Sunday, August 29, 2010

COMMENTARY: France Needs to Abide by Christian Values in Treating Foreigners

France this month closed down a multitude of gypsy camps, and deported hundreds of Roma to Romania, in an effort to decrease the number of illegal immigrants and reduce the crime rate in that country.

The United Nations has criticized France's deportation of Roma migrants, and has urged the French government to integrate them into French society, instead of expelling them. In fact, the UN emphasized that France was undergoing a resurgence in racism and xenophobia -- the fear of foreigners.

Pope Benedict XVI also criticized France's expulsion of Roma this month, and reminded France -- a predominantly Roman Catholic nation -- that it has a Christian duty to welcome people of all origins in its nation. The pope went so far as to remind France that Jesus accepted differences of all human beings and "pulled together men from every nation and speaking every language."

France's President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who ordered the deportation of Roma in France to Romania, needs to abide by the Christian values conveyed by Pope Benedict and Jesus; otherwise, the president of France has no right to consider himself a Roman Catholic Christian.

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