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France
Rocked by Christianity and State Segregation
Archbishop Gary Beaver speaks out against
persecution of Reformed Churches in France
It is 100 years since France
separated the Church from the State and are now
having to deal with an extremely volatile situation
with many challenges said Old Catholic Archbishop
Gary Beaver.
In a traditionally Catholic country,
Protestants welcomed the separation of French Church
and State in 1905, believing that this would enable
them to be on equal terms with Catholicism.
“The change in France’s religious
make-up is fuelling mistrust, conflict and a sort of
“secularist rigidity”, the Rev Marcel Manoel noted
in an address last week to the executive committee
of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which
groups 75 million Protestants worldwide.
Since the separation, there has been
an immense growth of Islamic followers and the
proliferation of new religious groups. Though no
official national statistics on religious
affiliation has been carried out, Muslims are
reckoned to account for between 5 and 10 per cent of
France’s 60 million population.
Official reports from the Old
Catholic Church in Europe show a major increase in
growth of those answering the calling to become
priests, especially with the shared view of the
Reformed Churches in permitting women to become
ordained clergy.
Archbishop Gary stated that
“Christian Evangelical groups are viewed by French
authorities as being dangerous sects, with several
African churches suspected of political scheming”.
“The message we must carry to the
Government of France is simple” said Archbishop Gary
“the harmony of the Church Universal, the Body of
Christ, will support the understanding of
diversities of Reformed Churches and carry the
banner that we are all one in Christ”.
The Old Catholic Church of Great
Britain which is in Communion with the Free Catholic
Church of Europe is a growing federation of Old
Catholic Churches and has taken up the calling of
Christians from smaller French church denominations
to help combat the issues via the Archbishop’s
personal crusade “Doing Hard Time for God!” which
raises global awareness of Christian persecution |
