France Leads the Way

French president Emmanuel Macron has announced a law to "free Islam" from "foreign influences." The aim is to combat "radical Islamism" while encouraging ... you know ... "regular Islam" or something. Macron made what I consider to be a terrifying statement: "Our challenge is to fight against those who go off the rails in the name of religion."

On the face of it you might wonder, "What's so bad about that?" I mean, we don't want hardcore terrorists who believe their calling in life is to die while killing infidels, right? We're all (well, almost all -- I guess not those guys) agreed on that, aren't we? But this is another one of those cases where words are supposed to mean something and just might not. Here, let me show you.

According to the story, "Associations found to be pushing ideas contrary to republican ideals could be ordered to disband." So, we understand "go off the rails" at first, but now we have a new definition of "off the rails" -- those whose ideas are "contrary to republican ideals." (Now, before you get yourself in a snit, remember, this is not "GOP" ideals, but those of the republic of France. Like those don't change, right?) What ideas are "contrary to republican ideals"? Here's an example. Earlier this year the the report was out that "homophobic crimes" rose by more than a third (36%) in France in the last year. "Homophobic attacks" include insults and "display of abusive banners." So, like in America, if you, say, refuse to bake a cake for a "gay marriage" because it violates your religious beliefs, you could be accused of "going off the rails in the name of religion" for having ideas "contrary to republican ideals." Like in America, if you believe nonsense like abortion is murder or God has willed men to assume authority over wives -- you know, stuff you find in the Bible -- you might get labeled "off the rails in the name of religion" with beliefs "contrary to republican ideals."

Now, of course, all of this is theoretical. The law is new and the statement is new and the story is new and, so far, no one has been arrested or disbanded or whatever. And, so far, it hasn't "crossed the pond," so to speak. Not my point. The point is that words mean something and "go off the rails in the name of religion" is entirely subjective. This is how good ideas get co-opted, turned around, and applied to an entirely different place that it was never meant to be … kind of like the recent ruling from SCOTUS where they redefined "sex" to include "orientation" and gender identity. Look for it. My "slippery slope" scenario may not be as far fetched as you might think.