Posted on 12/07/2004 5:55:43 PM PST by blam
Imams to be taught about the French way of life
By Colin Randall in Paris
(Filed: 08/12/2004)
France is to intensify efforts to integrate its large Muslim minority by trying to create a generation of French-speaking, socially aware imams equipped with some knowledge of law and diplomas from Parisian universities including the Sorbonne.
Dismayed by calculations that a third of the imams practising in France do not speak the language of their adopted country, the interior minister, Dominique de Villepin, wants to launch a foundation early next year.
A two-year course at the Sorbonne and Assas universities, starting next autumn, would take the initiative further, giving aspiring Muslim preachers instruction in French law and society.
However, in a rebuff to Nicolas Sarkozy, the new president of the ruling UMP party and former finance minister, Mr de Villepin rejected any notion of tampering with France's 1905 law separating church and state.
Mr Sarkozy had raised the possibility of an amendment allowing state funding to ensure that every town of reasonable size had a mosque.
French politicians of all parties are concerned that immigrants living in high-rise blocks of flats on Muslim-dominated estates are turning to self-styled imams who deliver their frequently anti-western rhetoric in ground-floor prayer rooms.
But in an interview with Le Parisien, Mr de Villepin backed the view of President Jacques Chirac that the law was an untouchable "pillar of the temple".
He added: "It creates a correct balance between religious freedoms and state neutrality and it would be dangerous to distort that balance. In 1905, Islam wasn't a factor within the republic. Now it must find its place. I am convinced that the law allows us to meet that challenge. Of 1,200 imams preaching in our country today, 75 per cent are not French and a third do not speak our language. That is unacceptable. What we need is imams who are French and speak French."
Each candidate on the courses would follow a course covering theological and secular needs. Regional councils would be asked to provide French courses for existing imams.
France faces parallel issues in its attempts to cope with what has become the country's second-biggest religion: how to keep a lid on extremism and how to persuade the broader French public to be more tolerant of the country's six million Muslims.
The case of Abdelkader Bouziane, a radical Algerian imam deported in October because suspected links to terrorists made his presence damaging to public order, illustrates both issues.
Bouziane attracted even more attention for his advocacy of wife-beating than for the questionable company he may have kept. The spectacle of a preacher speaking in favour of violence against women, and then complaining that his limitations in French had caused him to be misunderstood, did nothing to further the interests of moderation or understanding.
However, M de Villepin insisted that the vast majority of Muslims in France were moderates who wished to practise their religion but also be part of society. Of 1,685 known Muslim places of worship, fewer than 50 could be linked to radicalism.
Dalil Boubaker, the president of the French Muslim Council, said a list of 60 prospective students had been drawn up.
Lhaj Thami Breze, president of the French Union of Islamic Organisations, said he would encourage theological students to follow the courses "because an imam must not be ignorant of secularity and its history in France".
So, what will they do when Imans start pretending they don't understand French?
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