The French want some skin in the game.

It’s amazing how many people have been born into this world because a man was attracted to a woman.

That sexual desire that burns within the loins of the male beast has been reined in by a wide assortment of laws, rules, moral codes and societal conventions over the history of civilizations.

In the world today, it seems the two most notorious constrictors of male libido are religious entities: the Catholic church, and Islam.

The Catholics regulate the problem by attempting to keep their men either a.) responsibly married, or b.) celibate.  Both conditions present perpetual difficulty for the men. The married men have trouble keeping their lustful eyes properly directed on their appointed wives.  The celibates, in many cases end up having sex on the sly with each other or with children.

In Islam, women are compelled (whether by their men or by their own devotional choice is a matter of BBC debate) to cover themselves so that the men they happen to encounter on any given day cannot  possibly be aroused by the constantly-occurring haphazard skin sightings that arise in everyday life.

In modern life, across this fresco of repressed desire is hung a banner of sexual liberation, although it is really a bondage of a different sort. The rationalistic forces of modern secular society are bound and determined to free the men and women of both these religious traditions from their obsolete sexual hang-ups.

Let ‘em have sex, screams every magazine cover, media star and internet popup on the planet. Thus are men perpetually tormented by their own errant desires as they amble daily through the marketplaces, because they’re not getting enough, yet they are being stimulated to libidinal insanity everywhere they go.

This is, however, no new dilemma, which is  why the first Christian theologian, Paul, said it is better to marry than to burn.

In the history of western civilization there exist several  nations of people whose involvement in Catholic institutions and morality are legenday. Among those countries is France.

The French people were purveyors of ardent Catholicism for a thousand years or more, until they liberated themselves from all that religious bondage in the Enlightenment of the 18^th century.  A large part of their long tradition was maintained by women whose extreme devotion to piety and modesty was manifested in nunnery.

For centuries, nuns were everywhere in France, and properly covered up so the men couldn’t see their skin, except for the faces.

But the French Revolution and ringing in of the glorious liberte changed all that. Gradually, over the last two centuries, the covered-up women were seen less and less around French villages and cities.

And the sexy ones came out of the woodwork.  Frenchman had an exponentially-expanding cornucopia of lust, as most of the western world did also.

Until the Muslim women starting showing up in France in greater numbers.

Now the zesty Frenchman are all cursing under their winey breaths:

Damn! Just when we finally got rid of the nuns, here comes the burqa-covered brigade of Mohammedan prudes to deny us.

Les hommes are mad as hell about it. I guess they are just bound and determined to see a little skin on their women, and les dames are determined to keep them supplied with it.

So French legislators are restricting, by discriminatory law, the religious freedom of Muslim women who want to wear the burqa.

Laissez les femmes a porter leurs burqas!  Liberte!

Comments

[Greg Millsaps]

The French are only fueling the fire of an Islamacist revolution. Considering the negative population growth rates of the traditional Europeans and the high birth rates of the European Muslims, soon the European Caliphate may be possible. I say let the French suffer the consequences of Shar'ia law! It may be good medicine for them.

[Carey Rowland]

Yes, Greg. This is a complicated issue. I have many objections to Islam and to Shari'a, but at least the Muslims have the good sense to encourage modesty among their women.
That's a nobler approach to sexuality than I see among secular French, Dutch, Americans, etc...
But we know that the Law, in this case Shar'ia, is ultimately powerless to cleanse the hearts of men and women.
You make a good point.Having generally rejected the gospel, Europeans have, in their amoral confusion, sucked up a spiritual void, and thereby opened themselves up to Law, which is spiritually more powerful than debauchery. In our present religious configuration, that Law replacing licentiousness will be filled with Shar'ia. It is sad.
Europe sucks, so Islam will fill the vacuum.
Unless some receive the Good News of Jesus Christ.
In other news... are you still in Juarez? I heard a report on NPR today about Calderon, and the drug war in Mexico. Sounds dangerous.

[Greg Millsaps]

Hi Carey,

We're living near the city of Monterrey which lately has seen a surge of violence in the Drug Wars. I teach at a Bible College and we used to host short-term teams (before the war). I recommend a book for you about Islam, secularism, and the state of the Great Commission today - "GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn" by Carl Racshke

http://www.amazon.com/GloboChrist-Commission-Postmodern-Church-Culture/dp/080103261X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276356648&sr=1-1

Also, you can keep up with us on my blog:

http://suppliants.blogs.com