Legislative elections 2024. Christians speak out
As the legislative elections approach, Christians are mobilizing. While a column against the far right signed by 6,000 young people was published by the newspaper “La Croix”, the Conference of Bishops of France calls for “democratic responsibility”.
On the list, the names follow one another by the thousands. Among the signatories: no less than 70 priests, hundreds of young people involved in Christian associations such as the Skirt Committee, the Chemin neuf Community, the Dorothy café… The newspaper The cross (which belongs to the Bayard group like Pilgrim) published on Tuesday June 18, 2024, a column signed by 6,000 people calling on Christians to block the National Rally (RN).
In fact, according to the Ifop study for The cross published the day after the European election, Catholics voted 37% for the National Rally and 18% among regularly practicing Catholics (going to mass at least once a month). In addition, 6% of Catholics voted for Reconquest! and 10% of regular practicing Catholics as well. The dissolution of the National Assembly announced the same evening by Emmanuel Macron caused surprise. The outcome of the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7 is particularly uncertain.
Faced with the silence of the Catholic institution, Christian associations therefore wrote a text entitled In the name of our faith, we will vote against the far right. The latter is introduced by a quote from the Gospel according to Saint Mark “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk 12:31). The text continues: “Faced with the difficulties of our lives, the crises our society is going through, it can be tempting to look for a scapegoat. The far right feeds our fear of a stranger who would put us in danger.”
The United Protestant Church wants to “block”
This forum calls on all Christians to take a clear position against the far right, mirroring the position adopted by the United Protestant Church of France. On June 13, the latter published a press release calling on believers to go to the polls in order to resist “the sirens of violence and inhumanity conveyed by the extreme right and the National Rally”. On RCF, the pastor and president of the National Council of the United Protestant Church, Emmanuelle Seyboldt, mentioned the history of Protestantism in France and insisted that rejection has never been a solution: “It is impossible to say that it is because of a part of humanity that we are in unhappiness: happiness is all humanity together.”
Bishops take a more neutral stance
Two days after the publication of the column, it is the turn of the Conference of Bishops of France to decide. Representatives of the Catholic Church called for prayer so that “our country may be a land of freedom, justice, fraternity.” A late and more neutral speech concluded in particular with “We, Catholics, will do so by drawing on the grace of God and in our faith in his salvation, to overcome fears, anger, anxieties and to be “peacemakers” and actors of social friendship.”