What will France look like in five years? Ten? And remember: while all this has been going on, those who want to preserve France’s heritage and culture have been smeared as “racists,” “xenophobes” and “Islamophobes.” Now what is to come can be seen plainly, and what force is there that can head it off?
“Why France is losing one religious building every two weeks,” by Solène Tadié, Catholic News Agency, May 4, 2021:
One religious building is disappearing in France every two weeks.
That is the conclusion of Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Observatoire du patrimoine religieux (Observatory of Religious Heritage) in Paris.
He is raising the alarm in the French media about the gradual disappearance of religious edifices in a country known as the “eldest daughter of the Church” because the Frankish King Clovis I embraced Catholicism in 496.
Lamaze’s appeal for increased awareness came after a fire destroyed the 16th-century Church of Saint-Pierre in Romilly-la-Puthenaye, Normandy, northern France. The fire, deemed accidental, took place on April 15, exactly two years after the blaze that devastated Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris….
Lamaze told CNA in an interview that in addition to one religious building disappearing every two weeks — by demolition, transformation, destruction by fire, or collapse — two-thirds of fires in religious buildings are due to arson.
While these statistics include buildings belonging to all religious groups, most of them concern Catholic monuments, which still represent a large majority in France, where there are roughly 45,000 Catholic places of worship.
“Although Catholic monuments are still ahead, one mosque is erected every 15 days in France, while one Christian building is destroyed at the same pace,” Lamaze said. “It creates a tipping point on the territory that should be taken into account.”
Lamaze believes that on average more than two Christian monuments are targeted every day. Two-thirds of these incidents concern theft, while the remaining third involve desecration.
According to the most recent figures from France’s central criminal intelligence unit, 877 attacks on Catholic places of worship were recorded across the country in 2018 alone.
“These figures have increased fivefold in only 10 years,” Lamaze said, noting that 129 churches were vandalized in 2008….
Currently, 5,000 Catholic buildings are potentially in danger of disappearing.
Apart from the growing hostility to which they are subject, these religious sites are also suffering from deep negligence on the part of public authorities….
He explained that only 15,000 Catholic sites are officially protected as historical monuments, while the other 30,000 buildings are practically left to decay.
Lamaze argues that another significant and emblematic example of the mismanagement of this heritage is Saint-Ouen Abbey, a jewel of Gothic architecture belonging to the city of Rouen in Normandy.
“This abbey church is endowed with a ‘forêt’ [the church’s distinctive style of roofing] that is even bigger than that of Notre-Dame. It is a pure marvel and yet there is no alarm system of any kind.”
“It is another candidate for destruction. It is enough to make you cry!”
He continued: “Fires are also sharply increasing because buildings are more and more dilapidated, and this negligence also attracts a lot of thefts of paintings, statues, or gold chalices…”
Although French cathedrals benefit from a special status and are owned by the state, they have not been spared in the wave of fires that have hit Catholic sites in recent years. The blaze at Notre-Dame de Paris in 2019 was preceded by a fire at the Cathedral Saint-Alain of Lavaur in Tarn, southern France, and followed by fires at the cathedrals of Rennes and Nantes in 2020….
Tony Naim says
This is the immediate consequence of shrinking French population, which in turn is caused by wide birth control, high divorce rates, free abortion, vicious anti-Christian education in public schools driven at the governmental level by a robust anti-church policy for more than a century, especially by socialist governments.
The US is not far behind France in terms of government policy.
Against this back drop in the west, Muslims maintain strict adherence to their religion, which promotes a more respectful attitude to unborn life!
Raja says
Tony,
Your comment just about summarizes the Western government’s dilemma, wherein they have allowed the Left to destroy the nations from within for ages.
Wellington says
Succinct and accurate, Raja, in support of Tony Naim’s equally on point comment.
Jayell says
The dumbing down of the Christian heritage in the UK has been very apparent for years, from the toxic left wing propaganda of the BBC to the outrageous shenanigans of the C of E itself with its desecration of cathedrals (a giant funfair helter-skelter erected in the nave of Ely Cathedral, a blasphemous picture of the ‘Last Supper’ depicting Christ as an Afro-Caribbean on show at St. Alban’s Abbey just to please woke PC lobby etc., etc.). The pro-islam appeasement and propaganda is now becoming so obvious one needs to be blind not to see it, especially when the C of E acts out is so-called ‘ecumenical’ fraud with muslims, where it’s blindingly obvious that it’s just a sell-out. With the Establishment gone so rotten, it’s difficult to see how the situation can be saved in civilised fashion.
DavidR says
Imagine a star and crescent atop the Eiffel Tower.
Raja says
DavidR,
With all due respect I would not bother about these scenarios for the short term.
What the West needs to do strengthen freedom of expression and simultaneously expose the nonsense in Koran (which is replete). Put up the good fight against hyper Islamic propaganda by reversing most of Left loonie policies. Pretty much reverse everything (of Left polices) the Wise Tony has highlighted in the first comment. Encourage smaller groups to congregate in homes etc, the Church will surely grow exponentially and Islam the evil religion will run for cover and die a natural death. Iran and China are examples of mushrooming of house congregations.
somehistory says
A person occupies a home…several bedrooms, couple of baths, kitchen, dining and living rooms…
Just allow a couple of roaches to come in and stay a couple of weeks. If nothing is done, a couple of years later and the roaches have not only taken over, the people must move. Or tent as they do for termites.
mozlums don’t just move to a better place….they make the better place just like the old place and they are in a hurry. So, as they build their barracks…*forward forts*…they also destroy the property of their competition.
spiro says
Good comments on a very serious article
So as long as it’s not in my living room I don’t care
The french attitude apparently since nothing seems to be doing anything to stop this
At what percentage population does Islam enforce their law and France is done
Shouldn’t take to long
Wellington says
The fault here lies chiefly with a post-Christian and very stupid Leftist Western Europe and not with the centuries-long inveterate enemy of the West, i.e., Islam.
The enemy within invariably does far more damage than the enemy without. Islam is the enemy without, though increasingly becoming a secondary enemy within. The primary enemy within is the gigantic and moronic mistake which is Western Leftism. Only the stupid or the malevolent could or would possibly assert otherwise.
Andrew Blackadder says
islam teaches revenge, Christianity teaches forgiveness.
When muslims see no reaction for their violent acts towards us, then they see this not as an act of forgiveness but they see this as a weakness on our part, and that is why they are laughing in our faces thinking the men in the West are all sissy boys.
A few years ago as I sat drinking Tea at a street stall in Malaysia with an old Indian buddy, a young muslim kid, about 18 years old, appeared,his older brother was friends with my buddy, so after the usual,where are you from etc, this kid asked me if it was true that all the men in the West were all homosexuals,of course I laughed, and then noticed the kid wasnt, so I asked him how did he even think such a thing…He was puzzled at my reply, and then he said, “Well it looks like you guys dont seem to stand up for what you believe in”…
Good point kid, good point…
muslims ONLY understand revenge, it is written in their hate filled book, which I use as a Door Stopper in my house.
mccode says
Very accurate assessment.
Western Leftism is so ignorantly stupid of its own failings.
OLD GUY says
Open borders to islam is the suicided of your society and country. Europe has made a huge mistake by allowing the open migration of the Islamic people into their countries.
It is just plain stupid for the rest of the western, christian world to follow down the same road to destruction.
It appears that the Islamic leadership has been able to secure a fair number of our political leaders to do their bidding. Resulting in open borders to the muslim/islamic invasion of our countries. Many of our political leaders are not protecting us, but are doing the bidding of our enemeis, this is not going to end well.
Walter Sieruk says
The Islamic conquest of France as well as of the other countries Europe doesn’t necessary always have to be engaged in by the means of the violent and deadly jihad.
The Islamic takeover of the European nations may be accomplished , in part, in the form of Muslim proselytization of the European people into “The House of Islam.”
As explained by William Wagner in his book HOW ISLAM PLANS TO CHANGE THE WORLD .Which informs the reader n page 195 “Of all the continents of the world, Europe is probably the number one target by Muslim strategist who are seeking world dominance.”
Therefore, the Europeans would be wise to be on guard.
James Lincoln says
A memo to French leaders,
The Polish government had been approached recently by Saudi Arabia regarding building a mosque in Warsaw, Poland.
The Polish government responded by saying that it would be okay if a cathedral could also be built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Crickets from Saudi Arabia.
ALL Western country should use this approach…
Infidel says
James, given the most recent developments in that country, today I wouldn’t be surprised if Saudi Arabia allowed a church to be built. Although they may still balk at one being built in Mecca or Medina