<story><title>France enshrines &apos;freedom&apos; to abortion in Constitution, in world first</title><url>https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2024/03/04/france-enshrines-freedom-to-abortion-in-constitution-in-world-first_6584252_5.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>silent_cal</author><text>This is always so interesting to me. Are you European? Or do you have any insight as to why this might be happening?</text></item><item><author>oliwarner</author><text>&amp;gt; Almost half of the French population reported that they were Catholic&lt;p&gt;If you break that down generationally, you see 70% in 70+, scaling down to about 15% in young adults, with atheism mopping up the difference. The older people may have believed, the middle cohort were raised by believers and think of themselves as Catholic by creed, but they haven&amp;#x27;t passed it on to their kids.&lt;p&gt;The same is generally true in the rest of Europe. The social contract that everyone goes to church on Sunday has broken.</text></item><item><author>jawns</author><text>This was a vote that had very little dissent; it easily surpassed the supermajority that was required to amend the constitution.&lt;p&gt;There was only one major group that spoke out against the decision: the Catholic Church.&lt;p&gt;Almost half of the French population reported that they were Catholic in a 2020 survey, but it&amp;#x27;s clear that when it comes to abortion, almost no French Catholics are influenced by the Church&amp;#x27;s strong opposition to abortion.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s in stark contrast to the US, where opposition to abortion, mostly among Christian denominations, has remained an intractable issue. People predicted that after Roe V. Wade was decided, opposition to abortion would fade away, but it never did. Indeed, for the better part of 50 years, opposition fluctuated only a few percentage points, unlike almost every other major social issue.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>oliwarner</author><text>I am English, and spend a fair bit of time in France.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;In France particularly&lt;/i&gt;, the state is aggressively secular. They go out of their way to ensure no religion has any footing in any part of government and this occasionally makes it hard to be religious if you&amp;#x27;re unable to wear the expected garb or paraphernalia at school or at your government job.&lt;p&gt;The French have a long history of not wanting a single unimpeachable ruler. God just isn&amp;#x27;t welcome.</text></comment>
<story><title>France enshrines &apos;freedom&apos; to abortion in Constitution, in world first</title><url>https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2024/03/04/france-enshrines-freedom-to-abortion-in-constitution-in-world-first_6584252_5.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>silent_cal</author><text>This is always so interesting to me. Are you European? Or do you have any insight as to why this might be happening?</text></item><item><author>oliwarner</author><text>&amp;gt; Almost half of the French population reported that they were Catholic&lt;p&gt;If you break that down generationally, you see 70% in 70+, scaling down to about 15% in young adults, with atheism mopping up the difference. The older people may have believed, the middle cohort were raised by believers and think of themselves as Catholic by creed, but they haven&amp;#x27;t passed it on to their kids.&lt;p&gt;The same is generally true in the rest of Europe. The social contract that everyone goes to church on Sunday has broken.</text></item><item><author>jawns</author><text>This was a vote that had very little dissent; it easily surpassed the supermajority that was required to amend the constitution.&lt;p&gt;There was only one major group that spoke out against the decision: the Catholic Church.&lt;p&gt;Almost half of the French population reported that they were Catholic in a 2020 survey, but it&amp;#x27;s clear that when it comes to abortion, almost no French Catholics are influenced by the Church&amp;#x27;s strong opposition to abortion.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s in stark contrast to the US, where opposition to abortion, mostly among Christian denominations, has remained an intractable issue. People predicted that after Roe V. Wade was decided, opposition to abortion would fade away, but it never did. Indeed, for the better part of 50 years, opposition fluctuated only a few percentage points, unlike almost every other major social issue.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dauertewigkeit</author><text>Being Christian in Europe and the US are two completely different experiences. The two chief differences that I notice:&lt;p&gt;1. In Europe it is sort of the default state. Everyone belongs to the same Church. It is not really part of one&amp;#x27;s identity. American Christians are so splintered that being part of a Church means being part of a significantly smaller community and that plays a much bigger role in forming one&amp;#x27;s identity. The community aspect of Church is similarly more pronounced in the US for this reason.&lt;p&gt;2. American Jesus is your personal trainer, your protector, your personal cheerleader, your forever companion. European Jesus is technically supposed to also be those things but nobody really buys into it. The fervent belief in the efficacy of prayer is completely lacking. That gives people less incentive to go to Church.</text></comment>