A large-scale Christian street prayer was held in Paris on October 7 on the Passerelle Debilly, bringing together over 250 people, to “make amends for the blasphemy of the Olympic Games opening ceremony”, according to Le Salon Beige, a news blog run by a conservative Christian group. The ceremony was criticized for mocking the Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles.
Quite apart from whether this show represents the Last Supper or the Gods of Olympus, it’s disturbing to see several hundred people gather for a street prayer without any reaction from members of the government, who are so quick to enforce secularism at every opportunity.
The law does not prohibit street prayers per se, but it does in the event of a public order disturbance, as in the case of the Christian prayer that blocked traffic on a pedestrian bridge for one evening.
Bruno Retailleau, the new French Minister of the Interior, claimed he wanted to “restore order” to the country’s streets. Communist senator Ian Brossat asked him on X whether this also applied to Christian street prayers.
