Posted on 12/08/2016 10:07:07 PM PST by Steelfish
In Secular France, Catholic Conservatism Makes A Comeback
By James McAuley December 8.
CHARTRES, France — For many French voters, François Fillon is more than a leading contender for president in next year’s elections: He is viewed as a crusader in the throes of a holy war. When Fillon handily won both rounds of France’s conservative primaries last month, he campaigned mostly on a genteel conservatism of economic restructuring and strengthened national security.
But in a country that firmly defines itself as “secular” in its constitution, Fillon’s unexpected victory represented an astonishing prospect: the political reawakening of Catholic France after decades of slumber.
As right-wing and populist leaders across Europe — such as Viktor Orban in Hungary and Marine Le Pen in France — increasingly turn toward Christian values, Fillon has ignited a wave of nostalgia for a nation of traditional families and quaint village churches. It is a nation that he and many of his supporters say is under siege from the dual threats of multiculturalism and Islamist terrorism.
As evidence, conservatives cite the slaying of an 85-year-old village priest in July by Islamic State-inspired militants, explaining it as an assault on the essence of France.
Fillon, the presidential nominee of the center-right party now known as the Republicans, has repeatedly pledged to defend “family values” — which has often translated into staunch opposition to same-sex marriage and, lately, to adoption by same-sex parents. When the fervent Roman Catholic responds to terrorist violence, he often does so in the lofty language of religious rapture. The war against the Islamic State, he wrote in his recent book, is “a battle of the end times,” sounded with “trumpets of the apocalypse.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Very good news.
The Bezos Post finds it acceptable because Catholicism is now a fellow traveler. Read carefully, I found the article to be chilling.
This smells like anti-National Front propaganda, designed to promote presidential candidate Francois Fillon, the “Great Uniparty Corporatist Hope” in France.
Fillon makes conservative speeches in his question to beat Marine LePen, France’s Trump.
I have dubbed Fillon (Le Ted Cruz de France).
The runoff will be Fillion versus Le Pen. So the atheists at the Post can swallow some self-hating Catholicism it it can harm Le Pen.
The Establishment in France pumped this man up.
I posted a comment inside a long blog post from Peter Hitchens Blog the other day regarding Brexit.
He noted that the “establishment” in France “is determined to crush Marine LePen and the Front National”.
Then they will make Brexit tough for the British.
Nigel Farage has not endorsed LePen, but has said her election would mean the death of the EU.
If France leaves the EU, then the EU project is over.
I'm in two minds about this -- the EU project has brought prosperity and safety to Europe, but it has also promoted athiesm
“...EU project has brought prosperity and safety to Europe, but it has also promoted athiesm “
??
Eh, no.
What do you mean no? It has promoted athiesm
Europe is prosprous? It’s safe? I wouldn’t travel to europe right now if I won a trip. My cousins say they want to go to France to ride bikes, like we did when I Lived over there. Do they read the news? No they’re liberal. Liberals are a lot of things. Sheltered from information is one of them. In two years travel to France will be impossible I think
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