A recent resolution by the European Parliament noted that anti-Christian persecution is often most severe in the land of its birth, the Middle East. Now however, a UN event has heard about the situation in Europe itself, where religious freedom is also under threat.
The UN Human Rights Council held a side event which, for the first time, specifically looked at the issue of persecution and discrimination against Christians.
One of the panellists at the event was Anja Tang, the executive director of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC). OIDAC recently warned of a rise in anti-Christian hate crimes, noting that arson attacks on churches in Europe appear to becoming more common.
Tang said the religious freedom for Christians in Europe was threatened by a two-pronged attack of Islamist violence from below and state restriction from above.
As examples she pointed to the murder of Aushur Sarnaya by Islamists in France and the ongoing case against Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen, who has been dragged through the courts for seven years over a tweet that quoted the Bible.
Tang said, “Several European governments targeted individuals through criminal procedures for peacefully expressing their religious beliefs.”
Also speaking at the event was Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, an Apostolic Nuncio who represents the Vatican to the UN in Geneva.
The archbishop said that religious freedom represented a fundamental human right that is essential in respecting human dignity. He raised the issue of anti-Christian hate crime in Europe and the wider world, warning of “polite persecution” in which Christians and their views are quietly forced out of the public square either by social pressure or the iron hand of the law.
In January the European Parliament passed a resolution reaffirming its commitment to tackling anti-Christian prejudice.
The resolution stated: “Christianity remains the most persecuted religion in the world today, with more than 380 million people affected, there is no European coordinator responsible for combating Christianophobia, even though a coordinator has been appointed to combat Islamophobia."
