Forty-two years ago, in a village south of Paris, a French-Canadian created a home where the mentally disabled could live in dignity and where others could learn from them the value of sharing and acceptance. There is now a worldwide network of these communities called L’Arche, the French word for Ark, a symbol of hope. More →

March 13, 2015

Muslims around the world are “the only ones that can actually win this battle because it is about an extremist ideology that they are going to have to stand up against,” says Haris Tarin, director of the Washington office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. More →

January 16, 2015

“Secularism is indispensable. It’s a protection so everyone has peace, believers and non-believers,” according to one French citizen. More →

June 24, 2011

“For most of the French, religion was an enemy of democracy, liberalization, freedom,” says this political scientist who specializes in Islamic studies, and “a synonym for public disorder.” More →

June 24, 2011

Originally broadcast June 19, 2009 FRED DE SAM LAZARO (guest anchor): Earlier this month in France an annual event took place that has been described as perhaps the largest public expression of traditional Catholicism in the world. It is a … More →

June 11, 2010

FRED DE SAM LAZARO (guest anchor): Earlier this month in France an annual event took place that has been described as perhaps the largest public expression of traditional Catholicism in the world. It is a three-day, 72-mile pilgrimage from Notre … More →

June 19, 2009

“Jews in France and Jews in other countries are again threatened by an anti-Semitism that is growing, by right-wing radicals, right extremists, neo-Nazis, but also by extreme Muslims and Arabs who are using the situation for their aggression against Jewishness,” says Michel Friedman, chairman of the European Jewish Congress. More →

March 21, 2003

  BOB ABERNETHY: This month in eastern France, the Christian ecumenical community in Taizé is celebrating its birthday. It was founded at the beginning of World War II by a young Swiss theologian named Roger Shutz who wanted to work … More →

September 20, 2002

In France, the government has stepped into a furor over whether there is or should be a right not to be born. The highest court implied there should be, but the National Assembly said no. The issue came to a head when the court awarded money on behalf of a handicapped child, saying that he could claim damages because doctors had not detected his disability in the womb. More →

January 18, 2002

BOB ABERNETHY: Last week, we reported on the revival of cultural interest in Joan of Arc, the 15th-century French peasant girl who became a French national hero and a Roman Catholic saint. One piece of the new interest is a … More →

May 14, 1999