Today marks Pentecost in the traditional religious and social calendar of European and English speaking nations. God himself came to enable us to live as we should. The Christian God gives us hope, not just for eternity but also in our lives now.
For decades now, however, the paradigm of church calendar, Christian thought and Christian practice have been assiduously eradicated by Materialism and the religious zeal of Social Justice Warriors. We live with the fruit of this new religious creed, and France where I live is no exception.
I want to share with you the testimony of a juvenile court judge which I have just heard on a French news channel. It goes to the heart of the modern predicament; it goes to the heart of our desperate need to restore Christian teaching and practice as the religious norm. The judge’s testimony speaks volumes, and it speaks to real issues for real people in a world which increasingly manifests the terrible results of godlessness and mancentredness.
But firstly allow me to set the context of recent events here in France. You will be aware of the murder of Samuel Pati last October and similar outrages. But you may not know about the armed and open warfare between drugs gangs in the suburbs of big cities. In reality, there are “no go” areas for the police. Yes, they make occasional raids but they withdraw immediately. Fly-on-the-wall television documentaries about policing in France inadvertently reveal this.
You may also not be aware of news reports about adolescents killing each other in outbursts of violence in recent months here – we are talking here about rivalry among local gangs and about individual confrontations.
These problems of criminal and religious violence are now so bad that open letters from French military personnel have hit the news here . The first came from hundreds of retired senior officers – two as senior as lieutenant general. The Establishment reaction was predictably hostile, however and included a threat against the soldiers pensions. That only provoked a further, this time anonymous letter from hundreds of serving officers.
The soldiers letters are forthright, and both use the words “civil war” to describe what they see as imminent. The soldiers fear that unless politicians get a grip soon, then the army will inevitably be called in to save this deteriorating situation. They manifestly seek to avoid such intervention, but the pc Left has spun their concern as a thinly veiled threat to mount a far Right insurrection, citing events in Algieria 60 years ago. Rather than face the reality of what is happening because it proves the stupidity of their political philosophy, the Ideological Left resort to their age old tactic: denigration.
So now to the testimony of the child court Judge on BFM tv this lunchtime. The judge began this work 18 years ago. He now sits in court at Marseilles, so he is very much at the sharp end. Every one knows the reputation of Marseilles: it can hardly be exaggerated.
The judge states forthrightly that he has witnessed a growing problem with children – we are talking here up to the age of 16 or 17. When he started, children could at least recognise that they had done wrong. Now, he says, they refuse to acknowledge their wrong but seek instead to justify and excuse themselves.
Worse, he says that many youngsters are now so bad, they have absolutely no sense that their victims are living human beings with feelings …
He then spoke about the first child he ever sentenced to incarceration – there was no other option left. What struck me was the state of this young man – and what needed to be done, and why.
Before being sent to prison, the boy was incapable of expressing himself verbally. But, once physically confined within 4 walls and so deprived of the opportunity to do just as he pleased, the boy began to be able to speak properly. He began to learn sufficient mastery over himself and his thoughts to be able to express himself coherently.
This boy was suffering from extreme selfitis. SELF was so out of control, the boy could no longer do anything constructive. What alone could help him in this extremity, was incarceration. Discipline was imposed upon him, and he began to realise the need to constrain himself.
The boy lacked self control.
Today’s woke Religion both incites and reinforces the problem of rampaging Self.
Christian teaching addresses basic human problems, head on.
Our need of Christianity today is blatant and desperate.
Ray Catlin
Conservatism Institute 