Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ

Should French children at private Catholic schools be taught a Catholic
version of science and a Catholic type of math-ematics? The question may
seem strange, but the row it has provoked has been entertaining France for
several weeks.

The issue of Christian science teaching is at the centre of a heated
debate between the top administrator of France’s Catholic school system
and a group of prominent scientists. It would probably never have caused
more than a few raised eyebrows if the government had not announced a plan
to increase its funding of private schools, 95 per cent of which are run
by the Catholic church. The plan to subsidise private education was bitterly
opposed in a country that has had a free, and secular, system of education
since 1882.

Earlier this month, the plan was judged unconstitutional and put on
hold by the prime minister. But his action came too late to prevent an outburst
from some of the most prominent educationalists and scientists in the country.

At the centre of the controversy is Father Max Cloupet, secretary-general
of Catholic education in France. In December, Cloupet told the French news
agency that it is the duty of Catholic schools to offer ‘a Christian view
of the world, including mathematics and physics’.

His statement provoked a scathing response from Michel Broue, head of
mathematics at the country’s most prestigious science college, the Ecole
Normale Superieur in Paris. Broue and Bertrand Monthubert, a student at
the college, wrote an open letter criticising Cloupet. The letter was circulated
to national newspapers.

The letter, signed by some 140 French scientists, including prominent
personalities such as Nobel laureates Georges Charpak and Jean-Marie Lehn,
warned of the ‘immense damage’ which would be done if scientific phenomena
were to be interpreted according to religious axioms.

To illustrate their point they hark back to the church’s denunciation
of Copernicus and his theory that the Earth moved round the Sun. The church
was so set against this idea that Galileo was called before the Inquisition
and forced to recant his belief that Copernicus was right. Copernicus’s
work was listed in the church’s index of forbidden books until 1835, although
by then it was plain that Copernicus was right.

Some liken the idea of teaching a Catholic version of science to the
attempt by American creationists to have their version of evolution given
as much prominence in the curriculum as Darwin’s version of events.

According to the scientists, Cloupet’s statement ‘lifts the veil’ on
the Catholic education system, which they say is trying to offer its own
interpretation of the world rather than giving children the same education
as those in state schools, but with a little catechism thrown in.

A number of signatories, who include ‘believers and non-believers’,
say that the letter is intended to warn Catholic schools not to become more
radical in their teachings in an attempt to distinguish themselves from
the public sector.

Cloupet says the letter is politically motivated. He has always believed
in ‘the autonomy of the sciences’, he says. But science does pose certain
problems for the conscience and it is ‘here that a Christian viewpoint can
shed light’. He agrees that there is no such a thing as ‘Catholic mathematics’
but argues that there is a ‘Christian way of teaching mathematics’.

A Catholic education should ‘inspire a critical approach to all science
subjects’, says Cloupet. When children are taught about evolution, for example,
they should explore both Darwin’s ideas and the Christian viewpoint.