CARNAL NATION

The French website TÊTU reports that AGRIF, the Alliance générale contre le racisme et pour le respect de l'identité française et chrétienne [The General Alliance Against Racism* & For the Respect of French and Christian Identity], has lodged a formal complaint against the Parisian order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as well as the regional government of Ile-de-France and the municipality of Paris, accusing the government bodies of "misuse of public funds" over subsidies given to the Sisters for their AIDS awareness and prevention activities. Bernard Anthony, president of AGRIF, calls the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence a "grotesque association" and a "pathetic exhibitionist carnival" that "derides in an anti-Christian manner the image and the habit of the Catholic nun." Anthony also alleges that awarding government subsidies or grants to the organization represents "a cynical and unacceptable abuse of public funds."

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, established in the U.S. in 1979, started several orders in France in the 1990s. The mission statement of the Sisters reads as follows: "Sisters have devoted ourselves to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. We belive all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty and we use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit." The complaint lodged by AGRIF, an ultra-conservative group closely linked to the extreme right French political party Le Front National, threatens two grants. The first is a 23,000 euro ($32,000) grant from the provincial government of Ile-de-France, and the second is a 19,927 euro ($28,000) grant from the municipality of Paris. Both grants are intended for AIDS awareness and prevention programs led by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. AGRIF claims that the only effective use of public funds for HIV/AIDS is medical research.

[Update 5/29/09: Despite the AGRIF complaint, the Regional Council of Ile-de-France this afternoon voted in favor of awarding the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence the 23,000 euro grant described above. The vote was not without significant debate, which lasted more than one and a half hours. With a slight majority, all left-leaning members of Council voted in favor of awarding the grant, while moderate and right-wing parties voted against it.]

*N.B. It should be noted that the use of the term 'racism' by this group specifically means anti-Gallic discrimination or discrimination against 'pureblood' French citizens as opposed to discrimination against people of mixed race or nationality who live in France.