tolerate only what one does not accept and respect, what seems to be ridiculous to the greatest extent, like the fact that Christians eat their redeemer in the course of a ritualistic-cannibalistic act.” The teacher was also accused of forbidding his pupils to use a traditional Austrian way of greeting that includes an invocation of God, calling God a “mythical creature” that has no place in a salutation. Some pupils claim he meant to joke, but many of them, as well as the school’s headmaster and the parents’ association, consider this to be inappropriate. His conduct caught the attention of the supervisory school authority. He was reprimanded, but will not have to face legal action.
Sources (German): http://www.tt.com/csp/cms/sites/tt/Überblick/Chronik/ChronikInnsbruck/2458299-6/grüß-gott-verboten-schulbehörde-ermittelt.csp  http://portal.tt.com/csp/cms/sites/tt/Tirol/2470310-2/elternvertretung-grüß-gott-verbot-unzulässig-und-nicht-tolerierbar.csp http://www.tt.com/csp/cms/sites/tt/Überblick/Chronik/ChronikTirol/ChronikTirolContainer/2479587-8/lehrer-sorgt-weiter-für-aufregung.csp