Pope Benedict and President Nicolas Sarkozy urged France yesterday to reconsider its strict separation of church and state and to allow religious "values" to influence public life.

M. Sarkozy and Pope Benedict XVI, at the start of his first visit to France, made speeches which were intended to calm – but may inflame – debate over the French "secular" tradition.

Pope Benedict called for a more "open" approach to secular government, which would accept the Christian "roots" of French society. [B][Bait]

M. Sarkozy repeated a controversial call for a "positive secularism" which would allow religious – not just Christian [switch] – values to influence public life.

However, both men stressed their comments were intended to embrace and not divide France's multi-religious society.

Pope Benedict is controversial in France. His efforts to rehabilitate a French Catholic movement which split with Rome in the 1980s have exasperated a mainstream church struggling to maintain Catholicism as a force in French life. Fewer than 5 per cent of people go to Mass but 70 per cent identify as Catholic.

More than 200,000 mainly young people are expected to attend an open-air Mass which the Pope will celebrate in Paris today. Tomorrow, he will travel to Lourdes to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

M. Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, met the Pope at Orly airport.

The President – although not a regularly practising Catholic and twice divorced – generated heated debate in December when he suggested that religious, especially Catholic values, should be part of political life. Since 1905, France has maintained a strict separation of church and state.

The Pope took up the theme in two speeches – at the Elysée Palace and before 700 intellectuals representing all religions and non-religion. A distinction between politics and religion was "fundamentally important" to guarantee freedom of worship, he said, but called for a more "open" approach to secularism.

Religion had an "irreplaceable role in the formation of the human conscience" and ethics.

François Bayrou, the centrist candidate in last year's presidential election, refused an invitation to the Pope's reception at the Elysée Palace, saying that the Pope should not have been treated like a political leader and invited to the home of the head of the French secular state.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-backs-sarkozyrsquos-bid-for-religious-values-928796.html

Article from 2007 - Barely half the French population describe themselves as Catholic, according to a poll released yesterday, sparking a leading religious publication to declare France "no longer a Catholic country".

A poll published in Le Monde des Religions yesterday showed the number of self-declared French Catholics had dropped from 80 per cent in the early 1990s and 67 per cent in 2000 and to 51 per cent today.

The number of atheists has risen sharply to 31 per cent from 23 per cent in 1994.

"In its institutions, but also in its mentalities, France is no longer a Catholic country," wrote Frederic Lenoir, editor in chief of Le Monde des Religions.

French Catholicism, while suffering during the Revolution, did not begin its real decline until 1905, experts say, when pre-war France was declared a secular state, all funding of religious groups was stopped and religious buildings were declared the property of the state.

Yesterday's poll showed that only 10 per cent go to church regularly — mainly to Sunday mass or christenings. Of the 51 per cent who still call themselves Catholics, only half said they believed in God. Many said they were Catholics because it was a family tradition.

Le Monde des Religions cited varied reasons for the decline, including the rural exodus, changing values and the rise of individualism. One devout Catholic said the biggest problem was that younger generations were no longer interested.

"When you go to Sunday mass, it's just old people, except for special occasions like midnight mass," said Marie-France Guillon, a retired school teacher from the fishing village of Crac in Brittany. "When I tried to get my grandson, who took communion in March, to go to Sunday school, he said 'no thanks, I'd rather stay and play monopoly.' "

Despite the drop, however, Catholicism remains by far the country's number one religion. The poll found Muslims accounted for only four per cent of the population (up from two per cent), Protestants three per cent and Jews one per cent.

"Catholicism will remain the most important religion," said Frederic Lenoir, who pointed out that the number of regular churchgoing Catholics still equalled the total sum of French Muslims, Protestants and Jews.

This reminds me of a quote by Mr. Linder on one of his spintros (always worth repeating). "We're getting over our 2000 year drunk on Christianity"!!

The younger generation can see what destruction the jews have brought to this world so they aren't buying into the jews as the "chosen people" crap and therefore can rightfully reject Christianity without too much trouble or quilt.

I'm looking forward to a jew free, xtian free future.


I can see clearly now the jews are gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day.
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day

This reminds me of a quote by Mr. Linder on one of his spintros (always worth repeating). "We're getting over our 2000 year drunk on Christianity"!!

The younger generation can see what destruction the jews have brought to this world so they aren't buying into the jews as the "chosen people" crap and therefore can rightfully reject Christianity without too much trouble or quilt.

I'm looking forward to a jew free, xtian free future.


I can see clearly now the jews are gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day.
It's gonna be a bright (bright)
bright (bright) sunshiny day

Wow, blue sky and sunshine! Hope and anticipated bliss :lulz:

Linder is a Wolf.

http://rutube.ru/tracks/508864.html?v=9c7db2a5d049b2959997bd8703898c14

Sarkozy: “Arabic Is the Language of the Future”
From the desk of Tiberge on Tue, 2008-10-14 11:14

The French government is strongly advocating the teaching of Arabic language and civilization in French schools. Not surprising, considering the number of Arabs and Muslims in France, and the unctuous deference with which they are treated by officials, beginning notably with Nicolas Sarkozy, who cannot praise enough the splendor of Arabic contributions to the world.

The French National Assembly was the scene of a meeting earlier this month of the first Conference on the Teaching of Arabic Language and Culture, attended by a variety of interested parties. There was much wearisome blather about the need for "dialogue."

In his message to the participants, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the "language of the future, of science and of modernity," and expressed the hope that "more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values."

"We must invest in the Arabic language (because) to teach it symbolizes a moment of exchange, of openness and of tolerance, (and it) brings with it one of the oldest and most prestigious civilizations of the world. It is in France that we have the greatest number of persons of Arabic and Muslim origin. Islam is the second religion of France," Sarkozy reminded his listeners.

He proceeded to enumerate the various "advances in terms of diversity," the increase in Muslim sections of cemeteries, the training of imams and chaplains and the appointments of ministers of diverse backgrounds.

"France is a friend of Arabic countries. We are not seeking a clash between the East and West," he affirmed, emphasizing the strong presence of Arab leaders at the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, last July 13. "The Mediterranean is where our common hopes were founded. Our common sea is where the principal challenges come together: durable development, security, education and peace," added the French president.


http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3591

A poll published in Le Monde des Religions yesterday showed the number of self-declared French Catholics had dropped from 80 per cent in the early 1990s and 67 per cent in 2000 and to 51 per cent today.


So the Catholic faith in France (and everywhere else in the West) is diminishing by roughly 15% every ten years, while Islam is growing by about the same percentage.

The Kike has killed the Catholic Church and now it's time to once again officially (after all, secular Judaism and Western states have been married for at least two centuries) combine church and state.

The destruction of Europe continues at an alarmingly fast pace.