Another View of Marine Le Pen

Not everyone among the traditionalist French writers I read is unreservedly enthusiastic about Marine Le Pen. Catholics who have suffered the consequences of the 1905 law establishing "laïcité" see in her just another proponent of that law, rather than a candidate that at the very least recognizes the wholeness of France - monarchy and republic.

Here are some thoughts from Catholic writer Yves Daoudal on comments made by Marine Le Pen on December 9, 2010 (not the December 10 interview I wrote about recently). This article is drawn from Daoudal's weekly newsletter #108, available to subscribers. He starts by noting the uproar generated by her remarks on the Occupation, then quotes another remark that went unnoticed:

"I would like it to be written into the Constitution that the Republic recognizes no community, in order to reenforce the constitutional principle of laïcité."

Note: The words "laïcité" and "laïcisme" appear in the text that follows. A reminder that the former refers specifically to the law of 1905 separating Church and State. While the public sphere (the State) became non-religious, religion was relegated to the private sphere, with some exceptions, such as State funding for certain Catholic schools. "Laïcisme", on the other hand, is the ideology of Church/State separation, and those who adhere to this ideology ("laïcistes") believe it should become the norm for everyone. Such people may elevate their belief to the level of a crusade.

Some people will point out that this is not the first time Marine Le Pen has said this. No question. She has said it in many interviews. That's what I mean - no one ever comments on it. This is not about "laïcité", but combative "laïcisme". "Laïcisme" is already affirmed in the first article of the Constitution: "The Republic recognizes no religion..." When she adds that the Republic recognizes no community, she is drawing the most extreme consequences from one of the main flaws in the Declaration of 1789 and the law of 1905.

A society is not an aggregate of individuals. A society consists of... communities. It is not the individual that is at the base of society, it is the family. The family is a community, the first of communities. And families are a part of all sorts of communities. There is a Christian community, and now there is a Muslim community. Not to recognize the Muslim community, in the name of "laïcisme", is to refuse to face reality. This "laïcisme" will be as impotent in fighting Islamization as it has been in forcing the submission of the Church to the State.

In order to fight Islamization we must look things in the eye. First, a Muslim community exists. Second, it is a foreign community, something that the fiction of laïcité does not allow to be recognized. Foreign, that is, to the soul of France. But we have noticed with the years and decades that the more it is composed of "French citizens" as defined by the Republic, the more it is alien (they go back to North Africa or to Turkey to find a wife, or they learn Arabic or Turkish, or they support soccer teams from their home countries - and this is the third or fourth generation on French soil).

The Islam of France does not exist. Algerian Islam, Moroccan Islam, Turkish Islam, etc... exist, and are under the control of the country of origin (when it isn't the Muslim brotherhood or the Tabligh, etc...) It is visible that the more the Muslim community is Muslim, the more it is alien to France. (...) In all societies, a foreign community does not have the same rights as the native communities.

Note: The Islam of France was Nicolas Sarkozy's misbegotten project. He believed that a special brand of Islam could be created just for France.

Third, Islam is not a religion, but a political-religious ideology of totalitarian aims (which makes the Muslim community a hyper-community). You will not be able to fight Islamization by refusing to face reality, but by seizing the problem posed by the Muslim community, by opening your eyes to what Islam really is, and by proving to Muslims the overwhelming revelation of the personal love of God, which is the motor of all Muslim conversions.

But this is something only Christians can do. They had better wake up. Fast.

Readers of French can find similar reactions at the blog of Bernard Antony. Two posts deal with criticism of Marine Le Pen.

In the first, he criticizes her for taking a stand on the height of minarets, rather than stating a greater and more momentous truth - that Islam is not just a religion but a totalitarian ideology. Like Yves Daoudal, he does not believe that laïcité will triumph over Islam:

It is intelligence, reason and the revelation to Muslims of the Truth of the God of Love.

In the second, he is unimpressed by her unwillingness to change the Veil law on abortion, especially since she equates a change in the law with being backward.

Catholics will no doubt be debating her merits for a long time. Whether or not she gets the Catholic vote remains to be seen. Liberal Catholics will find her too "extreme" and traditionalists, as we have seen, have no patience with her progressive views.