French politics is suffocating the Spirit of Christmas 

Emmanuel Macron found himself in a spot of bother earlier in December when he invited France’s chief rabbi to the Elysee Palace to light the candles that marked the start of the Jewish festival of lights. Cue outrage in some quarters, mainly of the political sort, from men and women who accused the president of the Republic of betraying France’s laïcité.

A hallowed word for many in France, laïcité translates as secularism, a cherished Republican ideal, often misunderstood or wilfully misinterpreted by France’s enemies, be they Islamic extremists or ignorant Anglo-Saxons. 

The definition of laïcité, as stated by the French government, “implies the neutrality of the State and imposes equality of all before the law without distinction of religion or belief”. Additionally, laïcité “implies the separation of the State and religious organisations. The political order is based solely on the sovereignty of the people, and the State – which does not recognise or pay tribute to any religion”. 

Hence the reason why Emmanuel Macron was criticised – for apparently paying tribute to France’s Jews. It was a rather manufactured row, one might even say cold-hearted given that forty French Jews were slaughtered by Hamas when they launched their murderous attack on Israel in October; four French citizens are still unaccounted for, possibly hostages of Hamas somewhere in Gaza.  

Macron’s brushed aside his critics, saying that he had not been “disrespectful of laïcité” and explaining that he had extended the invitation to the chief rabbi “in the spirit of the Republic and of harmony”. 

The truth is that Macron was targeted by what are known in France as “militant atheists”, or what could also be described as “laïcité fundamentalists”. Usually hailing from the Left of the political spectrum, they appear to harbour a particular animus towards Christianity. 

Militant atheism began to gain momentum after the 2020 municipal elections in France, in which voters selected council leaders in approximately 35,000 communes. The elections were held in June, not long after France had emerged from a two-month Coronavirus lockdown. Many people, particularly the elderly, decided to stay away from the polling booths out of apprehension and voter turnout was only 40 per cent, which was 20 per cent down on the 2014 municipal elections. 

This had ramifications; namely that there was a surge in support for the Ecology party – a left-wing party focused on all the usual environmental issues, and not very popular with senior citizens – which, with the support of Socialist and Communist allies, took control of twelve city councils, among which were Lyon, Bordeaux, Grenoble and Strasbourg. Nowhere was the shock greatest than in the Atlantic city of Bordeaux, which for nearly three-quarters of a century had been run by the centre-right. 

The new mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, didn’t waste time in flashing his militant atheist credentials. Out went the city’s official Christmas tree.

“We’re not going to put dead trees in the town hall square,” explained Hurmic. “I still remember the dead tree we used to bring in every year. That’s not at all our idea of vegetation.” To underline his opposition to Christmas trees, the mayor introduced a “tree rights” charter and promised to protect all future trees from fairy lights and baubles. 

Lyon did host a tree, but one made from planks of light-coloured wood and decorated with pinecones, dried orange peel and dead leaves. Most of the city’s inhabitants found it absurd and hypocritical, pointing out that the planks of wood were as dead as any Christmas tree.

The Strasbourg city council knew better than to follow Lyon or Bordeaux, aware that the city’s 30-day Christmas market is a huge tourist attraction that generates massive revenue. This year, however, the tree was vandalised by radical environmentalists from a pressure group affiliated to Extinction Rebellion. They poured orange paint over the tree on November 30 to protest, they explained, at the COP 28 summit (the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference) in Dubai. “Only civil resistance can force leaders to protect us from climate catastrophe”, they said in a statement that was as immature as it was asinine.

Would such a group ever target the Muslim religion? Unlikely, just as it is hard to imagine the mayor of Nantes, a Socialist by the name of Johanna Rolland, ever tampering with how Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha. But this year she has taken it upon herself to deprive Christians of Christmas decorations in Nantes, replacing them with a “Winter Journey” festival at the heart of which was Mother Christmas.  

Justifying the cancellation of the traditional Christmas, the Nantes city council said: “In the twenty-first century the Christmas spirit is multicultural. No longer unique, it is open to all confessions and non-confessions. Because these fairytale moments should bring everyone together.” 

The row quickly became politicised. Marion Marechal, the vice-president of Eric Zemmour’s right-wing Reconquest party, visited Nantes in a show of support for the city’s inhabitants who objected to the Winter Journey. Describing Rolland as a product of the “woke extreme left that deconstructs and attacks our identities”, Marechal called on France to “stop being ashamed of the Christian dimension of Christmas and be proud of our Christian roots”. 

One of the few cities that didn’t fall to the Left in the 2020 municipal elections was Perpignan in the deep south of France. That was taken by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party and her former partner, Louis Aliot, is its major. Last year he was ordered by a court to remove the Nativity scene on display in the city hall on the grounds it breached laicite. He refused and was fined 100 euros each day it remained on display.

The Nativity Scene is back this year, although outside the city hall and not inside. That didn’t stop a Human Rights organisation filing a legal complaint against Louis Aliot, but this year the court ruled in his favour. In a jubilant tweet, he took a swipe at the militant atheists : “Stop this uniformity of thought,” he proclaimed. “Let our traditions live on!” 

Christmas in France has become a battle between militant atheists of the Left, who use laicite as a means of undermining Christianity, and the majority of the country who would like to celebrate the birth of Jesus without being bullied, belittled or bewildered by an environmental Ebeneezer Scrooge. 

Needless to say: A very Joyeux Noël to you all from Paris.

Photo: Musicians of the Republican Guard of Honour stand next to a Christmas tree for French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob at the Elysee Palace in Paris, 13 December 2023. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images.)

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