Mais pourquoi la France?

Why France?

Why indeed?

Those of you who went with family/friends to CMS Summer School may be a little less surprised, but for the probable majority who never thought France needed the gospel – think again!

(Of course, if you've had a look at the links included in an earlier post, you'll have a better idea.)

Now for a brief lesson in French religious history.
WARNING: May be vague, contain errors or embellishments. May also contain traces of dairy, egg, nut, shellfish and wheat.

1. Ancient tribal stuff
2. Roman Empirical stuff
- ie their gods/hedonism/materialism
3. Christian
- presumably once Constantine got in power
4. ?????
5. Roman Catholic
6. Roman Catholic
7. Roman Catholic
8. Roman Catholic
9. [hmmm, this is beginning to sound like music at my old Chinese evening church, it's so repetitive]
10. Roman Catholic [hehe, gotcha!]
11. Revolutionary/Lawless/Anarchistic/etc.
- commencing with the downfall of the monarchy, the Reign of Terror, all that blood-soaked violent stuff
12. Republican (different versions) - LAÏCITÉ

LAÏCITÉ
"Laïcité" is basically the French version of secularism. It filters into most, if not all aspects of French life.

This often means that unless their parents are Christian, French children have much less exposure to the gospel than many Australian children attending, say, NSW public schools.

The average NSW public school (also called state or government school) - while intended back in the 1880s to be SECULAR, compulsory and free - has this adorable little loophole called Special Religious Education (SRE). As a result, until more recently, many public school students (esp. those in K-6/primary schools) went to some kind of Christian Scripture class as part of their school week. So many people grew up knowing something about God and the good news of Jesus (even if they only had little morceaux/bits of knowledge).

The average French primary school student is educated in a system where no SRE exists. Where no SRE has *ever* really existed. A system called école laïque/secular school. God-free schooling, perhaps.

This école laïque ideology follows French people's education into and through their years at lycée/high-school. And into university as well.

Friends who were Christians in your uni. years - do you remember your campus activities with ECU, EU, CBS, Credo, some other Christian student group?..

The O-Week stuff?
The walk-ups?
The postering?
The wearing of mission T-shirts during outreach week on campus?
The Bible talks and study groups you had in lecture and tut. rooms on campus?

In French universities, there is NOT this same kind of freedom.

When I used to help put up event posters for EU, we'd staple them up on various campus noticeboards, and maybe not until 3 hours later they would have been covered over with other clubs-and-society posters, or torn down. And then we always went back and put another layer on!

I understand that if one tried postering like that on a French campus, someone would rip the posters off right in front of you, and tell you flatly that university is no place for that kind of thing.

Did anyone apart from me say "Ouch" at that? I hope so.

So there's a little first-draft sketch of the French situation.

I hope I've given you some reasons for why France needs the gospel, I'd dare to say, even more than the English-speaking Western world.