Prayer Alert
Faith under Fire in France

French Secret Police Begin a Scrutiny of Evangelical Christians

(This article was published in April 2002.  Since that time, significant changes have occurred in the government's positions and policies.  Read an updated report here.)

Preaching the Gospel in France is becoming an increasingly dangerous task. The French National Assembly has adopted a controversial new law in an effort to control the activities of religious and spiritual groups. International human rights groups have condemned the law as anti-democratic and anti-religious.

Catherine Picard, a member of the French National Assembly, is one of the authors of the new law. She states that the goal of the legislation is to prevent groups of a “cult-like character” from using “psychological and physical” pressure to recruit and retain followers. “With this new law, at no time can anyone manipulate someone by forcing them to join a group,” explains Picard.
 

Section I of the anti-cult law makes “mental manipulation” a crime. Anyone found guilty of causing: “a state of psychological or physical subjection resulting from serious and repeated pressures or techniques designed to alter judgment” faces five years imprisonment. Courts can dissolve religious groups and impose heavy fines.

The problem comes in the definition of a “cult.” A commission formed to investigate the cult movement in France has presented the French parliament with a list of a 172 groups considered dangerous. Among those implicated -- Baptists, Charismatics and Evangelicals, along with Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Scientology. While the United Pentecostal Church is not specifically cited on the list, our churches could easily be targeted as a result of a growing intolerance and discrimination.

While France proudly touts its motto: “Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood,” Picard has this warning for proselytizers: “Proselytizing is not authorized by the French government. When religious groups talk about having the right to proselytize -- the local government may authorize such activities but in reality such practices are illegal.”

It appears that Picard’s warning is no empty threat. Using the equivalent of America's FBI, the French secret police have begun monitoring the worship services of minority religious groups across France, including the nation’s largest Charismatic church, located in Mulhouse.

“In my opinion, the goal of this law is the completion of the French Revolution-- the eradication of religion in the life of the public in France and the opening of the door for a purely secular society,” says Joel Thorton of the European Center for Law and Justice based in Strasbourg, France. Thorton fears the anti-cult law could even criminalize evangelism by deeming it an exercise in “serious and repeated pressure.”

“This law puts a person, who has a sincerely held religious belief that they need to work to convert people to their religious beliefs, at odds with the government almost from the moment they begin to evangelize people in public or in private,” Thorton points out.

Other elements of this new law include a ban on advertising or opening religious centers near schools, hospitals or retirement homes. Churches that traditionally help the down and out run the risk of being criminally convicted. Targeting the youth is also illegal. Children's ministry or Sunday school can be seen as “influencing minors.” Working with the elderly can interpreted as “preying on the vulnerable.” A time of prayer and fasting could be viewed as “deprivation of food and sleep.” Christians in France could soon face the real threat of criminal prosecution for simply sharing their faith.

Please pray for our Missionaries, Pastors and Saints in France. It remains to be seen how this legislation will be enforced, or what the outcome may be of various litigation against it. Regardless of these outcomes, this legislation reveals a growing wave of religious intolerance and spiritual opposition that Christians face in France.