At a time when school secularism has become an almost undisputed principle in France, it is worth recalling this historical reality, which is too small: although the People’s School is now asligious, it is a Christian invention, born in the 16th century with Joseph Calasanz’s first free ‘poor schools’. Gregoire Girard, a French-speaking religious religion of the 19th century and the largest modern Swiss pedagogue with Pestalozzi, considered that “the intellectual” who had and should most inspire the dissemination of education was Jésus-Christ. This atypical Catholic educator has attracted both admiration and mistrust on all sides (religious, political, intellectual, social, etc.) of his time, as he proposes to justify and design the democratisation of education systems according to a new interpretation of the Evangile. Its educational theology, which is misericordious and universal, is so generous and open that it makes it possible to overcome most of the divisions which then put society in violence and sectarianism, and in particular the very tense political and philosophical debates on education. It reconciles the progressive (republican) and conservative camps (Haut-Clergé). He extracts from each of the two movements the ‘best’ principles and practices, returning their respective arguments to the unit. In his view, the Bible, on which the papacy relied, demands greater tolerance and autonomy for all: the profound conversion of masses can only result from intellectual development and thus from the spread of popular education. But while Girard is progressive (pacifist, democrat, social justice mindful, forerunner of obcumenism), it remains moderate, pragmatic and patient. He opposes any extremism, including that of blood revolutionaries: Freiburgeois demands the renunciation of all violence, as well as the egalitarist obsession. This gives him the opportunity to gain recognition, with the extraordinary pedagogical success of his mutual teaching: girdland schools were visited and reproduced throughout Europe. This study has shown that Christian faith is not incompatible with educational progress and can even be a driving force for it. And today, where educational philosophy is failing with innovation, it is arguably time to rehabilitate all religious thoughts as a legitimate source of inspiration. Girardine theology can serve the agnostic school in crisis.