After three days of controversy the Paris Métro has rescinded its ban on a poster promoting a charity concert for Middle East Christians.
The advertisements in stations are for a concert by the popular group Les Prêtres (The Priests). RATP, the capital’s transport authority, justified the initial ban by saying France’s secularist policy of laïcité required it to be neutral about an armed conflict abroad.
Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, denounced the ban as “absolutely scandalous and discriminatory” and a group supporting Middle East Christians announced it would file suit against the RATP. Politicians joined in over the Easter weekend, first conservatives but eventually from across the political spectrum, including the far-left.
By late Monday afternoon, Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted: “Stop these sterile debates. Let’s support Middle East Christians, victims of obscurantist terrorism. The RATP should act responsibly.”
The dispute was the latest in a series of incidents signalling a stricter application of laïcité since the January Islamist killings in Paris. The RATP, which has approved ads for Ramadan, baulked at the word “Christian” and offered at one point to add a note saying proceeds would go to Charity of the Orient, a French group supporting Churches in the Middle East. The RATP’s eventual concession came in a single reluctant sentence saying new posters “will obviously mention” the Christians.
Remarking on this, Catholic social media noted that President François Hollande’s statement denouncing the Al Shabaab killings of Kenyan students last week did not mention the fact that the victims were Christians. In February, his condemnation of the Islamic State beheading of 21 Copts in Libya referred to them only as "Egyptian nationals".
CHEDO, a group supporting Middle East Christians, said it would go ahead with its legal complaint against the RATP. Senate President Gerard Larcher, who denounced the RATP position as an “abusive conception of laïcité”, said the Senate law commission would question RATP officials about the incident.
Les Prêtres is a group of two priests and a former seminarian from the French Alps that has recorded CDs and given concerts to raise money for Church projects in recent years.
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