May, 2002

Dear Friends,

“We are playing with fire,” intoned many French people during the anxious days between the first and second rounds in the Presidential elections. What would have seemed unthinkable during the campaigns actually happened: Jean-Marie Le Pen, the right-wing candidate, beat Lionel Jospin, the socialist Prime Minister, giving Jacques Chirac every chance of winning the run-off, which, of course, he did, in a landslide.

Why did the vote go this way? Le Pen may not be the racist or anti-Semite he is accused to be, but his platform is the opposite of the Gaullists’ and Socialists’ alike. He is a charismatic figure, one who loves controversy, and has been in and out of trouble for his inflammatory statements. Simply put, he maintains that the European Community is a monumental error, and that most of France’s social and economic problems can be traced to foreigners of all kinds who are sapping resources and robbing the French of their livelihoods. Perhaps another socialist, Laurent Fabius, put it best, when he said, “Le Pen apporte les mauvaises réponses à de bonnes questions.” What are those questions? Job security, social unrest, delinquency, divorce, and Americanization (we are blamed for an extraordinary number of ills).

Yet, few, if any, are asking the most fundamental questions: Who are we? Where do we come from? What has gone wrong in our relationship with the Creator? Politics is not the place for evangelism. However, there are biblical answers to the questions Le Pen is raising, and to those he is not. The Reformed Seminary in Aix-en-Provence is training leaders for service in the Kingdom of God in France and abroad. The message they will bring is holistic, all-encompassing, ranging from salvation of the individual to principles of statecraft. Please enable them to do it well, with your generous support.

Very Truly Yours,

William Edgar