Evangelicals See Snags as French Stress Secularism

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=346023 ^

[fishtank]

Full story at URL...

Dec 20, 2004 — By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - Evangelical Christians in France face growing problems as authorities enforce secularism, favor Muslims or view them as supporters of President Bush, French Protestant leaders say.

Evangelicals, who make up 40 percent of the French Protestant Federation, complain of bureaucratic hurdles when trying to open churches and of being seen as sects because they differ from France's traditional faiths.

Leaders of mainstream and evangelical Protestants, who together make up only about two percent of the population in traditionally Catholic France, stress religious freedom is not under threat. But the problems have prompted them to speak out.

[fishtank]

Did search.

Hope not duped.

[2banana]

But Clermont said some laws were used selectively, bent to help Muslims build mosques without funds from abroad but applied too strictly against evangelicals trying to establish churches.

"They're looking for solutions for Muslims and don't realize they're discriminating against evangelicals," he said.

Local officials in northern Paris have refused to let a large Haitian evangelical congregation buy a warehouse they use as a church, saying it has too few parking spaces.

"But they've already been there for 12 years," Clermont said, without parking space ever being mentioned as a problem. He said other congregations had similar difficulties.

Lauzet said evangelicals also had more problems getting permits for new church buildings. "Officials seem to be more attentive to the Muslims than to us," he said.

The French are destroying themselves...

[fishtank]

Choice quote.............


"Both men said that many French, unfamiliar with the varied faces of Protestantism, linked the evangelicals with the U.S. religious right and with Bush, highly unpopular in France.
The left-leaning weekly Le Nouvel Observateur ran a cover story last spring with a picture of Bush and the headline "Evangelicals — the sect that wants to conquer the world."
The magazine apologized after the FPF and AEF protested.
"There may be some confusion here, but look at the Haitians — they have no connection with America," Clermont said. "France is not being invaded by evangelicals coming directly from the South of the United States.""

[Rytwyng]

Huguenot Ping!

[Unam Sanctam]

view them as supporters of President Bush

So not only do the French not have freedom of religion, there is no political freedom of thought as well?

[fishtank]

Imagine if France had NOT killed off the Huguenots.

What a better country it would be.....

[Earthdweller]

Thanks for the ping. Hey, why don't we tell all the evangelicals in France to come here and get out of that place? Did you know that the protestant religion is still considered by many to be along the lines of a cult there? They passed a law a few years ago that placed huge restrictions on the protestants. It is open for lots of interpretation.

Here's an excerpt from the Persecuted Church News dated March 1st, 2002
http://www.worldevangelical.org/persec_france_01mar02.html

Update on France

"Groups are banned from activities aimed at creating or exploiting psychological dependence. Also outlawed is putting heavy and repeated pressure on a person, or using techniques likely to alter his judgment, so as to induce him to behave in a way prejudicial to his interests. Under the lengthy 24-article law, French judges can dissolve a religious group whose members are convicted of a criminal offense. Suspect groups are forbidden to advertise and may not seek to enlist new members near schools, hospitals or retirement homes."

[Rytwyng]

Hey, why don't we tell all the evangelicals in France to come here and get out of that place?

Why don't we rally all the Huguenot descendants in the USA, South Africa, etc, and just go take over France? It shouldn't be too hard.

Dibs on 40 acres of old growth cabernet sauvignon vines.

[Rytwyng]

Under the lengthy 24-article law, French judges can dissolve a religious group whose members are convicted of a criminal offense

Islam comes to mind for some reason..

[Earthdweller]

No problem. I'll take the whole southeast and the Bordeaux!

A funny quote from a fellow freeper....

"Well then, we can all agree to hate France, as is appropriate. Thankfully, we'll never have to kick their butts as the sheer threat of force would leave the entire Vichy nation cowering in a huge puddle of pee." ---RavenATB

Oh well..it was a fun thought but seriously, I am thinking about contacting the French Protestant organizations to see what I can do in support.

[Earthdweller]

No doubt.

[GretchenM]

Interesting.

Thanks for the ping.

[GretchenM]

Imagine if France had NOT killed off the Huguenots. What a better country it would be.....

OTOH, the French Catholic slaughter of Huguenots caused something like 300,000 other Huguenots to flee France, disperse widely and contribute mightily to the betterment of the world.

The American Revolution could not have happened as it did without the Reformation, counteraction, and dispersion.

[Rytwyng]

the French Catholic slaughter of Huguenots caused something like 300,000 other Huguenots to flee France, disperse widely and contribute mightily to the betterment of the world.

That's because the trades and professions were where the Huguenot faith made its greatest inroads. Other countries enthusiastically welcomed them because of their technical skills. Bottom line, between 1562 and ~1700, France killed off/drove away their middle class leaving only the peasants and the elites. Just like what the liberals would like to do here.

[Tempest]

That's because Christians along them selves to be too fragmented among their many different denominations.

[F16Fighter]

"The left-leaning weekly Le Nouvel Observateur ran a cover story last spring with a picture of Bush and the headline 'Evangelicals — the sect that wants to conquer the world.'

We have out own loons at FR and in the good ol' USA who subscribe to the exact same sort paranoia and delusion.

The French shall soon wish the 'Evangelical sect' was there to protect them from the inevitable Moslem blood-bath that's just around the corner.

God will not be mocked.

[F16Fighter]

"Hey, why don't we tell all the evangelicals in France to come here and get out of that place?"

Can't. There's a looong waiting list and/or lottery system for those who wish legal immigration to the US from western Europe...

Now if they chose to do it illegally through the back door flap of the Mexican border, they're rolled out a Hollywood red carpet.

[Rytwyng]

The French shall soon wish the 'Evangelical sect' was there to protect them from the inevitable Moslem blood-bath that's just around the corner.

They drove us out centuries ago. Most of France's Evangelicals (Huguenots) were either killed, or fled to England, Holland, South Africa, Germany, Scotland (my great-??th-grandfather), and other places. A lot of Americans have Huguenot blood as a result.

So we won't be there when France needs us.

[Zack Nguyen]

If accurate, it makes absolutely no sense why the French make things hard on Christians, who will obey the law, raise good families, and enrich French society.