France: a preview of the future America?

Martha Jean (my wife) and I just returned from a mission trip to Paris, France. Mike Gravette, Georgia Baptist Convention specialist for Mission Volunteers, coordinated the trip stateside with considerable help from International Mission Board missionaries Keith and Deborah Grimaud, who live on the outskirts of Paris near Versailles.

Also making the trip to France was contemporary Christian music artist Babbie Mason and her husband, Charles. An entourage of six young adults, known as Destiny Praise, also accompanied us. Their sweet spirit was evident throughout every step and stop on the trip and they constituted about the finest musical ensemble this side of glory. And, indeed, Babbie and company sang the glory of God down from heaven to earth.

However, what we saw in Paris seemed to be a sobering preview of what America is quickly becoming. France is secular to the core. Beautiful cathedrals are scattered across the landscape and church bells signal each hour of the day, but evangelical Christians constitute only one half of one percent of the population.

Christianity is looked upon with disdain by some and disregarded by others, therefore Christians have little or no voice in the public or political arenas of France. Indeed, many Christians seem to be so intimdated by the culture and the devil that they blush to speak His name. Yet, there is an incredible mysticism about Paris and a spiritual potential unlike anything I have witnessed in my lifetime.

Michel de Montaigne said, "I never rebel so much against France as not to regard Paris with a friendly eye; she has had my heart since my childhood ... I love her tenderly, even to her warts and her spots. I am French only by this great city; the glory of France, and one of the noblest ornaments of the world."

Having now been to Paris I have seen her chief enchantments - the Seine River with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumphe and the Champs Elysees. I have seen the lights of Paris from the elevated town of Saint Germaine-en-Laye, but I have seen the darkness as well.

It should not be surprising that France, greatly influenced by the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire, is a secular, godless society.

Rousseau, born in Geneva, Switzerland, moved to Paris in 1742 at thirty years of age. Rousseau believed that man is good by nature and was one of the first modern writers to seriously attack the institution of private property, and therefore is considered a forebear of modern socialism and Communism.

Voltaire, known as the undisputed leader of the Age of Enlightenment, was a humanist and an atheist. He deplored institutional religions and considered the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Trinity to be absolute nonsense. He was also a proponent of religious and social tolerance.

More than 200 years after the death of these men France is reeling spiritually and morally from their influential writings and philosophy. In fact, in 1905 a law was passed that stated that religious education at school was strictly forbidden and that no religious symbols could be placed in public places, including cemeteries. Although these laws were repealed in 1941, they were subsequently restored during the presidency of Charles De Gaulle after the liberation of France.

Recent developments indicate that secularism (laicite) in France has now more fully expressed itself. A law was passed in February of 2004 that forbids school students to wear any conspicuous religious or political signs or symbols, such as Christian crosses, the Jewish skullcap or the Islamic headscarf.

While France's aggressive moves against all but the most privatized forms and expressions of religion may be appalling to us, it appears we are heading toward the same kind of society with breakneck speed.

It is difficult to believe that in this land founded for the purpose of religious freedom we now have activist judges ruling against the public display of the Ten Commandments. It is almost unfathomable that a federal judge ruled on Sept. 14 that requiring students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance containing the words "under God" in public schools is unconstitutional. It is mind-boggling that some on the Judicial Committee seemingly oppose the nomination of John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court because they see him as a man of principle and conviction.

Yet, in spite of our rush toward becoming a secular society, I see great hope for both France and America. Why? First of all, God reigns! Secondly, revival is a real possibility for both nations!