Perilous
Times
The Muslim 'overtaking' of France - Islam on its way to
surpassing Roman Catholicism as dominant religion
Disclosure of the results of a study by the Hudson Institute,
which provides a framework certainly unprecedented in the
country's religious landscape
Vatican Insider Marco Tosatti Rome
In France there are more Islamic mosques being built, and more
frequently, than Catholic churches, and there are more practicing
Muslims than practicing Catholics in the country.
Nearly 150 new mosques are currently being built in France, home
to the largest Islamic community in Europe. The projects are in
various stages of completion, according to Moahmmed Moussaoui,
President of the Muslim Council of France, who provided this data
in an interview on August 2 with RTL radio.
The total number of mosques in France has already doubled to
exceed 2,000 in the last ten years, according to a research
entitled: "Building mosques: the government of Islam in France and
Holland." The best known French Islamic leader, Dalil Boubakeur,
Rector of Great Mosque of Paris recently suggested that the total
number of mosques should double, to 4,000, to meet the growing
demand.
Instead, the Catholic Church in France has only twenty new
churches built in the last ten years, and formally closed more
than 60 churches, many of which could become mosques, according to
research conducted by the French Catholic daily La Croix.
Although 64% of the French population (41.6 million people, out
of about 65 million inhabitants) are defined as Roman Catholic,
only 4.5% (about 1.9 million people) are practicing Catholics,
according to the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP).
Also in the field of comparison, 75% (4.5 million) of the
approximately 6 million Muslims of North Africa and sub-Saharan
Africa in France are identified as "believers", and 41% (about 2.5
million) claim to be "practitioners", according to a report posted
on Islam in France by the IFOP on August 1 of last year. Research
says that more than 70% of French Muslims claimed to have observed
Ramadan in 2011.
Putting these elements side by side furnishes empirical evidence
of the claim that Islam is on its way to overtaking Roman
Catholicism as the dominant religion in France. As the numbers
grow, the Muslims in France are becoming more assertive than ever
before. A case for all groups: Muslims in France are asking the
Catholic Church for permission to use its empty churches as a tool
to solve the traffic problems caused by thousands of Muslims who
pray in the street.
In a statement on March 1, addressed to the Church in France,
National Federation of the Great Mosque of Paris, the French
Council of Muslim Democrats and Islamist group called Collectif
Banlieues Respect asked the Catholic Church, in a spirit of
inter-religious solidarity, to allow the empty churches to be used
by Muslims for Friday prayers, so that Muslims "are not forced to
pray in the street" or "be held hostage by the politicians." Every
Friday, thousands of Muslims in Paris and other French towns close
roads and sidewalks (and consequently, block local trade, and trap
the non-Muslim residents in homes and offices) to accommodate the
faithful who are unable to enter the mosque for Friday prayers.
Some mosques have started to broadcast sermons and chants of
"Allahu Akbar" in the streets. These hardships have caused anger
and reactions, but despite many official complaints, authorities
have not intervened so far in fear of igniting incidents. The
issue of illegal street prayers reached the top of the French
political agenda in December 2010 when Marine Le Pen, the new
charismatic leader of the National Front, denounced the occurrence
"an occupation without troops or tanks."
During a meeting in the city of Lyon, Le Pen compared the Islamic
prayers in the streets to the Nazi occupation. He said: "For those
who like to talk a lot of the Second World War, we can also talk
about this problem (the Islamic prayers in the street, ed),
because it is an occupation of territory. It is an occupation of
sections of land, of districts in which religious law enters into
force. It is an occupation. Of course there are no tanks or
soldiers, but nevertheless it is an occupation and weighs heavily
on residents."
Many French agree. In fact, the issue of Islamic prayers in the
street – and the wider issue of the role of Islam in French
society – has become a problem of the greatest magnitude in view
of the presidential election of 2012. According to a survey by the
IFOP, 40% of the French agree with Le Pen that the prayers on the
street seem to be an occupation. Another poll published by Le
Parisien shows that voters see Le Pen, who argues that France has
been invaded by Muslims, and betrayed by its elites, as the best
candidate to address the problem of Muslim immigration.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose popularity was at 25%
in July, the lowest figure ever recorded for an incumbent
president a year before the presidential election, according to
TNS-Sofres seems determined not to be outdone by Le Pen in this
battle. He recently declared that prayers in the street are
"unacceptable" and that the roads can not become "an extension of
the mosque." And he warned that this could undermine the secular
tradition of France's separation of state and religion. The
interior minister Claude Guéant told the Muslims of Paris, on
August 8, that instead of praying in the streets they can use a
disused army barracks. "Praying in the streets is not something
acceptable, it must cease."