Remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to repair church-state ties caused uproar

 

France24 2018-04-11 

The Catholic Church and the state were for centuries virtually indistinguishable in France but the 1789 Revolution and 19th century modernisation saw the two formally separated by a 1905 law.

Macron, who prides himself on tackling difficult issues head-on, told a meeting of bishops Monday that he hoped to repair relations with the Church through a "dialogue of truth".

"A president of the French republic who takes no interest in the Church and its Catholics would be failing in his duty," he said.

Former socialist prime minister Manuel Valls, who backed Macron for president in 2017, tweeted that "secularism is France".

"Secularism is the jewel in our crown. That is what a president of the republic should be defending," newly-installed Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said in a tweet.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, lead of the left-wing France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, said Macron's remarks were "irresponsible".

"Macron in full-on metaphysical delirium. Outrageous. One expects a president, one gets a little priest," Melenchon said in a tweet.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who is responsible for government relations with religious groups, said Macron's remarks reflected the need for greater spiritual awareness and did not undermine France's secular traditions.

"What he is saying is that for human beings, there is not only the material world but also the search for absolute values, for spirituality, to find meaning in life," he said.

"It is perhaps a new tone but in no way does it break with the great tradition of secularism."

Opinion polls show the French roughly split between believers and non-believers while the role and place of religion in the country remains sensitive.

Britain has reached new heights of secularization, with almost half of Britons now identifying as non-religious, a new study reveals.

17 May, 2017

Britain has reached new heights of secularization, with almost half of Britons now identifying as non-religious, a new study reveals.

According to ‘The “No Religion” Population of Britain’ report by Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, non-religious people, known as ‘nones’, account for 48.6 percent of Britain’s population.

Although there has been an overall trend towards secularization in Britain, the figures also show record numbers of people from non-Christian faiths, such as Islam and Hinduism.

The number of British people identifying as Christian dropped from 55 percent to 43 percent between 1983 and 2015. By contrast, non-Christian believers such as Muslims and Hindus quadrupled.

“The rise of the non-religious is arguably the story of British religious history over the past half-century or so,” Bullivant said.

“Looking at the long-term pattern, the non-religious share of the population has shown strong growth over our whole period,” the report states.

“The year 2009 was the first in which nones outnumbered all Christians put together.

“With the single exception of 2011, this pattern has held ever after. In two years, 2009 and 2013, nones formed a majority of the adult British population.”

However, the research, carried out with data from the annual British Social Attitudes survey and the biennial European Social Survey, also highlights how the falling number of worshipers with the Church of England seems to have stabilized.

Bullivant said patriotism might be driving this trend, as Christianity and Englishness tend to be conflated.

“People see Christianity as an expression of Englishness. There has been more rhetoric around Britain being a Christian nation,” he said, according to the Times.

“I suspect a larger proportion of people who do say they are Anglican tend to be patriotic.”

In 1983, the number of Anglicans accounted for 40 percent of Britain’s population. This dropped to 16.3 percent in 2009 before it slid back up to 17.1 in 2015.

The research also shows a spike in the number of ‘nonverts’, namely people who have been brought up believing in a certain religion, but who have turned to be non-religious.

Most ‘nonverts’ – more than six in 10 – are Christians, mainly Anglican and Catholic.

According to the report, most ‘nones’ have been brought up in Christian households; overall, a mere 2 percent of ‘nones’ have been raised in non-Christian homes.

The rate of people converting to non-religion was recorded as 14 percent for Jews, 10 percent for Muslims and Sikhs, and 6 percent for Hindus.

Bullivant pointed out how non-religion has stopped being an exclusive middle-class feature.
“It used to be middle-class people, who had gone to university, who were more likely to step out of their parents’ religiosity,” he said, as cited in the Guardian.

“As having no religion has become the norm, vast swaths of working-class people are now also identifying as nones.”     RT

Pope Francis: Atheists And Homosexuals Welcome In Heaven

Pope Francis’ progressive attitude toward non-Catholics and non-believers has shocked many followers of God since he took on the papal position. His inane desire to accept everyone for who they are, and not reject them for the label they carry, has drawn attention toward him in both positive and negative lights. He has openly declared that Catholic individuals who partake in a homosexual lifestyle are welcome in heaven and should be treated no different than their heterosexual counterparts. Now, in an announcement that has surprised many in the Catholic community, Pope Francis has declared that even Atheists are welcome into heaven, regardless of their non belief in god or religion as a whole.

Founder of La Repubblica, Eugenio Scalfari, wrote an article for his newspaper, openly asking Pope Francis whether the Christian God would openly accept a non-believer into his heaven, according to the Independent. Rather than ignore the article written from the non-Roman Catholic newspaper founder, Pope Francis chose to respond with an open letter to the paper and its founder, explaining what he believes God would say if asked the same question.

Rather than respond defensively, Pope Francis chose to keep his tone friendly and open for further discussion, claiming that those that do not believe in God are simply ignoring their conscience and that disbelief in something does not discount its existence.

“You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience.”

Pope Francis continued by stating that sin exists in all beliefs.

“Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience.”

Bustle summed up Pope Francis’ comments and stated that the existence of God is not a matter of belief or disbelief, but a matter of following one’s conscience.

“[Y]ou should at least follow your heart, if you’re not going to become Catholic, and that God will be cool with that.”

In other words, it seems as though Pope Francis is saying that one’s faith, or lack thereof, should not be the basis on which an individual is judged. Instead, his or her moral character, behaviors, and attitudes toward others, should be how an individual is judged. However, Pope Francis’ comments are not limited to religion alone, but also spread into an individual’s lifestyle.

Scalfari noted that Pope Francis’ comments further advance his position to unite everyone and open the world to real conversations that will hopefully lead to love and acceptance of all fellow men and women.

“… further evidence of his ability and desire to overcome barriers in dialogue with all…”

The dialogue Scalfari references goes back to July when Pope Francis openly accepted homosexuals into the Catholic church, advising that God loves and accepts them in the same manner as one with a devout heterosexual faith.

“If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord, who am I to judge him?”

His new remarks lend one to believe that it doesn’t matter whether an individual is a devout Catholic, homosexual, atheist, a member of ISIS, or any other living man or woman on the Earth. In the end, it all comes down to following one’s conscience. If God opens the doors of heaven to everyone, their earthly belief does not matter, he will still welcome them into his home.

Pope Francis has created an upheaval of the Catholic church since taking on the moniker. However, his openness to acceptance has opened dialogue that previously was suppressed. What are your thoughts on the Pope and his comments?     Inquisitor

Note: The only thing the pope forgot to mention was true repentance. Yes, God loves the sinner but hates sin. We can not live contemplating sin once God's grace has reached us. We need to come closer to God, let go self and begin to have a real experience with Him. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.   Matthew 9:13  KJV
By the way, the word "repentance" is missing in the new bible translations. 

Pope Francis assures atheists: You don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven

Michael Day

Milan

Wednesday 11 September 2013

In comments likely to enhance his progressive reputation, Pope Francis has written a long, open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, stating that non-believers would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences.

Responding to a list of questions published in the paper by Mr Scalfari, who is not a Roman Catholic, Francis wrote: “You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience.
“Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience.” 

Robert Mickens, the Vatican correspondent for the Catholic journal The Tablet, said the pontiff’s comments were further evidence of his attempts to shake off the Catholic Church’s fusty image, reinforced by his extremely conservative predecessor Benedict XVI. “Francis is a still a conservative,” said Mr Mickens. “But what this is all about is him seeking to have a more meaningful dialogue with the world.”In a welcoming response to the letter, Mr Scalfari said the Pope’s comments were “further evidence of his ability and desire to overcome barriers in dialogue with all”.
In July, Francis signalled a more progressive attitude on sexuality, asking: “If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord, who am I to judge him?”

Source:
The Independent