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| Europe |
| France may pay for new mosques to beat militants |
| 2003-01-17 |
| Islamic terrorism has forced France to reconsider one of its most fundamental principles, the separation of church and state. It is considering proposals to allow the state to fund the building of mosques, as part of a bold scheme to create a French version of Islam, rather than let France's second biggest religion fall further under the sway of foreign powers, notably Saudi Arabia. A spokesman said: "One cannot be opposed to the foreign financing of places of worship and at the same time do nothing about it." The Frenchies are smart people — seems they should be able to come up with some method of either forbidding it or tightly controlling it. Competing with the Soddies in suberting one's own country seems to be a dead-end street... The French state is not permitted to build places of worship under a 1905 law, the last of a series of anti-clerical measures passed around the turn of the century, but, since September 11, the government has been searching for ways to communicate with and control France's five million Muslims. Pierre Bedier, the minister responsible for property and building law, said: "In 1905, the government thought that Catholics were anti-republican and constituted a menace. Today it is Islam which poses this question. It would be unrealistic not to respond to this concern." So what'd you come up with, Pierre? There are 1,600 mosques in France but most are little more than a small room. But money from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states has been cascading into France for the funding of Islamic cultural centres and new mosques. The Grand Mosque in Lyons, for example, cost £3 million and was 90 per cent funded from Saudi Arabia. So the princies were kind enough to toss £3 million your way and you just couldn't pass it up? In many areas, local authorities try to foster better relations with Muslims by skirting the 1905 laws and giving them cheap rents or land. The only region exempt from the law is Alsace-Moselle, for reasons dating to the end of the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. This week, the leaders of a new nationally elected Muslim council were welcomed by President Jacques Chirac to the Elysee Palace. "Welcome to the palace. Please leave your firearms with the footman..." The council is similar to ones that exist for Catholics, Jews and Protestants. It gives Muslims a single body which the government can talk to on issues from education and work to mosque building and the harbouring of Islamic terrorists. Governments had been trying since the 1980s to create such a body but it took the terrorist threat and the new interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, to make it happen. At the end of last year, M Sarkozy forced France's Muslim leaders into meeting after meeting until they came up with a plan for a central council. Seems like it would have made more sense to disband the other councils, but that's probably just me... M Chirac told the council that in the past he regretted "there was no organised dialogue between Muslim representatives and the French authorities". He hoped that "the Islam of France and the Muslims of France" would "achieve the same status - with equal rights and duties - as all our other citizens". Ummm... It's not the same status they want, Bub... The 16-member council includes a wide range of Muslim opinion, from the westernised to leaders deeply hostile to the West. And what's the proportion? M Sarkozy has said he will do all he can to prevent foreign Muslim clerics from settling in France and preaching militant Islam. It'd be a real good idea to toss the ones you've already got, too... Police already keep a close eye on mosques which might provide cover for terrorists, such as the Abu Bakr mosque in Lyons. Its imam, Chellali Benchellali, an Algerian-born cleric, is the father of two men being held in connection with terrorist investigations. One was arrested last month in Paris, the other was taken by the Americans from Afghanistan to their Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. Obviously a really devout family... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 "In many areas, local authorities try to foster better relations with Muslims by skirting the 1905 laws and giving them cheap rents or land." Roll out the welcome wagon --- what an original idea for making the fifth column feel at home. Spelling word for the day: S-U-I-C-I-D-E. Maybe it's good that the French troops will stay home and not go to Iraq. They will be needed in the streets when we go in. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-01-18 01:18:31 |