According to a new report by the Center for Religious Liberty of the Family Research Council (FRC; an American public organization of the religious right), between January 2020 and December 2023, there were at least 168 incidents of religious freedom violations against Christians in 16 Western countries, according to Christian Today.
Violations of Christian rights included arrests and fines for public preaching and prayer, penalties for expressing Bible-based beliefs, and punitive measures against church officials who failed to comply with restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 epidemic, which were often harsher on religious institutions than on secular ones, according to the study, titled "Religious Freedom? Increasing Intolerance Toward Christians in the West."
Using publicly available documents, reports and media news reports, the study's authors identified at least 58 cases of government violations of Christian rights in the United States, 36 in Canada, 43 in Britain and six in Greece. Other countries included in the study are France, Switzerland, Spain, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Germany, Malta, Australia and New Zealand.
FRC president and former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Tony Perkins emphasized the alarming increase in hostility toward Christians in the West and noted "authoritarian measures" against those who practice their faith.
For example, in February 2023, in the American state of California, teacher Jessica Tapia was fired from her school after she disagreed that the local school district was forcing educators to hide the truth and even lie to parents about some students' gender dysphoria and identification with the opposite sex.
In August 2021, police in Australia filed a case against Pastor Martin Beckett after he admitted on social media that he had performed a wedding and thus violated COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.
In March 2023, Canadian pastor Derek Reimer was arrested a second time for violating an earlier ban on being within 200 meters of any LGBT event [the movement is banned in Russia - note]. In both incidents, the pastor was protesting transvestite shows at public libraries. He was eventually charged with disorderly conduct, damage to property and six counts of insulting a person, each resulting in fines or six months in prison.
The report's author and director of FRC's Center for Religious Liberty, Ariel Del Turco, expressed concern about the suppression of religious freedoms in Western democracies. It noted that despite a decline in such COVID-19 incidents after 2020, discrimination against Christians for their beliefs has increased.
Earlier, a report by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (Observatory), a non-governmental human rights organization headquartered in Vienna, reported on an increase in hate crimes against Christians across Europe in 2022, including physical attacks and murders of Christians.
The Observatory's report shows that people's awareness of such crimes is poor due to a lack of media coverage. New laws regulating freedom of speech and religious expression ended up further infringing on the freedoms of Christians. In particular, the report cited the emergence of so-called "buffer zones" around abortion clinics, where silent prayer for abortion victims can result in criminal prosecution.
The Observatory report also refers to new laws under which parents, church representatives, and teachers can be prosecuted for expressing views that are contrary to the principles of Christian freedom. The mainstream opinion on sex minority issues, or for religiously motivated protests against mutilation and procedures performed on transgender people.
Both documents call for more constructive dialog between government, civil society, and religious communities to protect religious freedoms. Recommendations include improving the religious literacy of public officials, impartial and fair evaluation of religious beliefs by the media, and the participation of Christians in public discourse to bridge the gap between religion and secular society.
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