British MP Laments Post-Christian Europe

An observation by the Member of Parliament for the County of York:

"I can hardly ever read the conditions Christ attributed to the time of the flood without thinking of the parallels in our own time. The wickedness of humanity was represented as being great and prevalent. It was a time of selfishness and luxury. People were anti-religion and inconsiderate. It reminds me of many European countries today. Yet the warnings against such things seem not to have influenced the day-to-day business of their societies. Jesus said they were 'eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage' (Matt. 24:38) right up till the day the flood came. The result? They were all destroyed."

The author? William Wilberforce, anti-slavery advocate who led the movement to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

This observation comes from chapter four of Wilberforce's 1797 book, A Practical View of the Prevailing System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity.

It's either a sign that the British Empire, like the Roman Empire before it, is taking a long time to fall... or, that precedents exist for continuing to hope for a renewal of spirit in the UK, that the struggle to keep faith in the possibility of a future worth living in, is not a new challenge, unique to our times.

French Kissing The Taliban

On August 18, 10 French soldiers were killed in an ambush by Taliban jihadists in Afghanistan. The attack also left another 21 French soldiers wounded.

Last week, investigative reporters working for the French weekly news magazine Paris-Match tracked down the Taliban terrorists who participated in the slaughter, and... interviewed them.


The chilling interview reads like a chat between a sports journalist and the coach of a rival team at playoff time.


Translated from the original French: Exclusive: our journalists found the talibans who shot the ten French soldiers.

Eric de Lavarène met one of the attackers who set the fatal trap for the men of the 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment on last August 18th, in Afghanistan.

The man who commanded one of the groups responsible for the terrible attack on the French soldiers is known as commander Farouki. He says he is from the [Afghan] province of Laghman. He is approximately 30-35 years old, as are the majority of his troops. There are more than 500 of them. The interview would last a few minutes. No one lingers, in these parts.

Paris Match: Why did you take on the French military?

Commander Farouki: They trespassed over the line by coming near here.The Uzbin valley belongs to us. It's our territory. A few days before, villagers had warned them: do not go beyond this zone, it's dangerous. They did not listen to them. So, we attacked them. It was a legitimate defense.

Paris Match: Had you obtained intelligence about this patrol, before the ambush?

Commander Farouki: The ambush was not planned. We had just been warned shortly before the attack of the presence of foreign soldiers in our territory. Then, we acted very quickly. It was not complicated. We have caches of arms almost everywhere and of course we are very familiar with the terrain. We were in position before they arrived. One hundred and forty well trained fighters. If night had not fallen, we would have killed them all.

Paris-Match: Did you torture the soldiers who had fallen into your hands?

Commander Farouki: No. These men are dead because of Bush and your president. We did not want to kill your husbands or your sons. We don't have anything against the French. If they leave, then all will be well. So long as you stay here, we will kill you. All of you.

Paris-Match: What will you do, in the future, if they return?

Commander Farouki: We'll do it again. With this attack, we wanted to show the French soldiers that they must stop helping the Americans.
And believe me, this was just a warning. The next time, we will attack them directly where they are holed up, in Tagab and elsewhere. And we'll strike against French interests all over the world. We have the means. We are not alone or isolated in these mountains.

Paris-Match: Do you have the support of the people:

Commander Farouki: The people do not really support us. We let them alone and they don't betray us. But more and more youth are joining us because of the NATO bombings. A bombed house, and it's a new fighter at our side. It's called the spirit of vengeance. It's normal. Especially here.

Paris-Match: Do you have the support of foreign groups?

Commander Farouki: We are all afghans. We do not need the others. We are defending our country. It's a war of liberation. That's all. But there are links between groups, right up to the frontier. Arms, money, fighters passing from one region to the other. From one country to the other. Easily.

Paris-Match: Would you be ready to negotiate with the authorities in Kabul?

Commander Farouki: No negotiations while the foreigners are on our territory. We will strike at your soldiers, we will strike at your humanitarian organizations. We will continue to defend our country. To the end. To the last man. You will have to kill us all to end our movement. And believe me, we are many.

In a related article, the maganize offers a video interview of Véronique de Viguerie, the mercenary photographer who helped set up the meeting with the Taliban jihadis. What a puff-piece. The probing questions include: How did you make contact with this group; Were you given guarantees for security during the meeting; In order not to be discovered, did the taliban set limits for the photography; Will you return to Afghanistan.


I won't bother to translate her matter-of-fact responses, it's just trivia: driving here, talking to this person about talking to that person... mind you, the banality of her amoral answers send as many chills down my spine as the jihadi's earlier cold-blooded threats of dying to the last man. And her eyes... these are the eyes that could look at a bloodied corpse and only wonder, what angle would offer me the best light...


I will translate one of her answers, the second-to-last one. At the 3:00 mark of the video, Mme de Viguerie is asked whether intelligence agencies tried to talk to her about this interview. She gives a gallic shrug of the shoulders as she purrs:

"Well... Let's just say... I imagine that... the secret service must know where these taliban are, it's... not that hard to discover. [softly] But this is not my line of work at all. As well, the fixer who brought me to see them, he is at Quitta [sp?], his family is at Quitta, the taliban know his family, so if in the following days, something should happen, it is he who will be held responsible for that, and it will be his family that will pay the consequences. Therefore... no."

[Hat Tip to Tiberge at GalliaWatch, who also translates a sampling of the French outrage at this unscrupulous approach to journalism.]

[UPDATE: A French journalist working for the left-leaning Liberation newspaper blogs that the taliban barbarians slit the throat of a wounded French soldier during the ambush in question. Maybe next time the Paris Match pretty people who walk between the raindrops can ask the taliban coach if slicing the throat open was the handywork of a new recruit from the farm team, or maybe that of a hot player picked up in an off-season trade...]

Amsterdam's Smokers Forming Their Own Religion To Get Around Anti-Smoking Laws

Maybe one of the reasons that the Dutch haven't been of much help to Geert Wilders, is that they're too busy starting new religions of their own. New religions such as this one, as translated by myself from the French news account covering the anticipated opening of The Universal Church of Smokers:

A cafe owner in Alkmaar, in northern Amsterdam, will consecrate his cafe Wednesday as the "One and Universal Church of God's Smokers", hoping to escape the anti-smoking ban that started on July 1st...

The holy trinity venerated in the church will be "smoke, fire, and ash", explained Cor Bush, the owner of the "Le Tilleul" cafe, who said he wanted to defend "religious freedom" as stated in the Netherlands' constitution for the mostly protestant country consisting of many "churches". The faithful that join the church will received a card and would be authorized to light a cigarette, while those without a card would have to respect the smoking ban, he added.

A dozen cafes have come forward to join his "church", Mr. Bush said; he plans to hang a certicate to the front of these establishments, explaining that "the community of the church of smokers are free to smoke so that they may honor the Good Lord in peace". ...

UK Schoolboys Punished For Not Praying To Allah In Class

Once upon a time there was an England:

Two schoolboys disciplined after refusing to kneel down and "pray to Allah" during a religious education lesson

It was claimed that the boys, from a year seven class of 11 and 12-year-olds, were given detention after refusing to take part in a practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.
Yesterday parents accused the school of breaching their human rights by forcing them to take part in the exercise.
....
"The teacher had gone into the class and made them watch a short film and then said 'we are now going out to pray to Allah'.
"Then two boys got detention and all the other children missed their refreshments' break." She added: "Not only was it forced upon them, my daughter was told off for not doing it right.

"They'd never done it before and they were supposed to do it in another language."

She said the pupils were asked if they had water on them, and when one girl produced a bottle, the teacher began washing her feet with it.

The alleged incident, at the Alsager school, one of Cheshire's top performing schools, happened on Tuesday afternoon. The teacher, Alison Phillips, the school's subject leader in RE, is understood to be staying away from the school until the furore dies down, although she has not been suspended.
She is said to have got prayer mats out of the cupboard and also asked children to wear Islamic headdresses.
...
Sources at the school said the incident could have been down to Miss Phillips instigating a role play and not properly briefing the pupils, all aged around 12, what she was doing.

Yes, it's role-playing all right:

"What would our curriculum consist of, if British traditions were worthless...

What could we do to make sure these kids never learn about the awe-inspiring legacy that the United Kingdom can be proud of...

What's another excuse to avoid talking about William Wilberforce, Horatio Nelson, Edward Pellew, Winston Churchill, William Shakespeare, John Milton, James Cook, Francis Bacon, Thomas More, I. K. Brunel, Isaac Newton, Charlie Chaplin, Charles Dickens, Thomas More, John Wesley, John Wycliff, Arthur Wellesley, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton..........."

I would presume that this misbegotten teacher is simply the result of being a good student of the system currently in place in the UK for teaching teachers how to teach students in their turn. Like all but two of her students, maybe she's simply not been introduced yet to what she would most benefit from learning.

There used to be a time when British history, as taught around dinner tables at home as well as in schools, consisted of more than learning about Houston Stewart Chamberlain, John Hawkins and Jack the Ripper.

You can't forget something if you've never been given the chance to remember it in the first place.

Muslim Father Demands Removal Of Crucifix From French Catholic Hospital Room

A sign-of-the-times story about fear and faith in today's France.

Translated from the short account carried in the French-language newspaper Le Figaro:

After vehement demands, a muslim obtained the removal of a crucifix hanging from the wall of the room of a Catholic clinic in Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère) where his daughter was being treated…

Monday afternoon, at the Saint-Vincent de Paul clinic, the father of a young girl, who had just underwent scheduled preventative surgery, demanded that personnel unfasten a crucifix from his daughter’s room.
"For almost 15 minutes, the father, in the presence of his wife, verbally ranted, demanding that the crucifix be taken down", reported a witness. The establishment’s personnel eventually gave in to this demand.

The management of the clinic expressed their astonishment. The director of the clinic, Marie-Thérèse Besson, declared that this demand was "surprising [given that it’s] from a family that freely chose our establishment."

"When people choose to be treated in our establishment… they know that they are in a Catholic maternity hospital", she added.

I wonder, whose fear is the most palpable in this story; that of the hospital attendants, who can be so quick to accommodate their ranting customer?
Or the father who can allow himself to become so hot and bothered about seeing a Crucifix hanging in a Catholic hospital?

For what else is his fury based on, but fear?

Surely someone secure in their faith doesn’t behave as he behaves. If his faith is really the "real" one, then why would the presence of a simple icon defile him so deeply? Does he maintain so tenuous a grip on his religious beliefs that they can be this gravely threatened by a visual reminder of potential alternatives?

The story is a good example of how we are each an ambassador of our faith. A stranger to our faith will reasonably presume that our behavior is the result of our values taught by that faith, and any lack of civility is likely caused by, not incidental to, our religious beliefs. Look at what his behavior will make readers think now, of his fellow co-religionists.

And look what Catholic France is made to look like by the spineless capitulation of the hospital staff to the fear this ingrate father held for their faith. Don't the staff at that Catholic clinic believe in the healing power that the Cross represents?

If I get mud on my hands, I can probably wash it off. If I make a mistake, I can usually find, or be shown, some way to help atone for it. As a Catholic, I believe that if I sin, in word or in deed, there are circumstances under which my sin can be forgiven. I might fall away, but I can always be welcomed back by God. There must be something I can do, or something I can stop doing, that will help wash away the stain from my hands, and be clean again.

Should I conclude from this father’s un-reasonable behavior that his faith offers no such forgiveness for his stains? Does mere contact with the symbols of a rival faith cause a permanent, unwashable stain sufficient in power to anchor his soul to hell?

Judging by his behavior, he acts like it would. No wonder he was so scared of that Crucifix.

This father's ingratitude, insecurity and incivility is a timely reminder that good fruit does not fall from a bad tree, and that we should strive to think a second time about our actions, to ensure we are acting in accordance with our values, and our faith.

We can't expect others to be impressed by the reasonableness of our faith unless we act as if we are helped, not cursed, by that faith.

[Much thanks to the great French blog Le Salon Beige for unearthing this story.]

UPDATE: Esther at Islam in Europe has translated further details from the original report that appeared in the French paper Le Dauphine Libere. Apparently this isn't the first time that such incidents have taken place in these Catholic clinics...

This photo shows the sign at the front entrance to the building. Clearly visible: the notice that it is a "CATHOLIC Maternity".

The Dauphine article provides clinic director Marie-Thérèse Besson's full comments, rather than just the excerpts quoted by the article I translated in Le Figaro: "When people choose to be treated in our establishment, they do so in full awareness of the facts. They know that they are in a Catholic maternity [hospital]. This is not at all hidden: it is actually clearly inscribed at the entrance to the facility, as well as in the reception leaflet. The nuns of Catholic maternities perform their duties in religious garb, the bell, visible from the rooms, tolls three times at each birth. This demand [to take down the Cross] is surprising coming from a family that had freely chosen our establishment."
"Each room contains a Crucifix. Of small size, it is in no way ostentatious, [it's] very modest."

UPDATE II [July 2nd]: The father has apologized..!

Catholics Outnumber Anglicans in Anglican England

News of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's conversion from Anglicanism to Catholicism has made headlines around the world. In the shadow of that story we read of another angle to the growing decline of Anglicanism in England: for the first time since the 16th Century, there are now more practicing Catholics in England than Anglicans.

A survey by the group Christian Research published in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper showed that around 862,000 worshippers attended Catholic Mass each week in 2006, exceeding the 852,000 who went to Church of England services.

Attendance at Anglican services has almost halved over the past 40 years as the country has grown steadily more secular, the research showed, with only Pentecostalism showing any rise in popularity among Christian denominations.

While attendance figures for both Catholic and Anglican services are declining, Catholic numbers are slipping by a lesser degree as new migrants arrive from east Europe and parts of Africa, boosting Catholic congregations.

The Church of England is not taking the dip to second place lying down, the Telegraph article reveals:

In an attempt to combat the declining interest in traditional religion, the Anglican Church has launched radical new forms of evangelism that include nightclub chaplains, a floating church on a barge and internet congregations.

The French Christian site La Croix adds some details, from Peter Brierley, the former general director of Christian Research, who assisted in conducting the survey:

"A part of the reason for the increase [in the number of practicing Catholics] is that you have a large number of immigrants coming from Catholic countries, especially Poland." British authorities say that at least 300,000 Poles have come to Great Britain since joining the EU in 2004, while polish sources place the number at closer to one million, of which half have centered around London.

Unmentioned in the Sunday Telegraph's coverage of the story is what effect, if any, the ongoing schism within the Anglican communion may be having on Church attendance. Might British traditionalists be growing as disillusioned with their post-modern church, as many of their US counterparts are? Maybe, just maybe, it's not about where it is being taught, whether on land or on "floating barges", but simply what is being taught... or rather, what is no longer being taught.

If one's faith teaches that anything goes, then why need a God at all to help us live that kind of life? If every behavior is equally healthy and helpful to the community at large, then why even have faith to begin with, since there would exist no better version of ourselves to imagine aiming ourselves to become?