France trying to force students to eat pork!

France has decided that to promote secularism, students will no longer be offered biblically clean alternatives to unclean animal meals:

France: Far-Right Leader Forces Students to Eat Pork

School canteens will no longer offer non-pork meal options in towns where France’s anti-immigration far-right National Front party won local elections, its leader Marine Le Pen said Monday.

Le Pen reignited debate on a sensitive issue about the substitution meals targeting mainly Muslim and Jewish pupils for whom pork is taboo.

“We will accept no religious requirements in the school lunch menus,” Le Pen told RTL radio. “There is no reason for religion to enter into the public sphere.”

She defended the decision saying it was necessary to “save secularism”…Many Muslims view France, which is officially a secular republic despite being overwhelmingly Catholic, as imposing its values on them and other religious minorities. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179293

Now, the above, in my view, does not actually force students to eat pork. But it will force those who stick to their beliefs to skip part or all of some meals being offered. Apparently Marine Le Pen does not believe that people should be able to actually obey the dictates of their religious conscience in public–but sadly she is not the only one (see also US Supreme Court rules against photographer with a religious conscience).

Catholics teach that one of their pontiffs, who was called Bishop Eleutherius, first authorized them to eat biblically unclean animals in the late second century.

By the time of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, Constantine’s supporters attempted to force people to eat pork or face the death penalty. Here is a report from a source with Middle East ties that tells of a group that differed from Constantine’s supporters:

Constantine called a gathering of Christian monks with a view to the formulation of obligatory religious beliefs…However, some of them disagreed with this text…There was a scission and the symbol of faith which had been formulated was not regarded as valid.

Thereupon, three hundred and eighteen men gathered in Nicaea and formulated a symbol of faith, which was accepted and made obligatory by Constantine. People who dissented from it were killed and professions of faith differing from it suppressed.

In this way people who professed the religion of Christ came to do all that is reprehensible; they worshipped the cross, observed the Roman religious rites and ate pork. Those who did not eat it were killed (Pines S. The Jewish Christians of the Early Centuries of Christianity according to a New Source. Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Volume II, No.13; 1966. Jerusalem, pp. 31-32)

Here is a report from a Roman Catholic priest and scholar about matters in Jerusalem near the time of Emperor Constantine:

That there existed strife between the different branches of the faithful can easily be gathered from the expression of the anonymous pilgrim of Bordeaux in 333, who says that the three basilicas were erected by the gentile Christians “at the command of Constantine”, that is by force, and from the late account of Eutychius (PG 111,1012-1013) that, just at this time, the faithful while they were leaving the church on Easter day, were forced to eat pork under the pain of death. We know how the Judaeo-Christians refused this in order not to transgress the Mosaic law to which they held there were bound (Bagatti, Bellarmino. Translated by Eugene Hoade. The Church from the Circumcision. Nihil obstat: Marcus Adinolfi, 13 Maii 1970. Imprimi potest: Herminius Roncari, 14 Junii 1970. Imprimatur: +Albertus Gori, die 26 Junii 1970. Franciscan Printing Press, Jerusalem, 1971, pp. 13-14).

And this was probably why the following is reported about the Greco-Roman Cyril of Jerusalem:

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, or as some believe, his successor John II…the saint…adds “…Keep away from all sabbathical observances, and do not call some foods clean and unclean because they are all indifferent”. (ibid, p. 89)

Various forms of persecution, trickery, and intimidation have been used to encourage people to eat biblically prohibited animals. The French step is, sadly, just one more.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Christians and Unclean Meats Does the Bible teach that Christians should eat the flesh of animals that the Old Testament called unclean? Did Jesus purify all animals? Did Jesus teach that there were animals that were not good to be eaten? Does the Bible show that anyone called of God ate biblically unclean animals? The acceptance of eating unclean meats was endorsed by the falsely named ‘Epistle of Barnabus’ (he did not write it) and supposedly in the late second century by the Roman Bishop Eleutherius. Is uncleaness a New Testament concept? Are pork products dangerous? What should faithful Christians do? This is a serrmon-length video.
The New Testament Church and Unclean Meats Are foods considered to have been unclean in the Old Testament considered to be food in the New Testament? This article discusses this from the perspective of the New Testament. It also has a list of clean and unclean animals. It also answers the question, is pork healthy or is pork dangerous?
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when?
“Pope” Eleutherius (175-189) He allegedly dispensed with the obligations of Christians to follow several dietary laws of biblical origin. He went along with the Sunday date of Passover and decided against publicly opposing the Montanists.
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer. There is also a YouTube video sermon you can watch: The Coming Persecution of the Church. Here is information in the Spanish language: Persecuciones de la Iglesia y el Estado.
What is the Origin of the Cross as a ‘Christian’ Symbol? Was the cross used as a venerated symbol by the early Church? A related YouTube video would be Origin of the Cross.
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from c. 31 A.D. to 2014. A related sermon link would be Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D.
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?