France’s Surprising Resistance to Gay Marriage (1000 buses rented + 5 TGV trains for the march)

First Things ^ | January 15, 2013 | Robert Royal

[NYer]

Napoleon, who was a brilliant strategist, often told subordinates that they should treat the pope as if he had 200,000 men at arms. In other words, the answer to Stalin’s cynical remark—“How many divisions does the pope have?”—was about ten, give or take, and they were extremely loyal and prepared to die.

This didn’t stop Napoleon from kidnapping Pius VI in 1799 when he refused to give up temporal authority (Pius died in France a few weeks later partly because of his imprisonment). His successor, Pius VII, believed in democracy and signed a Concordat with the “First Consul,” soon to be Emperor. But he, too, was arrested, as were several cardinals. All of which, more or less, came to an end when Napoleon fell and was exiled to Elba.

Relations between Church and State in France, however, have remained testy ever since, including this weekend’s confrontation over the effort of François Hollande’s French Socialists, who control all the important levers of political power at the moment, to impose so-called gay marriage on the nation—and while they’re at it, gay adoption, and government-funded artificial insemination for lesbian couples. That was too much for many.

In classic French fashion, a huge number of people went into the streets—descendre dans la rue being almost a formal political process in France. Numbers are always contested, but about 800,000 and perhaps as many as one million people—five times Napoleon’s figure—marched three different parade routes to the Eiffel Tower Sunday.

Five years ago, almost to the day, I wrote on this page about then-President Nicolas Sarkozy’s speech on the occasion of being installed as an honorary canon at St. John Lateran in Rome. He emphasized a theme he had written about several times earlier: The French are neglecting their heritage by ignoring France’s Christian past. Furthermore, he said, the Church should be more prominent publicly. French society needed what only it could bring.

French friends warned me that it would make no significant difference. In a way, they were right. But it’s no small matter when a president speaks of the public importance of religion in a country like France. And it’s no small matter when nearly a million French show up publicly to demand what, many assume, they never would today.

The simple math is astonishing. France’s population is a fifth of America’s, which means the demonstration may have been the equivalent of five million Americans demonstrating in Washington.

In a kind of before-the-fact, backhanded compliment, the Socialist government has announced the formation of a surveillance agency, “the National Observatory of Secularism,” which will monitor religious groups (including the Church) in order to “dissolve” cases of “religious pathology.”

The opposition—which includes more than Catholics and other Christians—showed itself in the Manif pour tous (meaning Manifestation or Demonstration for All), the countermovement to Marriage pour tous (Marriage for All), which like its American equivalents is trying to push gay marriage as an equality issue. It’s hard to appreciate what a radical turn this level of organization means in Europe—and in France, still a cultural bellwether, in particular.

According to reports, one thousand buses were rented, five of the high-speed French TGV trains privately reserved to bring in people from all over the country. An imam from the north of France alone filled several dozen buses. And organizers had elaborate protocols worked out that advised marchers how to respond if confronted or attacked by the several gay militant groups who tried to disrupt previous demonstrations in November and December. There was even a comedian—Frigide Barjot—who got into the act leading the protesters.

The debate has taken place at a rather high level by American standards. The Church has defended a certain “anthropology” of marriage and received in reply some arguments that anthropology itself reflects a multitude of forms of marriage (but not, it ought to have been said, “gay marriage” in the modern sense). Writing in Le Monde, Danièl Hervieu-Léger, a sociologist, warned the French bishops, in an insincere show of concern, that, like the opposition to contraception in Humanae Vitae, opposition to gay marriage now is another “milestone . . . on the way to the end of Catholicism in France.”

The reality may be quite the opposite. The French bishops were careful not to make this a fight over religious doctrine, but no one is unaware that Catholics—as well as Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and a small contingent of non-believers (even a few gay voices)—fed into the opposition and the demonstration. As usual, the secular view is that the state is the defender of “secular morality,” which it has promised to impose on the nation, especially the schools. But believers have now been energized.

Still, this whole sad episode will also have many bad effects, not least on the once universal principle that democratic states are open to all. Traditional believers may be partly disenfranchised in the process, but it will clarify, as is already happening in America, that the modern state is not neutral between faiths and irreligion.

The state now has an ethos of its own that it will impose by the classic methods of modern tyrants: surveillance, destruction of bodies of resistance, and the heavy-handed imposition of state ideology.

Two-thirds of the French favor legalization of gay marriage. But as in other areas, democratic majorities can be as tyrannical as any regime. And the regime went several steps too far in pushing adoption and artificial insemination for lesbians.

It’s remarkable that these steps are being pushed forward when something on the order of 19,000 mayors and their associates have come out against gay marriage and opening adoption to gay couples, a group called “Mayors’ collective for children” (Collectif des maires pour l’enfance). Concern that children have a father and a mother (“No mother, it’s depressing!”) has been high in France.

Barring some miracle, however, Hollande’s government will work its will on the French—he’s shown himself quite high-handed on many fronts. But the opponents will go down fighting. And certainement, they will not go away.

[NYer]

Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing, and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West

[NYer]

Catholic ping!

[NYer]

France, ping!

[wideawake]

His successor, Pius VII, believed in democracy and signed a Concordat with the “First Consul,” soon to be Emperor.

Pius VII was not a big booster of democracy, but of government according to the consent of the governed.

He had kind words to say about the United States, for example.

[elcid1970]

Now if the French can do an equally large “Resistance to Islam” March, they just might be on a roll.

[Secret Agent Man]

Not surprising. They don’t want a huge muslim rebellion. They could care less about demonizing the Christians opposed to it, but then again they don’t torch 1200 cars on New Years - and that’s when the muzzies are “celebrating”.

[NYer]

Now if the French can do an equally large “Resistance to Islam” March, they just might be on a roll.

I believe we find similar reactions everywhere in the west. It seems people lurk and wait until the midnight hour before they wake up and take action. Here in the US, we have a very large and growing Muslim population yet no one dares to address the potential problems they pose. What do we know about these people?

The following is a description (slightly modified) from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat. Link

As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. In fact, they may be featured in articles and films, stereotyped for their colorful uniqueness.

At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs [Europe, Australia, USA and Japan]. Six percent of US prison inmates are Muslim. Like any other minority, they won’t integrate, but work to build their own separate community.

From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. South Africa's Muslim population is 2%, but they control 35% of the businesses, a large percentage of the banks and have five Cabinet seats while Christians (77% of the population) have none.

They will push for the introduction of halaal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature it on their shelves (along with threats for failure to comply).

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia; Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world, but to establish Sharia law over the entire world.

When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. (Ei: car-burnings in France last October.) Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats.

After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning (India, Mindanao, Philippines).

At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare [Indonesia].

From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya (infidel tax). (Sudan, Kosovo, Lebanon and Egypt).

After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide [Western Papua (New Guinea), Iran, Biafra, Turkey and North Nigeria].

100% will usher in the peace of "Dar-es-Salaam" - House of Peace - as in Saudi Arabia, Libya and Yemen.

France’s Muslim population is expected to climb from 4.7 million in 2010 to 6.9 million in 2030. Germany’s Muslim population is expected to increase from 4.1 million to 5.5 million during this period. The key to understanding their growth is this:

According to a study carried out by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, the number of Muslims in America rose to 2.6 million in 2010 from 1 million in 2000, fueled by immigration and conversions. Muslims now outnumber Jews in many parts of the American South and Midwest, but Christians remain the largest group in every state. One need only look at the European statistics to understand what we can expect in the US.

[little jeremiah]

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Pinging this one too, more background and information. So Hollande the Socialist also wants legalized adoption by perverts and government payment female perverts for artificial conception. I wonder how long until major violent upheaval overturns the rapid descent into hell.

[little jeremiah]

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Pinging this one too, more background and information. So Hollande the Socialist also wants legalized adoption by perverts and government payment female perverts for artificial conception. I wonder how long until major violent upheaval overturns the rapid descent into hell.

[353FMG]

Let’s not be too critical of the French.

Let’s look at ourselves in the mirror.

[I want the USA back]

That’s good, but how many of them voted for the socialist? What did they expect?

[Chainmail]

Vice la France!

[Chainmail]

Vice la France!

[heye2monn]

Ze French know that ze anale sex est ze insanite

[elcid1970]

Critical? I sort of admire the French right now.

Charlie Hebdo magazine, and those French crowds protesting Shariah while eating pork & drinking red wine near muzzie no-go zones. The anti-gay marriage demonstration is further cause for hope.

[Bigg Red]

Now if the French can do an equally large “Resistance to Islam” March, they just might be on a roll.

&&
Yeah, I was feeling really good about this demonstration until I read the following sentence in the piece:

An imam from the north of France alone filled several dozen buses.

[annalex]

Great, — but why is it “surprising”? In France, like anywhere else, what masquerades as democracy is a rule by a cynical elite that hates their own country. The people will tolerate fiscal mismanagement so long as they do not starve, but when their very humanity is being destroyed, they will rise up. In American too, — the day will come.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NYer.

[narses]

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