France, the Church, the protests

Reading about the violent protests in France against marriage equality. I have some questions and an answer:

Are the protests about freedom of religion? I'd say no. Although it's assumed that all religious groups are against marriage equality in France, the Fédération protestante de France has issued a statement saying it will not protest against same-sex marriage. As for the Catholic Church, as this Bloomberg article mentions ...

France's historical connection to Catholicism doesn't have much bearing on the practices, beliefs or mores of the French themselves. A report by the Pew Research Center published in March showed that only about 15 percent of French Catholics considered their religion "very important," a lower level than in Germany, Italy and Spain, not to mention the U.S. The French also have the lowest record of church attendance, with only 9 percent of Catholics saying the attend every week.

Are the protests about protecting traditional marriage in France? Again, I believe not. More from the article ...

This surge to defend the sanctity of traditional marriage is all the more puzzling as French people, heterosexual or not, are increasingly unlikely to participate in the institution, even in its civil form. Hollande himself lives in the Elysee Palace in unmarried bliss with his partner Valerie Trierweller. And he had children with his previous long-term partner, Segolene Royal. None of this was even bruited as an impediment to his rise to lead the French state, probably because marriage is less and less of a consideration when it comes to child-rearing: almost 57 percent of kids born in France in 2012 had unmarried parents.

While conservative political motives are in part sustaining the protests, I think they're mainly about one thing: anti-gay bigotry. The French Catholic Church should distance itself from these violent protests - it already has enough badness to make up for.