Baptist congregations in France are increasingly adding the word “Protestant” to their names as they seek to avoid being identified as cults.
Widespread concern in France over cults such as the Church of Scientology led to the adoption of a tough anti-cult law in France last year. The climate has left many Baptists and other evangelical Christians concerned about their public image.
“Baptists are increasingly using the word ‘Protestant.’ Not all, but some have begun calling themselves … ‘Protestant Baptist Church,’” … said Etienne Lhermenault, general secretary of the Evangelical Baptist Federation of France.
While many French people have some general idea that Protestants are a legitimate church group, few would have any idea what an “Evangelical” or “Baptist” is, Lhermenault said.
Being part of the Protestant Federation of France also has financial significance, said Christian Seytre, the group’s general secretary. About once a month, he writes a letter to a bank or business certifying that a congregation is part of the Protestant Federation. Otherwise, the bank is afraid to make a loan or provide other services, he said.
Roman Catholicism has historically been the omnipresent religion in France, and any non-Catholic religious group is automatically suspect, said Southern Baptist missionary Dennis Barton, who coordinates the work of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board across France.
“You see much of Martin Luther King in France. Buildings are named for him and so forth. But few French people know that he was a Baptist pastor in the United States, or that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is a Baptist,” Barton said.
“For many people here, if it is not Catholic or Jewish or Protestant or Buddhist, it is a sect,” Seytre said. “When people do not know anything about a group, they think, ‘Oh! It must be a sect or a cult!”
(BP)
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