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In demographic terms, Evangelicalism in France amounts to a third of all French Protestants.
In terms of practicing Protestants, however, the rate is very different. Around two thirds (if not three quarters) of practicing Protestants in contemporary France are Evangelicals.
But lots of research still needs to be done in order to know better these French born-again citizens.
Guess on what device St Peter checks entries in Heaven? If it's an iPad, we have another confirmation of Steve Job's supernatural powers...
The death of Steve Jobs (1955-2011), founder of the Apple Brand and digital genius, has everything to fascinate observers of contemporary religion.
If you are blessed enough to read French, please click here to check out my French-speaking blognote. It you read English only (nobody's perfect), please read Andy Crouch's excellent analysis of Steve Jobs as a secular prophet (Wall Street Journal).
After a year-long process, let me proudly announce that La nouvelle France protestante (The New Protestant France) will be released this month!
In this big volume, written by 22 contributors, the whole new French protestant landscape will be described at length, with maps, data (including a big global IFOP survey), in-depth analysis.THis "must-have" is published by Labor-et-Fides, a strong Swiss-based publisher.
Let's mention a very exciting Conference about religions and brands.
In my 2008 book devoted to the study of megachurches, I had noticed that branding strategies could interfere with religious motives, especially in some big megachurches.
This Lausanne Conference, held from the 13th to the 15th of October, 2011, will put some fresh light on this questions. The title of the Conference is : "Religions as Brands – The Marketizalisation of Religion and Spirituality". It will include some remarkable speakers as Steve Bruce, Laurence Iannacocone, Philippe Simmonot and Roger Finke.
Who knows Christine Lagarde?
In France, everybody knows her for sure, as she served as an able and hard-working Finance minister for 3 years. But the world still needs to get more familiar with the new head International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she replaces…. Another French politician, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, currently facing criminal charges in New York.
On the 14th of June, 2011, I've had the priviledge to be part of an international conference jointly organized by my French research team (the GSRL) and Washington University (St Louis, USA).
My topic was: Regulating religion in the Parisian area. You want to know more? Here is my PDF draft paper (sorry, you won't see the Powerpoint presentation, but there was one also).
S.Fath, Regulating religious diversity in the Parrisian area.pdf
It is a preliminary document which will need to be revised, improved and extended.
Immigration becomes more and more controversial in aging Europe.
Even France, often self-described as "the hotbed of Human Rights" (French Revolution, blablabla), is currently facing the growth of extreme right wing party (with Marine le Pen, credited with 20% of vote intentions!).
Often described as a threat, migrants' rights are more and more at risk.
How do Civil societies react ? Including churches ?
Watching the French media, one of the many things that puzzles me during the current Arabic revolutions (from Tunisia to Egypt) is that in spite of the French decline, French language is still used by many (even by some in Lybia).
Why? Many strong historical reasons explain that. But there are also some more pragmatic reasons. I just found a quite well-documented article (published online in 2008) which explains pretty well why French language might remain "the most useful Second Language for English speakers".
In France, UK and whole Europe, severe cuts are announced.
How do the French and the Brits react to this time of sacrifice ?
Glory be to Schrank, everything is explained in one single drawing (see below).
I juste received an email from Jason Zuidema (Concordia University) and I want to share the good news: a manuscript on French Protestantism in Canada has been officially accepted by Brill.
Henry Gooren, the general editor, has officially accepted the manuscript into the 'Religion in the Americas' series.
I have recently discovered an interesting BBC page about French laïcité (particuliar French way to deal with Secularism).
Here is the link: BBC page on French Laïcité (secularism).
This page rightly emphasizes the importance of French History:
"Because of past precedent it is very easy for the French to interpret any strong religious views as a direct threat to their freedom and way of life".
Whoever wants to know more about the current state of French Protestantism should notice: a big Conference will be organized in Paris in 2010, from November, the 18th, to November the 20th.
The conference's title is : "French Protestantism : A restructured family". This conference is impulsed by the Protestant Federation of France (FPF).
I recently attended the annual ASR 2010 meeting in Atlanta (Georgia), a great US hub for social scientists working on religion.
Along with a few European scholars who were also present, I had the privilege to speak on my current research.
Just before leaving France to the ASR annual Conference in Atlanta (2010), it is more than time to revive this blog.
Just in case you have forgotten this blog's author, well, please have a look to this short updated CV.
I did it two monthes ago for the British academic public.
In a very cruel, unfair and misleading editorial, the New York Times criticized the French will to ban the Burqa in the streets (one should say the Niqab: full radical muslim face-covering veil). This editorial was published on January 26, 2010.
The title was: "The Taliban would applaud" (sic).
During the whole 2009 year, French Protestant have been celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, the French-born church reformer who inspired a movement that now has tens of millions of adherents worldwide.
No doubt that this Year's climax has been the huge Protestant Festival organized by the Protestant Federation of France (FPF) in Strasbourg (Alsace, Eastern part of France).
Lizzy Davies, a journalist from the Guardian, called me a few days ago to ask me some questions about French Evangelicals.
Unfortunatly, I was not in my home and I did not have the opportunity to answer in due time.
The annual United Nations Human Development Index has been released today (Monday 5th of October).
According to this index, based on such criteria as life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, Norway is the best place to live in.
French Baptist history goes back to 1820, giving the French the oldest unbroken history of any Baptist community on the European continent.
There were Baptist churches in France before Baptist churches started in Texas!
Last month, I had the priviledge to be invited by David W. Bebbington to a conference organized by the Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in Britain Project.
My topic was an exotic one: I spoke on Isle of Lewis (SCOTLAND), the last Calvinistic stronghold in Europe!
In a book published in 2004, I highlighted the fact that many French people just happen to see Black faces on the TV because of…. American movies.
Unfortunatly, this is still largely true today.
On the occasion of today's Billy Graham's 90th Birthday...
"Billy Graham is without a doubt the most global American evangelist of the twentieth century. Supported by the BGEA, an evangelism multinational, he travelled the five continents for over half a century.
It is no surprise that Continental Europe has been one of the main targets of his outreach. Isn’t Europe the world’s most secular continent?
What a landslide! Barack Obama could not have been more clearly elected on this 4th of November, 2008!
Even if around 90% of the French would have voted for him if they could have done so, make no mistake!!!
This is baaaaad news for many of my people...
With G.W. Bush as a US president, it was increasingly easy for us to feel superior...
You must have noticed that this young blog is currently coming back to life, after more than 6 months of hibernation.
Why?
The reason is simple: on a personal level, 2008 has been a very tough year (marked by grief).
The globalization process brings specific issues: who will control the dynamics of the global capitalist economy? Two famous authors, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, emphasize in two well-known books, Empire and Multitude, that an imperial trend is currently working.
Its aim is domination, domination, and profit.
What about the religious factor? What about the role of Evangelicals in empire?
Did you think that since the Iraqi war, France and the US had nothing in common anymore?
Far from that.
I recently wrote in my French-speaking blog that our president, Nicolas Sarkozy, should not ignore the fact that the worldwide language is now GLOBISH. Which means : global English.
I criticized the fact that our president thought it would be useless to broadcast a French TV satellite channel in English. I stand in my positions. However, there is another side of the debate.
Our French President has recently drawn criticism after one of his speeches during his visit to the Vatican.
In front of the highest Roman Catholic Clergy, he emphasized the importance of the French "christian roots" (mainly Catholic), while he also pleaded for a "positive" version of "laïcité" (laicity, sometimes translated by secularism).
Both France and the USA do like to teach the World about values. These two great democracies share a common emphasis on universal rights, and it is no surprise if the world debate about the Iraqi war in 2003 turned around what France and what the US had to say.
How to explain that? By going back to History, particularly in studying the relationship between politics and religion in France and the US. This is what this new book is about.
In French, we describe a cliche or an extremely common topic as a «tarte à la crème» (cream pie). Sweet and familiar taste but difficult to digest.
In this regard, «Religion and Politics in America» is a typical «tarte à la crème». A very good (and important) topic, but hard to digest. Too many books, too many opinions, too many passions.
This particular book, however, deserves to be savoured more than others.