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A patriotic march for French values and culture, and against radical Islam, was virtually blacked out by France's politically correct media. Over the weekend, protestors chanted against Islamic fascism and about the French victory over Arab invaders in 732 AD It was the first march of its kind in France. A broad coalition of groups from across France banded together because they feel they're losing their country to radical Islam, Sharia law, and a politically correct establishment that encourages the spread of Islam. ‘Sharia law is slowly being enforced in our country and we want to march here to protest that because our government is doing nothing,’ one French demonstrator said. France has more Muslims than any other European nation. Some believe there could be as many as 15 million Muslims in France, although the official figure is much lower.
Pray: tha,t despite the lack of response by the French media, the message will get to the people.(1Cor.1:18)
On 31st October, Francois Hollande’s cabinet will assess a draft copy of legislation which, if approved, would redefine marriage in France despite growing opposition. The French president has promised that same-sex ‘marriage’ will be introduced by mid-2013. The draft legislation will propose a redefinition of marriage so that it is ‘contracted between two persons of different sex or of the same sex’, according to French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. The document will also set out provisions for same-sex couples to adopt children. These provisions will not be extended to unmarried same-sex couples. Ayrault said: ‘After a very broad consultation process that, of course, involved religious leaders, I've made up my mind. This is about ensuring fairness and equality that reflects the evolution of our society’. However, many mayors and deputy mayors across France have warned that they will not preside over same-sex ceremonies if the law is changed. Over 1,200 of them have signed a petition against redefining marriage.
Pray: against this legislation and further moves to redefine marriage. Pray that the mayors speaking out against such moves will hold fast to their beliefs. (Heb.13:4)
On Tuesday officers with France's DCRI domestic intelligence agency arrested a 21 year old Paris woman at her apartment in the working-class Belleville district of Paris who is suspected of possible links to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. She was arrested as part of an investigation by anti-terror officers into a case of ‘criminal association in connection with a terrorist enterprise.’ Based in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is considered one of the deadliest franchises of the international militant network. We are asked to pray against recruitment tactics by terrorist organisations at the time of Hajj. See item 3 World Article
Pray: against all attempts to radicalize young Western Muslims in Islamic communities across the world, may the seekers of God and His Ways be touched by the Holy Trinity. (Jn.14:6)
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/french-woman-arrested-al-qaeda_n_4022054.html
France called in the US ambassador to protest against allegations in Le Monde newspaper about large-scale spying on French citizens by the US National Security Agency. France and Mexico have demanded prompt explanations from Washington following allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden of 70.3 million taped phone calls in France over a 30-day period between 10 December 2012 and 8 January this year. It was reported that NSA automatically picked up communications from certain phone numbers in France and recorded text messages under a programme code-named ‘US-985D’.
Pray: for constructive, honest and open international relationships that will prevent and apprehend computer-generated terrorist activities. (Pr.16:7-8 & Is.29:5)
The chief suspect in Saturday’s stabbing of a French soldier was a recent convert to Islam who was acting in accordance with his religious beliefs, French prosecution officials revealed Wednesday. The 21-year-old suspect, who was arrested early Wednesday in a Parisian suburb, had confessed to stabbing the French soldier, said Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. According to Molins, video surveillance footage showed the suspect ‘saying a Muslim prayer’ shortly before attacking a French soldier patrolling a business neighbourhood west of Paris on Saturday. The pre-attack prayer combined with the fact that the stabbing occurred three days after the May 22 murder of a British soldier in London has led prosecutors to believe the suspect ‘was acting on the basis of religious beliefs,’ said Molins. ‘It seems clear the intent was to kill.’
Pray: against any further escalation of terrorist attacks by those acting in accordance with their religious belief. (Ps.109:28)
More: http://www.france24.com/en/20130529-france-stabbing-suspect-convert-islam-religiously-motivated-prosecutor
A row over France's crackdown on Roma (Gypsy) migrants from Romania and Bulgaria looks set to dominate a summit of EU leaders in Brussels. President Nicolas Sarkozy was furious after an EU official compared France's removal of Roma with the deportation of gypsies during World War II. EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding also threatened legal action against France. The EU leaders will also discuss ways to prevent a new financial crisis. And they will seek to co-ordinate their approach towards emerging powers like China and India. This was not meant to be a summit about the Roma, but Mr Sarkozy seems determined to go on the offensive in Brussels to defend France's reputation as the home of human rights. He is said to be scandalised by Ms Reding's criticism, mockingly suggesting the Roma should go to her country, Luxembourg. (See also Prayer Alert 3510) Pray: that the French government would consider the human rights of the Roma people and the injustice of current decisions. (2Ch.19:7)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made headlines in France by returning to a theme once common with him, but that he seemed to have abandoned: the importance of France’s Christian heritage, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Speaking before a crowd of dignitaries in the ancient town of Puy-en-Velay, a key location in the history of French religious devotion, Sarkozy vigorously defended the importance of the Christian contribution to the cultural foundations of France. ‘Christianity has left to us a magnificent heritage. I am the president of a secular republic, but I can say this because it is the truth. I am not proselytizing,’ he told the group. He added, ‘Chartres, Amiens, Reims, Strasbourg, Paris, none of these towns would be today what they are in the eyes of the French and the eyes of the rest of the world without these cathedrals on which the faithful and tourists always converge.’ Pray: that President Sarkozy’s comments on the importance of Christian heritage would be widely accepted. (Ps.119:111)
French legislators rejected a bill to legalize ‘homosexual marriage’ today in a decisive vote by the National Assembly, the nation’s lower legislative house, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Assembly representatives voted against the bill, proposed by socialists, by a majority of 293 to 222. The vote follows a ruling in January by the nation’s highest court, the Constitutional Council, stating that homosexual ‘marriage’ is not a constitutional right. Although a recent and much-cited poll found that a majority of French voters, 58 percent, favour the creation of homosexual ‘marriage,’ Michel Difenbacher of the majority Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party said he thought it not necessary ‘to go with the wind nor to cede to fashion’ with regard to the issue. ‘We are against homophobia but we do not want to alter the image and function of marriage within society', Difenbacher said.
Pray: that this decision will be accepted by the people.
French police are holding nine suspected Islamists as part of an anti-terrorism investigation. Three were arrested last Tuesday in southern France. The other six detained last Monday in the Paris area have been described by the Interior Minister Manuel Valls as ‘particularly dangerous’. They are being questioned by anti-terrorist investigators at Levallois, north of the capital. By law they can be held for up to four days. Monday’s raids by anti-terrorist police took place in three towns around Paris. Four of the six suspects are French, one is from Benin and the other from the Comoros Islands. They are all said to be aged in their twenties and thirties. They are thought to have been involved in armed robberies including a hold-up at a bank near the capital in April. Since the murders by one individual of seven people in Toulouse last year, several terrorist cells have been dismantled, according to the interior minister. France raised its domestic terror alert level after its military intervention in Mali.
Pray: that the authorities will continue to be successful in thwarting the terrorist activities. (Pro.2:7)
More: http://www.euronews.com/2013/06/25/french-police-swoop-on-islamist-terror-suspects/
Evangelical Christian believers account for only .8% of the population. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (1.5% and .9%) have more Evangelicals per capita. Church attendance is one of the lowest in Europe (6-8%). 80% of French people have never owned or even seen a Bible. There are approximately 50,000 full-time practitioners of occult arts (tarot, fortune telling, psychic healing, etc) who easily outnumber the 35,000 full-time Christian workers in France. Muslims make up approx 10% of France’s population - the highest percentage in any European country. (Source: Operation World) Secularization has become a movement in France whose sole objective is to confine faith and its expression to the private sphere. But light that shines where it is the darkest shines the brightest.
Pray: for the Kingdom of God to mature and produce fruit in France in 2013. (Ps.85:6)
More: http://www.prayforfrance.org/whyfrance