Hostility to people of faith in West on the rise

Religious freedom experts have highlighted the “increasing intolerance” of people of faith in Europe and North America.

Speaking at the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin, representatives from across the world urged Western democracies to protect the freedom of those who hold religious beliefs on marriage, family, and sexual ethics.

Organised to coincide with a Berlin meeting of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, the event featured the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI), the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE).

‘Polite persecution’

The RFI warned that “religious believers in the West are increasingly being targeted, marginalised, and sometimes even prosecuted for peacefully expressing their traditional religious convictions about family, marriage, and human nature”.

OIDAC Executive Director Anja Hoffmann said such pressure poses “a serious threat to religious freedom and leads to widespread self-censorship among traditional believers in the West”.

Dr José Luis Bazán of COMECE said what has come to be known as ‘polite persecution’ has manifested itself in “compelling policies and legislation, as well as social pressure, that undermine and curtail Christians’ possibility to express and live according to their moral and religious principles in contemporary liberal societies”.

Ordinary work of churches

Last week, the Chairman of the Greater Love Declaration warned that the UK Government’s proposed ‘conversion practices’ law risks criminalising the ordinary work of churches.

Revd Dr Thomas Brand said church leaders are “very concerned” that the Minister for Women and Equalities only recognises church leaders’ role in helping those struggling with gender confusion or same-sex attraction in a ‘non-directive way’.

He emphasised: “Christian ministry is most certainly directive. It’s the job of church leaders to urge people to follow Christ and turn away from sin. The Government’s assurances would do nothing to protect ordinary Christian ministry.”

The Government is set to bring forward a draft Bill this parliamentary session for pre-legislative scrutiny, which is expected to include public consultation. Labour’s manifesto pledged to introduce “a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices, while protecting the freedom for people to explore their sexual orientation and gender identity”.