A Fine Line

Did you catch the news that France's president Nicolas Sarkozy has instructed French schools to teach every fifth grader 'to learn the life story of one of the 11,000 French children killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust'? It seems to have created quite a stir in France, according to the NY Times article. Sarkozy went a bit further, too, by stating that 'the Nazi belief in a hierarchy of races “radically incompatible with Judeo-Christian monotheism.” I wasn't aware, but it seems Mr Sarkozy has been talking a bit more about religion:

But there is something else. Mr. Sarkozy is shattering another barrier in French intellectual life: religion. His public statements on the subject seem to reflect a deeply held belief that religious values have an important place in everyday French society — an iconoclastic position for a French politician.

When Mr. Sarkozy was made an Honorary Canon of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome last December, he proposed a “positive secularism” that “does not consider religions a danger, but an asset.” He was even more provocative in declaring that “the schoolteacher will never be able to replace the priest or the pastor” in teaching the difference between good and evil.

In Saudi Arabia last month, he infused his speech with more than a dozen references to God, who, he said, “liberates” man. He also said last month that it was a mistake to delete the reference to “Europe’s Christian roots” from the European Constitution.

In France, a country where one’s religion is typically kept private, Mr. Sarkozy heralds his religious identity, referring publicly to his Jewish grandfather and wearing his Roman Catholicism on his sleeve.

“I am of Catholic culture, Catholic tradition, Catholic belief, even if my religious practice is episodic,” he wrote in a book of essays in 2004. “I consider myself as a member of the Catholic Church.”

Well, France's 'secularists' and 'political opponents' set off alarms about all this, and eventually started blaming the United States:

Other analysts blamed the confessional approach of the United States for infecting Mr. Sarkozy’s thinking. “Listen, it’s in the air of the times,” said Régis Debray, the philosopher and author, on France Inter radio Friday. “There is a religious sentimentality, a pretty vague religiousness, let’s say, in the world of show business, in the world of business, that comes from America. It’s the neoconservative wave of the born-agains.”

I can see why many in France might be uncomfortable with all this. I wouldn't want any US president dictating what should be taught in schools; that's a legislative action that ought to be made more by educators and parents, not politicians. Yet, I admire Sarkozy for not hiding his religious life from the world. He doesn't claim to be a perfect Catholic (who is?), but he acknowledges the positive role faith plays in his life and can play in society. Religion can be an asset, it can liberate, and it is at the root of much that is good in history and society.

And yes, religion can bind and suppress, it can be a drag on public policy, and many have suffered violence and tyranny in the name of this-or-that religion. That is also part of our history and our heritage. Like every other social movement, religion cuts both ways.

For those leaders and politicians who are religious, there is a fine line between religion that informs their decisions and religion that dictates their decisions. Hopefully, Sarkozy is tending towards the former and not the latter; and I hope the same holds true for our next US president.

Comments

[James]

Would you want your 10 year old to study in detail and "closely identify" with an individual child who was killed in a genocide over 60 years ago?

Is this a healthy topic to study? and at age 10? It's not that the Holocaust isn't on the syllabus for French schoolchildren, even though at a later stage.

Remember that France was occupied by the Germans during WWII; there's a lot of emotional nationalistic baggage attached to this topic already. Remember (and thank God) that USA has not been occupied by enemy forces in the lifetime of anyone alive today. It does make a difference.

Sarkozy is a cafeteria Catholic - practically a cafeteria husband being twice divorced and thrice married - so far. He is also philandering with religious notions and soundbites.

The name of the game is politics. And France appears to have elected a would-be despot. His aides say he did not consult before issuing this prescription.

[Liam]

I think it's pretty strange for a president to mandate a particular course. Sarkozy strikes me as a little crazy. I'm not sure why he does what he does. Anyway, anyone who refers to poor desperate immigrants as "scum" does not seem that Christian to me, regardless of how many wives he's had.

[Steve Bogner]

Hi James; I'm not advocating what is taught in French schools one way or another, and as I said I wouldn't want a president dictating what is taught in school. Still, I admire Sarkozy for pointing out the positive contributions religion has for society. Yes, he's a cafeteria Catholic; but then, so am I so I'm not going to fault him for that.

Liam, I agree that it is strange that he mandates a particular course. That he calls immigrants scum doesn't seem Christian, I agree; in the US some have the same opinion of pro-choice Catholic politicians.

[Meg]

Those French! They do everything differently!

"France has a strong, centralized, republican tradition — having built and consolidated her identity through a school system tasked with educating her future citizens. Consequently, her education system is very largely the responsibility of the State.

Central government thus retains fundamental powers when it comes to defining and implementing education policy and national education curricula." From discoverfrance.net

As for Sarkozy's personal life, it can be difficult to understand the French view of sex. We North Americans are so puritanical that we consider sexual sins to be the worst sins around. But any European might look at America and consider that any catholic who was overweight or obese is a cafeteria catholic (I'm eschewing the obvious joke!) for ignoring the deadly sin of gluttony.

It's a cultural thing - the French are simply raised to think about sex differently than North Americans. I don't suggest that Sarkozy is a good catholic, but then Jesus didn't come to heal the healthy, he came for the sick.

[Steve Bogner]

Hi Meg - Yes, he didn't come for the healthy... good for us all to remember in the midst of being Puritanical :)

[Patrick]

Hi Steve.

Sometimes a fine line can be a positive boundary for us as a guide to help us through the darkness of our experience of living. Sometimes though it becomes a barrier to our living full and meaningful lives with those whom we share the earth and all its gifts. We need to recognise when it is a building block and when it is a stumbling block tripping us.

Life is about sharing the gift of Love we have been given by a Loving God, who loves all of creation unconditionnally. Can we handle that without imposing terms and conditions for ourselves and other people? Those fine lines we call our beliefs or some such. Sometimes I think we find it difficult to receive God's Love without terms anmd conditions. We can even feel guilty for receiving such a gift. Hence boundaries become restrictive rather than supportive and yes belief it or not liberating. Imagine that boundaries that liberate. There's a thought!

[James]

Today's NYT has this article which is of interest in the Holocaust debate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/books/27holocaust.html?8dpc

It is heartening that Archbishop Gregory has discounted fears that the US Bishops have implied that to vote for a "pro-choice" candidate would imperil one's personal salvation.

[ms]

I just spent severl weeks moslty in Eastern Europe - Austria, then the Czech Republic and Poland. the Catolicism in Austria is very differnt than here, and the differences between Eastern European Catholocism and here make it seem a totally different religion. Even as a very lapsed Catholic, the experiences traveling through these places inspires me to return to the church...and to have particiapted in some of the different and more intensely personal traditions of the cathedrals and churches we visited. And yes, we went to Oswiecm (home to Auschwitz,, a spelling the Poles denounce as German). I agree there is a difference based on the occupation of the countries, but more than that I think is the culture of the religion. We have only had Catholocism here for a couple hundred years. A stone's throw from the President's palace in Prague is the Church they began building in 600 and finished in the 1600s -- St. Vitus and St. Adelbert. Religion -- specifically Catholocism -- permeates life and has for centuries. The Jews have never really made a comeback in Europe; there are about 120 in Bydgoscz Poland (site of the first mass public execution in Poland in WWII) vs. a large robust community before. A related piece of trivia: in all of Poland there were about 5-10 priests doing exorcisms until the past few years. Now there are 70 priests doing them, and they are as real and as religious a rite as anything else ... I think a holdover of the strident nationalism that led to the rise of the Nazis, the Holocaust, etc. as well as the long-term traumas of communist tyranny. The largest single religious group in France, much of the Balkans, and much of Europe (after Catholic) is Muslim. The other major threat feared by the European continent is Putin and his bellicose arrogance, his bullying. Eastern Europe the most and also the rest of the continent is eyeing Putin and Russia as the next Hitler and Germany, if not in terms of anti-Semitism certainly in terms of war for the sake of war and gathering power. If Sarkozky (or anyone) wants to exhibit their faith as a show of faith, great. But if it is done -- as I suspect -- to rally support for a nationalism that opposes or fears Muslims, then no, not a good idea. Note too when this all started - after he was widely criticized by Muslim countries as well as at home for travelling with a woman not then his wife, in blatant disregard for the sensibiities of his hosts. I doubt his expresssion of faith has one iota of integrity, or that the proposed Holocaust teaching has anything to do with the reasons he professes.

[James]

Thank you ms for this very interesting account. I agree with your view of Sarko's agenda.

James

[Steve Bogner]

James, Patrick & ms - Thanks for continuing the discussion, as I haven't had the time or energy to do so :)