In a speech not long before Samuel Paty's death, Emmanuel Macron had declared that 'Islamist separatism' was testing the resilience of the secular French republic
at the Sorbonne, the paramount French symbol of learning, President Emmanuel Macron on October 21st paid homage to a teacher slain “for embodying…the freedom that is transmitted and sustained at school.” Samuel Paty was a middle-school history teacher in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a genteel town north-west of Paris. Earlier this month he had shown pupils caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad from the satirical newspaperduring a class on freedom of expression.
France’s tolerance for ridiculing religion is often difficult for outsiders to understand. The land of Voltaire protects the right to believe, and not to believe, as well as the right to treat any sacred belief with irreverence. It also attempts to banish religious affairs from official public life.
Since he was elected in 2017 Mr Macron has found it awkward to talk publicly about all this. Five years ago, when he was economy minister and France was battered by terrorist attacks, including one at theoffices, he sounded more laissez-faire about secularism. As president, he seems to have had second thoughts.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Seven more people handed over to judge in probe on French teacher's murderSeven more people, including two underage minors, were handed over to a judge overnight as part of the ongoing investigation into last week's murder of French teacher Samuel Paty, said an official from the French anti-terrorist prosecutor's office.
Read more »
Reese Witherspoon mourns beloved French Bulldog after she dies during nightOscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was left devastated when her beloved pet French Bulldog named Pepper passed away in the middle of the night
Read more »
Seven people handed over to judge in probe on French teacher's murderSeven people, including two minors, were handed over to a judge overnight as part of an ongoing investigation into last week's murder of French teacher Samuel Paty, an official from the anti-terrorist prosecutor's office said.
Read more »
Seven handed to judge in probe on French teacher's murderSeven people, including two minors, were handed over to a judge overnight as part of an ongoing investigation into last week's murder of French teacher Samuel Paty, an official from the anti-terrorist prosecutor's office said.
Read more »
Attacker paid students to identify French teacher before beheading, says prosecutorThe Chechen teenager who beheaded a French teacher for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in class had paid students to identify him in front of the school, anti-terrorist public prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard told a news conference.
Read more »
French teacher's horrific beheading triggers reckoning over secularism'The new 'laïcité' ... has become a tool to target people we consider the enemies of our culture,' said professor Raphaël Liogier.
Read more »