"The French are natural racists,that is why Le FN appeals to them. A rural friend of ours here in France thinks that our village which is only 10 Km from him is a hotbed of North African fundamentalism. In reality we have about 10 'Arabs' ie 1% of the population only 1 of whom goes to the mosque every Friday. "
Much as it pains me to say it, there is a lot of truth in that. It explains the popularity of the Front national with middle class voters. It is certainly true that the moslem population of France at large is mostly non-practising, and even a majority of believers don't go to prayers. Ironically, that is part of the problem, as many younger moslems feel alienated not only from "mainstream" French society and the policy of "take our culture or leave it" and their parents and older generations, who are nominally "moslem" but don't actually espouse the religion in any discernible form