Paris, October 9, 2013
According to the information of the portal which records and describes cases of christianophobia, the following has been registered in France over the first nine months of this year:
– 109 public insults of Christians, sacrilegious actions, cases of vandalism or destruction of Christian symbols;
– 70 cases of profanation and acts of vandalism on the territory of places where religious rites are performed;
– 25 cases of profanation and vandalism at Christian cemeteries;
– 17 attempts of arson in places where religious rites are performed;
– 8 attacks on priests and monks/nuns;
– 6 hacker attacks on Catholic websites;
– 4 intrusions into churches during the Mass and interruption of services.
Beyond all this, French officials have announced another proposal regarding the reform of the calendar of holidays. The state organization, "Observatory of secularism" has made a proposal to cancel two holidays, intended for Christian feasts, and to replace them with Jewish and Muslim ones. The idea was proposed by the anthropologist Dounia Bouzar, who was appointed to the Observatory by the French prime-minister Jean-Marc Ayrault not long ago. Bouzar considers that replacement of the Christian holidays with Yom Kippur and Eid al-Fitr will help "neutralize radical Islam and give a symbolic space to the Jewish and Muslim holidays".
The reaction of Christians and Muslims has not kept itself waiting. Specifically, the president of "Observatory Against Islamophobia" Abdallah Zekri stated that it was not necessary "to undress Peter in order to dress Muhammad".
