The secularist drive to rid France of any hint of its Christian past is becoming “insane”, says Gilles-William Goldnadel. A court has just ruled that a cross atop a statue of Pope John Paul II in the town of Ploërmel in Brittany – sculpted by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli – must be removed. Apparently it contravened the 1905 ban on religious symbols in public, even though it was plainly just “a symbolic ornament on a work of art”. Or consider the case of the Greek yoghurt pots that Lidl recently put on sale: they were decorated with pictures of Greek villages, but the Orthodox cross on the churches had been photoshopped out by the supermarket chain “to avoid offending anyone”. For the same reason, the Paris transport system refused to let a charity run posters inviting donations for Christians being persecuted in the Middle East. What sticks in the craw is that the authorities are so strict about Christianity, our native religion, yet they positively encourage public religious activity by foreigners – it’s considered fine for Paris’s mayor to stage an event at the taxpayers’ expense to mark the end of Ramadan. The ban on religious symbols should mean more than giving offence to Christians. (Le Figaro, Paris)

It is political correctness like this that help fuel the rise of Trump and the disaster of Brexit. As a follower of Epicurus I don’t belong to any religion (and try not to belong to any tribe). But France has been christian for nearly 2000 years and has an enviable culture. I have no problem with moslems making their homes in the West, especially if they integrate into local life, but suppressing the old ways while pandering to the new is simply crass. It feeds the resentment of the political Right. It was good that Macron won the last election, but waiting in the wings are some very nasty people.

One might conclude that religion is a menace, dividing mankind and still causing wars and communal strife all over the planet. Of course, the truth is that religion is mainly the outward and visible evidence that men and women are tribal, enjoy tribes, dislike other tribes! and feel smug, superior and intolerant about others. I prefer Epucureanism, which is as far from being a tribe as possible, although not without its politics, since there are self-described right-wing Epicureans who are ……. oh, bother! I was just about to be tribal!