At the end of March, Christine Kelly had been invited by Pastor Ivan Carluer to speak on the stage of the MLK church in Créteil. The journalist had entrusted on this occasion a moving testimony of faith. While excerpts from this video have recently resurfaced on social media, it is facing a wave of criticism.
On the occasion of the release of a special presidential issue of the review Mission, Pastor Ivan Carluer of the MLK church in Créteil had interviewed Samuel Pruvot, editorial director of the review as well as the famous journalist Christine Kelly who hosts since 2019 “Face à l’info” on CNews.
From the first sentences she exchanges with the pastor, the tone is set. “I did not come out of kindness, I came to witness to the power of God,” says the journalist, to the applause of the room.
An extremely strong testimony of faith follows. Christine Kelly confided in this day of September 27, 2019 where she received the call that changed her life. This is the day when she was asked to do a show with Eric Zemmour, who was at that time, in his own words, “the most hated man in France”.
She then recounted having prayed every day on her knees, in the toilets and sometimes even in the studio and claims to have found peace but above all, to have learned to let go completely, and to put everything back in the hands of the Lord.
A video containing excerpts from this exchange resurfaced on Twitter on July 2. It was published by Joao Gabriel, who presents himself on social networks as an academic. He accompanies the video with the following commentary:
“Christine Kelly, her show with Zemmour as an expression of God’s will and an opportunity to share her faith This great moment of normalization of the extreme right financed by Bolloré is therefore presented here as a blessing on a spiritual level. »
Christine Kelly, her show with Zemmour as an expression of God’s will and an opportunity to share her faith
This great moment of normalization of the extreme right financed by Bolloré is therefore presented here as a blessing on a spiritual level
Excerpts: pic.twitter.com/8HcF1i7vdG
—Joao Gabriel (@JoaoGwadloup) July 2, 2022
In a long thread of conversation on Twitter, the Internet user explains that, for him, the problem of this testimony “is not the faith”, which he specifies to respect, nor to “give a religious meaning to his work”. What he claims to denounce is the role played by the journalist in highlighting Eric Zemmour and his ideas.
“Thus, we would like left-wing critics of religion to go beyond the sole analysis of ideas (who believes in what, etc.) The question is how in given contexts, certain religious actors manage to make the connection between religion, economics and politics,” he writes.
He also intends to highlight what he considers to be “a commonplace of evangelical thought”, “if something prospers it is because God helps it”.
“Kelly’s speech on the exploding ratings is important in the sense that he plays with a commonplace of evangelical thought: if something prospers, it is because God helps it. Speech also used in geopolitics: the USA is blessed because with God. But others…”
On social networks, the testimony of the journalist and her faith have been mocked by many Internet users as well as by several journalists, such as the editorialist Gerard Millet. His habit of praying before the broadcasts in particular aroused violent comments.
Others took his defensethis is for example the case of the deputy Eric Ciotti who denounces “an extremely violent attack by the moralizing left”.
Support for the talented journalist @christine_kelly taken to task in an extremely violent way by the moralizing and well-meaning left for having simply evoked his Christian spirituality. pic.twitter.com/svsCQb2AoM
— Eric Ciotti (@ECiotti) July 3, 2022
Several media have also taken up the subject, such as Liberation and Valeurs Actuelles. The presenter, for her part, did not react to these attacks.
Camille Westphal Perrier
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Christine Kelly under fire after testifying to her Christian faith