Of France’s 60 million inhabitants, only about 5 million attend church each month. Although French society is extremely secular, dominated by deists, agnostics and atheists, the nation has historically been solidly Christian. Under Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance, the Franks played a pivotal role in Christianizing Western Europe towards the end of the first millennium. With the rise of the Huguenots in the sixteenth century, France again had an important role to play, this time with the Protestant Reformation.

Christianity and the French Revolution

France continued to be a deeply religious nation until the revolution of 1789. Undergirded by the ideas of the Enlightenment, the French revolution represented a concerted and deliberate attempt to dechristianize the nation, including

• The implementation of a new calendar to replace the Christian one. The calendar, which was adopted in 1793 and used for the next 12 years, employed a ten day week (in a 10 day week, no one could ever know which day was Sunday) and had 1792 (the year Louis XVI was taken into custody) as year 1. This was known as ‘the year of liberty.’
• The dispossession, deportation and brutal martyrdom of thousands of clergy
• Christians being denied freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of thought if it contravened the secular humanist ideology of the revolution.
• The criminalization of all religious education
• The elimination of all Christian symbols from the public sphere, including removing the word ‘saint’ from street names and destroying or defacing churches and religious monuments
• The replacing of Christian holidays and symbols with civic and revolutionary cults like the ‘Cult of Reason’ and ‘Cult of the Supreme Being.’ A statue to the goddess Reason was even erected and worshiped in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November 1793.

In these and many other ways, the French revolution tried to create a new man through civic regeneration. French society has never fully recovered from the impact of this paradigm shift and all of the successive French government have born the mark of the revolution upon them, including an institutionalized antipathy to the Christian faith.

Modern History of France

France’s Revolutionary Republic officially lasted until the establishment of the First French Empire in 1804. Its leaders included Napoleon Bonaparte, who served as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, before ending the republic and declaring himself Emperor. Napoleon then ruled as a dictator, dominating much of continental Europe, until his defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

Following the ousting of Napoleon, the Allies restored the Bourbon Dynasty (an important European royal house that had ruled France up to the revolution) to the French throne. Charles X of the House of Bourbon was overthrown in the July Revolution, and was succeeded on August 9, 1830 by Louis-Philippe of the House of Orléans (another royal family related to the House of Bourbon). There followed a period of moderate, constitutional monarchy under Louis-Philippe until the revolution of 1848. A second republic was established until a coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte brought that to an end in 1852 and initiated the Second Empire.

When the Empire of Napoleon III crumbled during the Franco-Prussian War, a third Republic was created, lasting from 1870-1940. After the turbulence of WWII, a fourth Republic was proclaimed (1946-1958), lasting until 1958 when the constitution was rewritten and the current form of government was adopted.

The Threat of Tolerance

One of the key areas where the effects of the revolution are still felt in France is in the notion of tolerance. Prior to the revolution, late 18th century France had been the most tolerant society in all of Europe. Tolerance was understood as allowing or permitting another person’s viewpoint or values in spite of how one personally felt. Though this notion of tolerance, like any type of liberty, has obvious legal limits, it was based on the Biblical idea (not always perfectly followed by Christian societies) that we should refrain from deporting, imprisoning, executing or humiliating those whose beliefs, practices and behaviours are inferior to one’s own.

Tolerance in this sense did not suggest an acceptance of that which was being tolerated, but connoted the idea of allowing something in spite of how one actually felt about it, as embodied in the quotation falsely attributed to Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

During the revolution’s reign of terror, all tolerance came to a sudden end. Revolutionary thought police began enforcing what we now call ‘political correctness.’ The guillotine was used to vigorously suppress any opinion or expression which contravened the anti-Christian values of the revolution.

Though France regained some of its freedoms after the fall of Napoleon, the nation has remained institutionally secular, paving the way for a new shift in the notion of tolerance which began to emerge in the 20th century. Around the middle of the last century, tolerance gradually ceased to be understood in the original sense as permitting that which one did not personally accept. Instead, it began to mean actually accepting ideas, values and practices that differed from one’s own. Whereas under the old notion of tolerance a Frenchman had to disagree with someone in order to tolerate, allow or put up with the different viewpoint, the new meaning of tolerance does not allow for such disagreement; rather, it asserts that a person must actually accept all values and viewpoint as being equally legitimate (the obvious exception is that we are not supposed to tolerate the older notion of tolerance, since the older notion assumed what is now an allegedly intolerant antithesis.)

This paradigm shift in the notion of tolerance has had far reaching implications for Christians living in France. Since it is now an act of intolerance to call anything wrong or immoral, Christians who hold to the Biblical standards are constantly finding themselves accused of intolerance. The result was described succinctly by Janey DeMeo, former missionary in France of 22 years and author of Heaven Help Me Raise These Children!: “They tolerate everything — except Christians. Unless you have actually lived in France, it is hard to understand just how challenging this can be.”

The Threat of Militant Homosexuality

This changing notion of tolerance has been a Trojan horse for the homosexual movement, allowing them to gain acceptance in mainline French society.

Although France prides itself on its tradition of free thinking and philosophical inquiry, those who criticize the ethics of homosexuality are finding themselves in trouble with the state. For example, in 2007 a member of France’s ruling party was fined almost $4,000 for comments opposing homosexuality.

As in the days of the French revolution, when politicians were turned into criminals as soon as they expressed opinions contrary to the status quo, so French lawmakers today must be careful what they say during political debate. In January 2006, the French politician Christian Vanneste was fined €3,000 for viewpoints he expressed in a Parliamentary debate. Mr. Vanneste’s crime was saying that homosexuals were a threat to the survival of humanity and that the practices was ‘morally inferior’ to heterosexuality.

The Threat of Indoctrination

Laïcité is what the French call their principle of church/state separation. So sacred is this principle to French politics that 2004 was officially declared the Year of Laïcité. But while the church/state separation promises freedom for religion, it can also function as a lever to attack Christianity. Because the worldviews of agnosticism and atheism are not considered ‘religions’, the government can be outspoken in advocating these worldviews while not compromising its commitment to laïcité. This comes across very clearly in the state schools, which are explicitly atheistic in their worldview. Degrees awarded by Christian educational institutions, including doctorates issued by the Catholic Institute of Paris, are not recognized by the French government.

When researching for this article, I had the opportunity to interview a number of French believers. Janey DeMeo told us that the hardest thing about trying to raise a family in France is helping children not to feel that being a Christian is strange. The author and former missionary said that the French educational system reinforces the idea that Christianity is weird by constantly telling children that only idiots believe in God. Atheistic evolution is taught in the schools as fact and few French children even know that there are other viable worldviews out there for intelligent people.

It is not uncommon for Christians kids to be bullied at school by atheists and Muslims. Not surprisingly, many French families have chosen to homeschool, yet this presents its own challenges. “One family in our church was threatened to be imprisoned for homeschooling”, Mrs. DeMeo told Christian Voice. “In France, it is the government that controls education, so any Christian influence that a parent might want to give their child is looked upon as being subversive to the state.” However, homeschooling is legal provided it is conducted through a government-run national centre of distance learning. In such a case, parents are told exactly what to teach their children and given very little latitude to do anything different.

The Threat of the Media

More than one of the French believers I spoke with shared their frustration that all mainline churches, other than the Roman Catholic or reformed, have been given the status of “cult.” This is largely a result of the media, which has caricatured evangelicalism as being an extremist cultic American import. This started a few years ago when the French media used hidden cameras to conduct secret documentaries on some big American ministries. Because these ministries focused on ‘signs and wonders’, most people in France now associate all evangelicals with those who dabble in the paranormal and in processes of mental manipulation.

The French fear of cults is constantly used as a lever to shut down religious activities. One lady Christian Voice spoke with, Rachele DeMeo, said that her father had started a Christian school in France, only to have the high school section of it labelled a “cult” and shut down by the authorities.

Although there are many nominal Roman Catholics in France, it goes against the grain of French society to be a serious Christian. Immorality, broken families and the gratification of lust are seen as normal by most of the population. This means that the lifestyle of a Christian stands out starkly, as there is clearly something different about them. This itself riles against the French notion that religion should be a private, personal matter of the heart and not something that transforms one’s entire public life. When one’s life is reshaped by the power of Christ, the secular establishment reacts by labelling Christians as weird and “members of a cult.”

The Threat of Islam

In November 2005, the French police were caught off guard by an eruption of violence occurring in over 300 French towns and villages. Many towns were plunged into a state of anarchy by the tidal wave of arson, vandalism and brutal murders. Although the violence was covered by all the mainline news channels in the West, the media consistently failed to report the true nature of what is occurring. In particular, they did not tell the public that these rioters were predominantly Muslims, many of whom had been crying “Alah Akbar” as they vandalized, destroyed property and burned down entire neighborhoods.

The mainline media also did not report that many of the Muslims leaders at the time of the riots were asking for governmental autonomy in their villages so that these Muslim communities – islands within French society – could follow legal systems based on Muslim law. The very fact that these rioters were Muslim was downplayed by the French government. In fact, “saying they’re Muslim is a subject of angry dispute” wrote David R. Sands and Sharon Behn in The Washington Times on November 10th, 2005. “French officials downplay the religious connections, and some newspapers, particularly in the United States, avoid identifying the rioters as Muslim.”

That event, a little over four years ago, encapsulates the French approach to its growing Islamic problem. The approach can be summed up in the two words: denial and appeasement.

So how did France’s Muslim problem first arise? Following WWII, the French workforce was inadequate for reconstruction efforts. To correct this problem, large numbers of Muslim men were invited into the country. Coming from French colonies in Algeria and other North African countries, these immigrants settled in France. In 1974, the government passed a law allowing the children and wives of immigrants to settle as well.

Since then the Muslim population has steadily grown, occupying high-rise ghettoes and forming cultural enclaves which have never assimilated into French culture.

At the same time, the non-Muslim population of France has been gradually decreasing. Alarmed by the fact that the average French family only has one child (not even close to replacement level) the government introduced a policy giving subsidies to families who have three or more children. The Muslims have been taking advantage of this policy, having six to eight children on average and living off the government.

In 2006 the US Department of State estimated that Muslims in France make up around 10% of the total population. Given the fact that French Muslims are out-producing other demographic groups, that figure is set to right significantly in the next twenty years.

The subsidized housing estates in which French Muslims congregate have become dangerous territories for French Christians. One woman I spoke with had a friend who was beat up in a Muslim neighbourhood simply because she had a cross around her neck.

As the Muslim population of France has also been growing in number, it has also been growing in power. French citizens are increasingly finding themselves persecuted for criticizing the Muslim religion. As one woman said to me after spending 19 years in France, “If you publicly criticize Islam, the Muslims are likely to go after you in some way or another.” Examples of this are abundant. In 2002, France’s Human Rights League teamed up with the Mecca-based World Islamic League and the mosques of Paris and Lyon to bring charges against the writer Michel Houellebecq for criticizing Islam during an interview. His crime was to express the view that Islam was ‘the stupidest religion.’ The Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l’amitié entre les peuples (‘Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples’) has also taken upon itself the mantle to prosecute those who publically critique tenets of the Islamic faith.

French Muslims are now following in the footsteps of the French revolutionaries who sought to rewrite or remove Christian symbols from the public sphere. To appease Muslims, the Christian holiday of Lent has been renamed ‘Lent Ramadan’ while Christian symbols in public places are either being removed or rewritten from an Islamic perspective. For example, in the tombs of the Kings of France, an explanatory brochure for young people explains “In the Bible we find the story of the Angel Gabriel, the very one who would bring the Koran to Mohammed, who announces to Mary, a young girl engaged to Joseph, that she will soon give birth to a son named Jesus.”

Secret Revival Among French Muslims

The Holy Spirit has recently begun working among French Muslims in an extraordinarily unexpected way. An estimated 5,000 Muslims have converted to Christianity but have hidden their faith from their families and freinds. They continue to maintain the outward appearance of a Muslim, including attending prayer services at the mosques and being called Muslim names like Muhammed, but then secretly attend worship services on Sunday where they are known by names like as Jack or John.

Allan Rich, who runs a Christian help line, often receives phone calls from Muslims who have become Christians. Mr. Rich spoke to me, asking me to pray for these new Christians, who have had to keep their conversions secret even from their own spouses and children, for fear of being beaten up, ostracized and persecuted. Many of these converted Muslims are too afraid to go to church, read their Bible secretly and use the internet to secretly listen to Christian messages.

Prayer Requests

One French believer spoke to me on the phone about the difficulties he has faced trying to help French believers overcome the inbred dualism between the physical and the spiritual. They have the idea, he said, that what happens in the world around them is unimportant because it isn’t ‘spiritual.’ This has led to a cultural lethargy and sense of helplessness, whereby French Christians passively let the government do whatever it wants without a fight. He asked that brothers in America and England pray that as the pressures on the French church increase that all the believers will wake up and make their voice heard, rejecting the unbiblical dualism which asserts that this world is unimportant.

Another believer I spoke with, a man named Alan Davey, told of the difficulties he has getting good Christian books and resources. Pray that the Christians in France would be well supplied with the materials they need for growing in the faith.

At the same time there is much to give thanks about. Despite the pressures against Christianity in so much of French society, there is a steady stream of men and women turning to Him and being saved. “Things are much better than they were here fifty years ago,” one French believer said to me. Another believer told me that because most French men and women come from or are part of broken families, when they are saved their lives are transformed and they are overjoyed at finding wholeness.

Much prayer is needed that these converted Muslims will be given courage and that He would continue to add to their number. Pray that these isolated converts would have ways to meet other isolated converts, in order that their faith might be strengthened.

Also pray for the Christian women who marry into Muslim families. What has been happening is that a Christian woman will meet an attractive Muslim man, get to know their families (who seem very friendly at first) and then get married. They then find that they are locked into an oppressive system from which there is no escape. They are abused and sometimes even denied access to the outside world.

Pray that French Christians would be increasingly equipped to share their faith with Muslims. ‘At the moment,’ Allan Rich told me, ‘Christians afraid to talk to Muslims because they don’t understand their culture and their arguments. Muslim’s know how to attack the Christian doctrines but the Christians tend to be unequipped in offering a credible response to these challenges.’

This article was originally published in the Christian Voice magazine. It is republished here with permission of Christian Voice. Christian Voice’s website is http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/

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