Monday, May 7, 2007
La Victoire est en nous!-France slightly slows its slide into moral oblivion
While it's not on the level of, say, Sam Brownback getting elected President of the USA, in the wake of tragic election results in Mexico and Portugal for Catholics, well, I'll take some international electoral wins where I can get them.
In this case, as I predicted about three years ago on my old blog, Nicholas Sarkozy has been elected the president of France. From a Catholic perspective, he is basically a Rudy Giuliani type. Still, for France, that is pretty darn good and there are some positives here. All-in-all though, this election is no major victory in the "Culture Wars," as we know them here in America. At least however, Mr. Sarkozy, will slow/stop the slide into moral oblivion in France. Sure a speed-bump is no bastion, but it's better than nothing, and who knows what good may come of it? Anyway, the good news...
1-Sarkozy is pro-American. This is very refreshing to see. With a strong man in power, France could be a valuable ally in the war on terror.
2-He stands for law and order. Since 1789, it seems, rioting is the preferred option in France, whether one is pushing for a Jihad or just a 30 hour work week. At least we can be confident that for the next few years, France will be led by man who won't let France turn into "Eurabia."
3-He opposes bringing Turkey in the EU.
4-He is not openly hostile to religion. Sarkozy In the he has even criticized France's draconian 1905 secularization laws, a real untouchable sacred cow in France, but one that needs to be delt with. Such hard-core secularism in France is actually creating major problems since rather than become part of society, France's Muslims feel pushed into a corner and fight back. Sarkozy took their side in a conflict over the right to wear their headscarves, this was a good move on his part. As the Pope says...
"...we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world’s profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology."
5-Sarkozy a Cafeteria Catholic himself, at least shows some respect for Catholics...
-"In a country where politicians rarely mention faith, Sarkozy openly professes admiration for the late Pope John Paul, says he prefers lively African Sunday mass to French priests' boring sermons and name-drops about his talks with French cardinals...
-"The message Nicolas Sarkozy has been sending to Catholics, throughout the campaign but especially in recent days, seems to have been well received," the Catholic daily La Croix wrote...
-"Sarkozy said he would help Catholic schools overcome state limits and get more teachers. He also opposed gay marriage and said the state should not subsidize mosques, as Muslims want."
Sure he is just throwing us a bone, so to speak, but it's better than the open hostility from the socialist camp.
5- Things could have been a lot worse had Ségolène Royal, who is living in sin, refusing to marry the father of her four children, rose to power. Consider her tendency to attack the Pope almost every chance she gets...
"Royal broaches themes that are anathema to the Vatican...Royal saves her full broadside against Pope Benedict for a question about his remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in Germany last September...(She writes) 'Later, the Inquisition and the bonfires on which thousands of women accused of sorcery were burned did not testify especially well to the harmonious marriage between Christianism and Reason. The same goes for the Wars of Religion that bloodied Europe.'"
Mr. Sarkozy may be far from the model of a practicing Catholic, but at least he ACKNOWLEDGES the existence and importance of Europe's Christian history, he doesn't deny it or attack it.
6-Unlike his opponent in the Socialist Party, Sarkozy will not legalize gay marriage, though with the civil unions and such in France, it is pretty much defacto legal already, at least the word marriage is preserved and the door is open to its sanctity someday being restored someday.
7-Sarkozy is not French. Well OK, he is French, but he is of Hungarian decent. France is always at its most powerful when NOT led by Frenchman, remember Joan of Arc (French-Woman), Napoleon (Corsican).
8-I cannot emphasize this enough, IT COULD HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE!
Please say a prayer for President Sarkozy, for I think, deep down, he is a good man who understands history, and the difference between good and evil. If he makes a conversion of heart on some issues he could even become an orthodox Catholic. He is in a position in which with a little faith and courage, he can do great things for France, Europe, and the world.
For a Catholic counterpoint to all this, keep your eye on this blog, I have a feeling some pro-Socialist commentary is on the way.
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1 comments:
great coverage!!