Sébastien Fath is a historian and researcher at the CNRS, member of the Laboratoire Groupe Sociétés Religions Laïcités (EPHE-PSL / CNRS).
French society is faced with a great fear, as there has been periodically since the Middle Ages.
This anxiety-inducing cocktail today combines geopolitical (anti-liberal threat of radical Islamism), climatic (global warming) and environmental (Covid-19 pandemic) elements.
The first sovereign function of the state is to ensure security.
In a context of great fear, it is normal that the government wants to take a step up in the protection of the population.
The beheading of Samuel Paty and the Nice attack in October 2020 upset public opinion.
Evangelical Protestants, who represent around a million French women and men today, a little over 1% of the population, support this concern to secure society and strengthen the republican bond.
Long before the Republic stabilized for a long time, from 1875, certain French evangelical pastors were suspected of being dangerous democrats, distributing “
republican pamphlets
” (which could lead to the penitentiary).
Recall that in French evangelical churches, women voted and took part in decisions a century before the Republic finally gave them this right, in 1946.
Present for more than two centuries in France, evangelicals are experiencing strong growth.
It stems first of all from a dynamic of uninhibited evangelization, in all social circles, including among Muslims, in the city as in the countryside.
It is also based on French-speaking immigration from sub-Saharan Africa, the bearer of a postcolonial Christian zeal that intends to re-enchant an aging and secularized Europe.
These evangelicals of France, and not “
evangelists
”, a term as misleading as “
Catholic
”, today constitute the most dynamic branch of Protestantism.
Confidence has given way to concern, faced with a succession of ministerial slippages which cast suspicion on the evangelicals
They suffer, like their fellow citizens, from the prevailing social unrest.
In May 2017, they had given great confidence to the project of President Emmanuel Macron.
During the presidential campaign, the candidate Macron declared to the Protestant newspaper
Réform
e (edition of February 28, 2017): “
I promise neither happiness nor transcendence.
I leave that to religions.
Otherwise, they would be totalitarian projects.
"
It was thus clearly distinguished from the policies of secular salvation (cf.
François Hollande's “
French dream
” in his speech at Le Bourget in January 2012).
Protestants, but also many believers of other religions, particularly appreciated this accent, because for them, the State is not a secular Church.
The government and the administration are called upon to manage, as best as possible, a plural and republican society in which the civic body has the freedom to determine its commitments.
By their emphasis on personal choice, the contractual link and associative entrepreneurship, the Evangelicals were comparatively more sensitive than the Lutherans and Reformed to the discourse of freedom, devoid of political sectarianism, then developed by the new French president.
This is evidenced by the "
Protestant Survey
" carried out by the IPSOS institute in October 2017. It was found that 23% of the evangelical Protestants questioned supported the Republic in March (LREM), against 17% for the Lutherans and the Reformed .
A six-point gap that says a lot about President Macron's confidence rating with the evangelicals in 2017.
This confidence was also based on the assurance of a secular pact preserved in its balances.
A secularism supported by the evangelicals, from the beginning: let us recall that Francis de Pressensé, founder of the League of Human Rights and one of the promoters of the law of 1905, was none other than the son of the evangelical pastor , and senator, Edmond de Pressensé, pastor of the Taitbout chapel ...
Read also:
"Religious passion has escaped Protestantism and sets politics on fire"
Confidence has given way to concern, faced with a succession of ministerial slippages that cast suspicion on the evangelicals.
On December 15, 2020, the Minister of the Interior had nevertheless given pledges of goodwill towards the CNEF, the National Council of Evangelicals of France, which then celebrated its 10th anniversary.
In a conciliatory intervention, he affirmed in particular: "
being a believer often makes it possible to be a good citizen
".
What has happened since then?
On the occasion of the debates around the development of the law “
consolidating the republican principles
”, several small sentences targeted, in a sometimes clumsy, sometimes erroneous way, the Evangelical Protestants On January 10, 2021, Marlène Schiappa evokes on France 3 l 'use, among evangelicals (qualified in passing as evangelists, sic), of “
certificates of virginity
”, via an American influence.
However, the information given is false, and has aroused consternation, or amusement, among evangelical Protestants in France.
Contrary to ministerial comments, evangelicals overwhelmingly adopted the format of the 1905 law, probably more than 80%
Indeed, the use of certificates of virginity is foreign to the practices and doctrines of evangelical churches.
Remember that these Protestants also accept contraception without difficulty (unlike the prescriptions of the Catholic Magisterium).
They defend, of course, heteronormous and faithful sexuality, preferably in the marital context, but nothing to do with the “
certificates of virginity
” mentioned.
On January 23, 2021, in a special committee to the National Assembly, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, affirms: “
Today, we all see it, only the Protestant cult and the Israelite cult (...) have chosen the law 1905. While the Muslim worship, the evangelical worship, the Buddhist worship mainly went towards the law 1901, that is to say the mixed associations where, for once, the philosophy of the separation of the public and the worship is totally confused
”.
These are the remarks of the minister, for once, which are confused, and at least inaccurate.
In fact, on the one hand, evangelicals are part of Protestantism.
On the other hand, unlike the ministerial comments, they massively adopted the format of the 1905 law, probably at more than 80% (the CNEF goes so far as to put forward the figure of 90% of referenced associations).
On February 1, Gérald Darmanin then said on France Inter that "
we can no longer discuss with people who refuse to write on a piece of paper that the law of the Republic is superior to the law of God
".
By this clumsy expression which puts two different things on the same level, the minister drew reactions from all monotheisms, including evangelical Protestants.
To read also:
"Freedom of worship is not a categorial demand"
Finally, on February 2, 2021, at the Time of Pros on CNews, the Minister of the Interior this time evokes the "
evangelicals
" as "
a very important problem
".
The subject concerns foreign financing, and the minister refers to "
the soft power of foreign countries
".
These remarks are surprising in 2021, and seem to be wrong about the time.
They also awaken painful memories, at a time when Protestantism was denounced by nationalists as "
the party of the foreigner
".
There was certainly a time when certain actors of evangelical Protestantism were indeed able to be supported by the United States as a tool of soft-power against the Soviet threat.
The streak lasted for about forty years during the Cold War, particularly during the 1950s to the 1980s. But those days are long over.
Self-financing is the rule in the overwhelming majority of French Evangelical Churches, nourished by a self-management culture which is part of their identity markers.
Should we put on the same level limited funding, coming from democracies, with state funding like Saudi Arabia?
?
Not to mention that there is a world of difference between French-speaking evangelicals and their American counterparts in relation to politics, culture, food, wine consumption, the public-private gap, etc.
Moreover, should we risk putting on the same level limited private funding, coming from democracies like the United States, with State funding from Qatar or Saudi Arabia?
These Islamist petromonarchies are certainly lovers of French weapons and luxury hotels on the Côte d'Azur, but they are a priori more distant from republican ideals than America is ...
The minister's equivocal remarks do not eliminate all questions about the soft power led by the great powers, including China, via companies, the media, sport (PSG, owned by the Qatari state) and religions.
But the examination of the facts calls for reassessing downwards the "
very important problem
" (sic) mentioned by the minister about the French evangelical churches.
By their accumulation, these various ministerial slippages, backed by a bill that raises many questions, caused the concern of evangelical Protestants in France.
These concerns were relayed by the two main Protestant networks in the country, the FPF (Protestant Federation of France) and the CNEF (National Council of Evangelicals of France).
It is too early to hypothesize possible electoral shifts to be expected next year during the presidential elections of 2022, but a breach of confidence has occurred.
How to interpret these slippages of two government "
heavyweights
" (Ms. Schiappa and Mr. Darmanin), who navigate between error and confusion?
A religion on the rise in France
First level of analysis: what if there was no smoke without fire?
In other words, the evangelicals would be pointed out, because there would indeed be a separatist orientation within them.
Certain sectarian excesses that can be identified in some evangelical circles can support this hypothesis.
Abusive authoritarianism of the pastor, stifling social control, imprisoning or conspiratorial discourse .... These sectarian markers never go so far as to call for violence, but they justify vigilance, attentive to respect for freedoms.
The phenomenon is however limited.
The overwhelming majority of Evangelical Churches in France avoid these risks, in particular thanks to their systems of mutual validation and control "
from below
".
When things go too far, the faithful also have the freedom to leave: the turnover is important in these Churches.
Finally, against the
feared
“
separatism
”, it should be noted the great appetite of evangelicals for all-out associative involvement, like the international footballer Olivier Giroud, undoubtedly the most famous French evangelical today. hui, which is involved with the
Collectif Humanitaire Monaco
, the CHU de Grenoble, or the
Open Doors
association
in favor of persecuted Christians.
The 2017 Protestant Survey (IFOP) thus reports "
a much stronger commitment to charitable associations among Protestants, and especially among those who claim to be evangelical Christians
": 30% of associative commitment rate for evangelical Protestants surveyed by the IFOP, against a rate of 15% for all French people .... We are quite far from separatism and from the 'bocal Church' cut off from the outside.
The second level of analysis is the worrying lack of knowledge about religions on the part of our elected officials, including in government.
What if the approximations or errors of ministers Schiappa and Darmanin revealed above all an admission, involuntary, of religious incompetence?
We often talk about training religious representatives in secularism.
It would be appropriate to better train political leaders in religions.
The opportunity to remember that we cannot limit ourselves to knowing religions by what General Information (admittedly precious) or social networks (admittedly omnipresent) say about them.
Many quality works exist, produced by major research laboratories in social sciences which are the pride of France internationally.
Philippe Portier and Jean-Paul Willaime have just provided a new example with the publication of a very fine synthesis on religions in France (1).
But the circulation of knowledge is not taking place sufficiently.
We often talk about training religious representatives in secularism.
Very good!
It would therefore be opportune to better train political leaders, not only in secularism, but also in the religions that (re) make up our country.
This also applies to Islam, Buddhism, and even today Catholicism, sometimes grossly caricatured.
Evangelicalism represents at least one in four Christians in the world.
It has become the largely majority expression of Protestantism, and increasingly influences Catholicism (2).
It weighs heavily in the Francophonie, in particular via sub-Saharan Africa.
Good governance invites us to move away from caricatures or superficial glimpses, a source of wounds for those who are victims of repeated disparaging “little phrases”.
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Suspension of masses: "Christianity is not a religion of private conviction"
The third level of analysis suggests placing these successive slippages in the context of a diversion.
As if we were trying to over-focus on religions to avoid talking too much about other sensitive, but neglected aspects of the bill.
Evangelism is not the only target.
Islam is much more so, but also all the religious actors in the country.
The bill, and its presentation, convey a "
discourse of mistrust vis-à-vis the religious
".
It breaks with the French secular tradition, tells us the political scientist Philippe Portier (director of studies at EPHE).
This great specialist in secularism underlines that we are shifting from a “
minimal intervention of the State
” to a “
maximum
”
intervention
in religious affairs.
The fundamental principle of the separation of religions and the State is largely damaged.
Never, since the Vichy Regime, had there been such a questioning of the principle of separation of 1905. We certainly did not go so far as to put in place, as during the Dark Years, an official system of recognized cults. and unrecognized.
But it is implicitly in this direction that we are moving in the current project, via the obligation envisaged for associations law 1905, every five years, to assert their religious character to the prefecture, under penalty of 'to be dissolved.
The heavy state control over the organization of Islam also breaks with the principle of separation of 1905. Would Jaurès and Briand have recognized their secularism in this text?
I do not think so.
By hysterizing the debate on religions, this bill diverts the gaze of public opinion on issues that are nevertheless equally important (but neglected in the law) in the fight against separatism: social diversity, education, and the question links maintained with the Wahhabite petromonarchies of the Gulf.
To avoid giving the impression of looking only in one direction, other religious threats are pointed out.
Finally, the last level of analysis amounts to raising the question of the need, in order to validate the law, for an “
egalitarian guarantee
” (expression used by the CNEF).
Since 2015, France has experienced 25 deadly jihadist attacks on its soil, causing the death of 263 people.
No other religious radicalism presents, even from a distance, the same results.
In fact, the law on separatism aims to respond to a specific threat, jihadist political Islamism.
But to avoid giving the feeling of looking only in one direction, other religious threats are pointed out.
This is where evangelical Protestantism would come into play, as an alternative rhetorical element to embody the figure of the threat.
Basically, the intention is legitimate.
The principle of equality is the basis of the Republic.
Targeting a single religious radical is not very republican.
The problem is, in reality, THE reason for this bill on separatism is to respond, in an emergency, to a specific violent and fanatic threat.
This threat, tangible and repeated, is not the Islam of France as a whole, which obviously deserves the same secular, tolerant and republican gaze as the other religions.
It is even less on the side of Christianity that we find it.
It is indeed that of terrorist jihadism, which thrives on the networks of a political Islamism hostile to liberal democracy, and feeds on the “
separatist
”
fractures
of our society.
Wanting at all costs to find other "
egalitarian guarantees
" within religions amounts to maintaining confusion, casting an increasingly generalized suspicion on religious actors who do not ask for so much.
And who also very often participate in diversity, social ties and education in values.
So many resources to keep the Republic alive.
(1) Philippe Portier and Jean-Paul Willaime,
Religion in contemporary France, between secularization and recomposition
, Armand Colin, 2021
(2) See Valérie Aubourg, Réveil catholique,
Evangelical loans within catholicism
, Labor et Fides, 2020, and Pierre Jova & Henrik Lindell,
How to become more catholics ... by drawing inspiration from evangelicals
, ed.
by Emmanuel, 2020.