by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – An annual report by the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) shows there were “2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes” across 35 European countries in 2023, Christianity Today (CT) reports.
Published in November, the OIDAC annual report shows that the most affected countries were France (1,000 incidents), the United Kingdom (over 700 incidents), and Germany (277 incidents), CT reports.
“These trends should alert us all to step up efforts to protect freedom of religion or belief, including the freedom to openly and respectfully discuss different philosophical and religious viewpoints on sensitive issues, without fear of reprisal and censorship,” Anja Hoffmann, executive director of OIDAC Europe, said in a press release.
Noting that hostility toward Christians in Europe does not generate the same kind of attention that the persecution of believers in other parts of the world does, Christof Sauer, senior consultant and former founding director for the International Institute for Religious Freedom, told CT: “It is particularly challenging to attract attention for discrimination against Christians in Europe, compared to the discrimination of minority groups such as Jews and Muslims.”
“Secularists might regard Christians in Europe as those in power, as ‘perpetrators’ of violence from a historical perspective, and might have a hard time acknowledging victimhood,” Sauer said. “There is an increasing degree of religious illiteracy in Europe, and understanding of the broad scope of religious freedom often is limited.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Concerns remained Friday over the whereabouts of more than a dozen Christians who were reportedly detained during a recent gathering in the authoritarian-ruled East African nation.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Friday that more than 1,400 Hezbollah terrorists have been eliminated since the launch of Operation Roaring Lion, as Israeli forces continue to target the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon.
Planned Parenthood reported in its latest annual report that it performed a record number of abortions even as its other healthcare services sharply declined—fueling renewed calls from pro-life organizations to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider.
The annual U.S. inflation rate climbed sharply in March, fueled largely by soaring energy costs tied to the ongoing conflict with Iran, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 10.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared in a Truth Social post that U.S. military forces will remain deployed in and around Iran until a “real agreement” is fully honored, signaling continued pressure on Tehran despite a temporary pause in hostilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his government to begin negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” with a clear objective: the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.
A resolution to halt U.S. military hostilities in Iran failed to advance in the U.S. House pro forma session Thursday.