At a time when parliamentary life is experiencing the upheavals that we know about, yet another controversy is adding to the ambient confusion. If times were not so troubled, we would happily laugh about it. In short, you should know that in the second constituency of Marne, Laure Miller, outgoing Macronist MP, criticizes Stéphane Lang, her Gaullist opponent, stamped LR, for having affixed a cross of Lorraine to his posters. To make everything better, Charles Germain, a stakeholder in the “Propaganda Commission”, having written the words “rejected” on Stéphane Lang’s poster project, is also a member of Renaissance, the presidential party, and incidentally the husband by Laure Miller, who sees it as “a shameful political recovery. »
An elected official who falls from the clouds
Unsurprisingly, Stéphane Lang protests against this unexpected decision: “I’m amazed, it’s a scandal. How can an outgoing MP who represents Emmanuel Macron ask for the removal of this cross on the grounds that it is for religious reasons? While everyone knows that it is a republican symbol of Free France and the Resistance, which also appears on the logo of the presidency of the French Republic. This is a real state scandal! » Normally, a large part of the political staff does not need anyone to make a fool of themselves. Today, some seem to take evening classes to improve their skills.
Because if the Cross of Lorraine of course has eminently religious origins – it appears on the coats of arms of the Dukes of Anjou and Lorraine, but also on those of Hungary, Slovakia and Lithuania – this symbol, in France at least, now has a strictly political significance. Moreover, it is not very clear why personalities from the secular and secular domain would be able to define what is religious or not. And it is with a touch of mischief that we can reverse this argument: by asking an eminent religious personality, Abbot Guillaume de Tanoüarn, for example, for his opinion.
As a reminder, Hitler was not a Hindu
Which is not the first priest to come, since editor-in-chief of the periodical World & Life and author of around twenty theological works. Questioned by us, his first instinct is to burst into one of his legendary bursts of laughter, known to be contagious: “You teach me a great one!” They definitely don’t know what to invent anymore! Of course the Cross of Lorraine was a religious sign, but of course it is no longer one, since General de Gaulle made it the emblem of Free France, it has become a simple object of rallying policy. »
And the Celtic cross, another religious sign, emblematic of French nationalism in the last century? Our clerk recalls: “It is still seen in Irish cemeteries, where it retains its religious significance. But since movements such as Occident, Ordre nouveau or L’Œuvre française took over it in May 68, it has also lost its original meaning in France. Just like the Hindu swastika, taken over by the National Socialists, one might even add; knowing that Adolf Hitler was everything except Hindu! »
Obviously, Abbot Guillaume de Tanoüarn is more competent on this type of subject than poor Charles Germain, political commissioner in his spare time. But it is true that he and his wife, Laure Miller, also have their cross to bear: that of the Macronist heritage.
