There are quite a few people — including some Christians themselves — who seem to think it’s unsuitable to talk about anti-Christian hate crimes in the West when believers are being slaughtered in Nigeria, disappearing in North Korea, or living under constant fear and contempt in Pakistan.
Though
Paris is indeed no Pyongyang, people should be able to discuss the
existence of anti-Christian sentiment regardless of where it exists. And
it so happens that Europe is seeing a rising number of hate crimes
directed against Christianity, according to a recent report from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC).
“For all of my life living in the U.K., I grew up with open discussion and free speech,” said Paul James-Griffiths, director of Christian Heritage Edinburgh. “From about 2013, things began to change. Before then, people could generally express different opinions in a free society.”
James-Griffiths
added that, for the last decade-plus, “The currents against
Christianity and traditional family values, as well as against our
democratic culture, have gone from being a stream to being a river.”
Behind
the changing currents, he sees two main sources: radical Muslims and
people with far-left politics. “Both groups seem to use each other to
advance their cause,” he said, adding that the far-left “champions
diversity, except for Christianity and traditional values based on this
faith.” Meanwhile, radical Muslims “laugh behind the backs” of the far
left, while they use “diversity” ideals “to gain power in Europe.”
An
example of this growing political power surfaced in December 2023 with
the formation of The Muslim Vote (U.K.), which seeks to exert pressure on politicians.
James-Griffiths
fears that the U.K. might eventually see the prohibition of “open
discussion and critique of Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran.”
For
European Christianity, it can be difficult to determine whether the
larger threat comes from adherents to an anti-Christian belief system, or from the many Europeans with a godless hatred — homegrown in the West and now in full bloom.
“Both
forms of persecution are growing in the U.K.,” James-Griffiths said.
“My wife is German, and she says that their culture is trying to hold on
to the Christian way of doing things more strongly than we are doing
[in the U.K.]. However, this is now rapidly changing.”
One
of the most striking statistics in the recent OIDAC report involves
Germany, where hate crimes against Christians reportedly doubled from
2022 to 2023.
Along
with this sharp rise is the reality that “Many anti-Christian hate
crimes do not make it into official statistics,” said Anja Hoffmann,
executive director of the OIDAC in Europe.
Additionally, many European countries do not keep statistics regarding anti-Christian incidents.
“We
are increasingly concerned about the overall situation in Europe,”
Hoffmann said. “In particular, restrictions on religious freedom and
discrimination against Christians ... leading to growing self-censorship
among Christians.
“More and more young Christians have become very cautious about whether and when to talk about their faith in public.”
On
a similar note, James-Griffiths remarked that, “Increasingly, we are
seeing people being persecuted and losing their jobs for their stand for
traditional Christian values.”
This
type of discrimination, as Hoffmann pointed out, tends to come from
“radical secularist views that lead to intolerance of religious beliefs
or worldviews.” However, anti-Christian hate crimes can have a variety
of motives. These include radical Muslim hostility, along with motives
from persons with far-left or far-right politics.
“Some
perpetrators simply have a personal hatred of Christianity or religion
in general, which is directed against church buildings,” Hoffmann said.
Most
cases recorded by OIDAC involve perpetrators and motives that remain
unknown. And even among attacks with an established radical Islamist
motive, the perpetrators are often European natives, not migrants.
Though
attacks in Europe by migrant perpetrators are indeed noteworthy, much
of the continent’s underlying anti-Christian hostility comes from the
Europeans themselves, a considerable number of whom occupy positions of influence. As a result, Christians can feel compelled to hide their beliefs and views in the workplace and at a university.
“In
order to counter this trend and safeguard religious freedom, including
the freedom to express religious views in public, we need to raise
awareness of legislation and social trends that have a negative impact
on religious freedom,” Hoffmann said.
Though
Christians in Europe encounter far less physical danger than believers
in many other parts of the world, the continent is still witnessing an
increase in incidents of anti-Christian hostility, and this hostility
can come from multiple sources.
“I
hope and pray for a Christian revival and reformation again in Europe
as more and more people see what is going on,” James-Griffiths said.
“However, the trend appears to be heading towards anti-Jewish and
anti-Christian movements.”
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