“After decades of insults against the Church, how can we be surprised at the action taken?”

Marc Eynaud is a journalist at Current Values and columnist for the CNEWS channel. He is the author of Who wants to harm Catholics? Fires. Desecrations. These facts that we don’t want to see (Editions Artège, 2022) and His life for mine (Editions Artège, 2024).

LE FIGARO. – This Monday, the church of Saint-Omer saw its roof and bell tower completely destroyed by an arson attack declared earlier in the night. The prosecutor is considering at this stage a criminal qualification of the facts, for “destruction of property by dangerous means on grounds of religion” . Is this type of act isolated?

Marc EYNAUD. – Absolutely not. The profile of the main suspect is also extremely revealing, since this is his fifteenth criminal act. His heavy past as an arsonist specifically targeting churches makes the description “destruction due to religion” pretty obvious. Every year, dozens of churches are destroyed or burned. One might assume that the cause is generally accidental, but the figures largely contradict this hypothesis. The Lavoue laboratory, which specializes in disaster management, has handled 35 such cases: in 71% of cases, they were criminal. Not only are these cases numerous, but they are also increasing.

In your work Who wants to harm Catholics? you explained that if the anti-Christian acts “mean nothing in isolation” ils “highlight a fight of unprecedented violence” when we put them together. How many similar events take place in France each year? What are the root causes?

We must reason in the same way that we analyze news items related to insecurity: when we take them in isolation, they are indeed news items. But when we examine them together, we realize that this is a fairly global social phenomenon. In 2023, 27 churches were burned down according to the Religious Heritage Observatory; since the beginning of 2024, 12 have already been recorded.

Several factors are at the origin of this phenomenon. First, churches are the most numerous places of worship in France: there are approximately 50,000 buildings, which is considerable. Added to this is a notable dechristianization, characterized by a significant decline in religious practice. Correlatively, surveillance is decreasing in certain places of worship that are relatively unfrequented. However, they remain mostly open since the specific character of a church is to be open to all.

If, for years, criticism, insults and even unanimous condemnation have been directed at an institution, how can we be surprised that it leads to action?

Marc Eynaud

The attacks on Catholicism are not only material…

Indeed, if the first two factors are not insignificant, the real understanding of the problem lies in the violent anti-Christian offensive that is raging in France. This charge is above all cultural: there are countless mockeries, sallies, and acts of intellectual hatred against Catholics. Likewise, the judicial guerrilla warfare waged by associations such as Free thought or the Human Rights League who, in the presence of the slightest Christian sign in public space, invade the administrative courts to wage a real war against Christians.

Thus, the phenomenon of massive dechristianization such as it had never been seen since the French Revolution explains not only that we are moving away from the religious fact, but above all that we no longer know it. And this, coupled with a more general loss of reference points. Rémi Brague explained precisely in the columns of Figaro that there is nothing left to desecrate, for want of any sacred thing capable of serving as a target. It must be noted that churches, in people’s imaginations, are perhaps the last part of the sacred remaining in France.

In your book you quoted Charles Péguy: “We must always say what we see. Above all, we must always, which is more difficult, see what we see. “, and deplored a lack of indignation in the increase in desecrations against Catholics. How can this be explained? Have you noticed a change?

This is only getting worse as the years go by. Take the example of the young influencer who filmed himself twerking in a church a few years ago. This case is revealing, since he justified himself by saying that the Church would be homophobic, reactionary and would spread hatred. A telling example of generations bottle-fed on anticlerical ideas for years, no longer having any perspective and for whom twerking in a church has become normal.

Such an antagonistic discourse towards Christianity and, more broadly, towards Christian philosophy could only encourage these acts, if not legitimize them. The procedure is reminiscent of that of La France Insoumise, which claims that Hamas is not a terrorist organization and sometimes legitimizes its attitude towards Israel. Indirectly, this communication can encourage the endorsement of anti-Semitic acts committed in the name of the Palestinian cause.

The logic is equivalent for what concerns anti-Christian acts: if, for years, criticism, insults and even unanimous condemnations are addressed against an institution, how can we be surprised that there are acts? When far-left anarchists regularly tag churches with slogans such as “The only church that lights is the one that burns” or even “neither God nor master“, it is natural that this has an inciting power. We no longer count the cut-up calvaries, the ransacked churches, the decapitated statues, logical result of a hostile ambient climate.

Also readIn Saint-Omer, in the ruins of the burnt church

And among Catholics themselves?

There is a generational problem among Catholics. The older generation, and from a stronger The current bishops, have known the country as a Catholic majority, and still consider themselves predominant among the spectrum of religions. According to them, the Church does not have to see itself as a persecuted minority with demands.

Conversely, the younger generation is much more vindictive because they were born Catholic in a country where this religion had become a minority. The clergy still behaves as if Catholicism were the majority, and does not see the point in protesting these acts. Some say that we should not make waves, because if we start talking about it, it risks giving ideas to the other and adding fuel to the fire. In this, the clergy shows a kind of wait-and-see caution.

Several priests told me that they had been vigorously reprimanded by the police during criminal acts in their church because they did not want to file a complaint. The logical consequence: recidivism. And this is because for years, we have been tempted to approach the problem from the wrong angle, leaving a generation that fears its shadow to keep its identity secret and refuse to defend itself.

Also read“All the reception sites are full!”: Spiritual retreats are all the rage among young Catholics

For a long time, a form of moral prohibition seemed to tacitly protect places of worship. How can we explain that it seems to have disappeared? What does this say about the place of Christianity in France?

Two or three generations ago, if you asked an anticlerical to recite his “Hail Mary” or his “Our Father“, he could still recite these prayers by heart.

Despite a background of anticlericalism, people knew about Catholicism in the time of our grandparents. The vast majority of them were baptized at birth and were immersed in a rather Christian environment. Now, entire generations have never been made aware of Christianity or rubbed shoulders with Catholics. Without this knowledge, it is normal that today, entering a church and desecrate the tabernacle has lost its gravity.

The new generation no longer has an affinity with the sacred. This can be explained by 20 years of anti-Christian political thought, which considers the mockery of Christianity to be something common and has become an atavistic reflex.