英国新闻听力 法国国民阵线党走向主流（在线收听）

The news that France's far-right National Front party led by Marine le pen has made big gains in the first round of regional elections, has been met with both surprise and shock. One commentator said that the National Front has gone from pariah status to mainstream. While triumph may not necessarily translate into power, and far right means different things in different countries, part of the appeal of many such parties is a return to an old way of being, French, German, British – almost any European society. Looking back to another time or recreating the past is a way of imagining a future and today forms part of Europe’s wider soul searching. Here, extolling Europe’s Christian past and present is one way of contrasting the desirable from the undesirable. A popular trope is to pit Christianity against Islam – Europe’s past was Christian, and her future must also remain Christian especially when facing the Islamification of her borders.

The last few decades have been an unusual time when it comes to religious faith in Europe. We have the demise of structural organised religion, the clash between religion and the public space, the search for individual identity and freedom within our faiths. Alongside that, globalisation means that we now live in a world of new diasporas, colliding communities, of neighbours who were once strangers in a foreign land with foreign customs and practices. Many struggle with this kind of difference and I can understand why. Here diversity is extolled as an ethical and political imperative, cultural and religious mix is applauded even though many are not convinced or remain indifferent; we just deal with it when we have to; for others diversity is enriching and meaningful, unsettling us but also, making us less complacent about who we are.

The truth is that cultures, civilizations and lifestyles do not clash. It is human beings with their own interests desire and ambitions who clash often aided by political rhetoric, whether liberal left or conservative right.

In reality there is no alternative to coexistence but coexistence demands a level of humility and generosity from us all. Fear and suspicion can paralyse us. Fear of Muslims, fear of black people, foreigners and refugees. It can lead to the mindset of republican hopeful Donald Trump who has called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.’

In the relatively peaceful societies of Europe, a continent which brought down walls, rather than built new ones, how we speak of our faith, our culture and our nation’s pride says something about ourselves. We can speak of Europe’s Christian past, we may even regret the changes but the future still lies before us. All of us have a stake in this future and all of us have a choice - whether to use the language of religion to instil fear or to use it to inspire hope.

玛丽娜·勒庞领导的法国极右翼国民阵线党在首轮地区选举中获得重大胜利的消息引起轰动和震惊。一位评论员表示，国民阵线已经从“贱民阶层”走向主流。尽管胜利不一定代表权力，极右翼在不同的国家有着不同的意思，许多这类政党呼吁的部分内容就是回归过去的生活方式，法国，德国，英国，几乎任何欧洲社会都是如此。回顾另一个时代或者重现过去是幻想未来的一种方式，今天是欧洲更广阔的灵魂探索的一部分。称赞欧洲基督徒的过去和现在是对比满意和不满意的方面的一种方式。有一个比喻是关于基督教和伊斯兰教的——欧洲的过去是基督徒，她的未来也应该是基督徒，尤其是面临边境的伊斯兰化时。

过去几十年，欧洲在宗教信仰方面度过了非同寻常的时期。我们遭遇了结构化有组织宗教的终结，宗教和公共空间之间的冲突，对信仰中个人身份和自由的追求。除此之外，全球化意味着我们现在生活在一个有着许多新移民的国家，由曾经居住在陌生的土地，有着陌生的风俗和习性的人组成的互相冲突的社区。许多人努力难以适应这种不同，我能理解为什么。在这里，多样化被誉为种族和政治的必需因素，文化和宗教融合备受赞誉，尽管许多人并不信服，或仍然保持着不同，我们只有在必要的时候才会应对。对他人来说，多样化是有益的，也是有意义的，但是也让我们不那么自鸣得意。

事实是，文化，文明和生活方式并不冲突。冲突的是有着自己的利益追求和雄心壮志的人，通常辅以政治立场，无论是自由左翼还是保守右翼。

实际上，和谐共存没有其他选择，但是和平共处需要我们所有人表现出一定水平的人性化和宽宏大量。恐惧和怀疑会让我们麻痹。对穆斯林，对黑人，对外国人和移民的恐惧都是如此。这就引出了有希望当选的共和党总统候选人唐纳德·特朗普的心态，他呼吁“完全限制穆斯林进入美国”。

在相对和平的欧洲社会——这个大洲拆除国家之间的壁垒，而不是设立新的壁垒——我们如何讨论我们的信仰，我们的文化和我们的国家自豪感代表了我们自己。我们可以讨论欧洲的基督教过去，甚至可以遗憾那些改变，但是未来仍在眼前。在这个未来，我们都有筹码，都有机会——用宗教语言来灌输恐惧还是激励希望。