France is traditionally a Roman Catholic country. At the end of the 20th century, religion has been marginalised. People are turning away from Catholicism by the score, but what are they looking for?
In today's France, materialism is much in evidence. At all levels of society, people want to move up and have more. However, it has fostered frustration and emptiness and also guilt. The poor are left on the outside. So on the French TV news, the plight of the homeless always figures during the winter months. But apart from that, compassion is by proxy.
The politics of guilt and pity have become prominent in French society and fill the coffers of charitable organisations. 'Les Restaurants du Coeur', set up by Coluche, a much appreciated comedian who was killed in a motorbike accident, provide meals for the homeless and the deprived during the winter. For such organisations, people dig into their pockets.
The French might have a 'cartesian' image outside France, but at heart, they are really very sentimental. Is this the kind of situation where there is a chance that people might be open to biblical truth and God's compassion?
The relegation of religion
Good works on the horizontal level appeal to our fellow citizens, but when one moves to one's relation to God, the average French person tends to become distant and evasive. 'Religion' and 'church' are words which do not have good currency in France.
After the Reformation, Protestants were accepted for a time, then persecuted, afterwards liberated and finally given a legitimate place in French society. Protestants have a lot of pedigree as they have been the 'outsiders' and persecuted of society. People who are touched by human distress could perhaps be warmed by witness to the truth from a community which has suffered.
Protestantism has the great advantage of being 'not guilty' for all the superstitions and aberrations of the church over the last few centuries . . . including the collaboration of the Vichy government with the Nazis during the occupation.
The question is: can the Protestant churches in general use this opportunity for witness?
Religious practice
France has always been 'the elder daughter' of the Roman Catholic church. There is no doubt the majority of the 58 million inhabitants are of Catholic background, even if only a small percentage are practising Catholics. But the number of baptisms in the church has tumbled spectacularly over the last 30 years from 75% of the population to less than 20%. Rome no longer exercises the influence which once made it a force to be reckoned with in French society. The attitudes of Catholics themselves toward the church are very ambivalent. Attachment tends to be sentimental, but most Catholics do not hesitate to reject what the church teaches on subjects such as the infallibility of the Pope or birth control.
Islam, with around four million followers, is the second religion in France, far ahead of Protestantism. Numerically, its growth has been rapid owing to immigration and large families. These figures do not imply extensive Islamic practice although some 'open-minded' towns have financially contributed to the building of local mosques. The big problem on the political level is that in the suburbs of large towns, an 'under-culture' is forming, composed of adolescents who have no respect for the traditional republican values (ethics without religion), and who are becoming increasingly violent in their actions. Cars and buses are burned and supermarkets employ numerous security guards. As this minority comes of age in a society where they feel excluded from the privileges of materialism and where no work is available, they could form a seed-bed for Islamic radicalism or other forms of political extremism. In this respect, the future does not look bright.
Around 800,000, a small minority, in France say they feel 'close to' the Protestant ethos. Protestant practice is variable according to whether it is connected with the mainline Reformed or Lutheran churches, or with that of evangelical churches, which have been less numerous up until now but are gaining ground. In terms of statistics, evangelical and free churches have more enthusiastic regular attenders, particularly if one includes Pentecostal churches.
Have the churches had it?
Statistics often fail to give the whole picture! France is a country of great cultural wealth and diversity. Often it is difficult to find out what the situation really is in terms of numbers. Statistics cannot show people's hearts!
I think that the traditional, mainline churches - both Roman and Protestant - will go on for a while, perhaps 20 years (and longer in places like Alsace where church and society have very close links). They have investments in buildings, stocks and shares and the landscape of the country. But in terms of being living gospel communities, they are finished. The Roman Church will continue to have visibility because of its hierarchy. But we have to face the fact that in the next generation, France, on the level of its general population, will be a country without religion, and illiterate in terms of Christian belief.
The overall picture is of people who are rejecting Catholicism as an institution of the past, and do not tend to be open to other forms of Christianity. The churches are lumped together, and people look elsewhere in their search for compassion, social works and truth. Sources say that about three million people in France are involved in some form of oriental religious practice (yoga, meditation, etc.).
Interest in Protestantism
Much interest in Protestantism arose in 1985, the 300th anniversary of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. The 'Sun King' is certainly one of the villains of French history, as far as the gospel in France is concerned. The celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Edict produced the same public interest. Promulgated by Henri IV in 1598, this text allowed Protestants temporary liberty. People from different sectors of society expressed a pride in and an enthusiasm for Protestant values: freedom of individual conscience and responsibility are seen as bulwarks for defending personal liberty.
Historical and social visibility have given Protestantism influence beyond its numbers in French society, as is also the case for the Jewish community which is about numerically similar. Protestants have occupied, and still do, strategic places in politics and in commercial and intellectual life.
Where are Protestants at?
The mainline Protestant denominations, with about 400,000 (nominal) members, seem becalmed and will continue to diminish unless there is a remarkable spiritual renewal. This lack of vitality can be partly explained by the depopulation in areas which have been Protestant. Dispersion in large urban centres meant that many lost contact with the church. And the churches did not re-centre quickly enough. The city of Paris is a spiritual desert.
A deeper reason is that for many years now there has been a lack of solid biblical teaching in Protestant churches. Recently, the well-known philosopher Paul Ricoeur lamented the lack of theological knowledge among French Protestants in general. Many seem satisfied with an elementary knowledge of the Christian faith, even when they are well-advanced professionally. The results are lack of witness, embarrassment about the uniqueness of Christ and the exclusive nature of the gospel, a diluting of the biblical message in terms of universalism and a 'gospel' which ends up as more or less a form of humanism.
In this situation, the ecclesiastical organisations seek to maintain some semblance of unity and vitality in a spirit of tolerance and openness which, all too often, hides a lack of conviction.
Evangelicalism . . .?
The evangelical and free church movement, on the other hand, show signs of life, and not just in its charismatic or Pentecostal expressions.
Billy Graham's 'Mission France' in 1986 produced some good side-effects, as evangelicals became more aware of their identity. However, this movement is not without its inherent problems: a lack of unity and the danger of neo-evangelicalism. Over the last few years, there has been an increasing tendency for evangelical denominations to co-operate with the mainline churches in the Protestant Federation of France (which is predominantly pluralistic in theological orientation), with the danger of compromise. In independent congregations where there has been steady growth, this has sometimes been because of appeal to 'people groups' such as people from the West Indies or those of gypsy origin.
The Pentecostal churches have done an admirable amount of evangelism and built churches which touch the working classes unreached by the mainline Protestant churches.
From now on . . .
No church, evangelical, Pentecostal, or other can live without teaching. That is why, in France, more people are looking for something solid.
And this is where Reformed theology in France can play a big role. Those of us who are biblical Calvinists can contribute something solid. Reformed texts which were not available are again being published. When they get to know these texts, these people love them!
When people who have found Christ find the doctrines of grace, explosive things can happen. Our hope is that God will send a new reformation to France which will bring a light as strong in the new millennium as that which shone in France 400 years ago.
Paul Wells
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