Our Publications

Legal Restrictions Effecting Christians

In this publication:

The Observatory's Report 2012 contains two parts: 1. Legal Restrictions effecting Christians in Europe and 2. the most striking cases of intolerance and discrimination throughout Europe in the year 2012.

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Censored

In this publication:

How European „Hate Speech“ Laws Are Threatening Freedom of Speech

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Exiting a Dead End Road

In this publication:

"Exiting a Dead End Road. A GPS for Christians in Public Discourse" contains: Describing Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians - What’s Wrong With the West? – Understanding Rights Talk – Dealing with Political Correctness – Comprehending Freedom and Tolerance – Responding to Anti-Discrimination Policy – Confronting Radical Secularism – Holding Universal Truths in a Pluralistic Society – Working with Media – Protecting Freedom of Speech – Ways Out of the Ghetto – and more...

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Latest Updates

Quotations

  • "I can not help wondering about the moral responsibility of certain media who nurture in French society a particularly unhealthy climate of anti-Catholicism."

    – Mgr Marc Aillet, October 2010

  • "We often hear about Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and very little is said about Christianophobia, which is gaining strength in many European countries."

    – Russian-Orthodox Metropolit Hilarion, January 2008

  • "I imagine many Christians today feel under threat... We don’t have to agree with them, but we must recognise their right to disagree with us."

    – Roger Helmer, September 2010

  • “I am not Catholic, but I think there is prejudice and especially major anti-clericalism that is taking on enormous proportions in Europe.”

    – Bernard-Henri Lévy, September 2010

  • “[It is] almost socially unacceptable to say you believe in God.”

    – Jeremy Vine, 2009

  • "These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square."

    – Pope Benedict XVI, September 2010

  • "Hate incidents and hate crimes directed against Christians strike at the core values of the OSCE community."

    – Lamberto Zannier, September 2011

  • "The only religion the West permits criticism of is Christianity."

    – Dennis Prager, July 2007

  • “I am gay and I am atheist but... it seems to me that what we are doing is producing a tyrannous new morality that is every bit as oppressive as the old.”

    – David Starkey, March 2011

  • 485 cemeteries or places of worship were damaged between January 1st and September 30th, 2010. 410 were Christian sites, 40 Muslim sites and 35 Jewish sites.

    – Former Minister M. Hortefeux, November 2010

  • “It is curious that atheists have proved to be so intolerant of those who have a faith.”

    – Chris Patten, April 2011

  • “Recent attacks on Christian communities have highlighted the necessity to address the problem of intolerance against Christians with a specific focus on hate crimes."

    – OSCE Report, September 2011

  • "One can only regret the silence of the media and the institutions when it comes to the very numerous desecration of Christian sites."

    – Louis Guédon, French member of parliament, September 2012

  • In many jurisdictions in Europe and North America, religious freedom can all too easily be 'trumped' by other rights.

    – Roger Trigg, February 2012

  • “Christianity is under pressure from a form of secularism, particularly in Europe... It seems that there is a fear of allowing religion to play a role in public life.”

    – UN Economic and Social Council, December 2004

  • “Societies in which freedom of religion and speech flourish are more resilient, more stable, more peaceful, and more productive.”

    – Hilary Clinton, Nov. 2010

  • "We need to create a country in which people can be unashamedly proud of their faith – where they don’t feel that they have to leave religion at the door."

    – Baroness Warsi, November 2011

  • “7 out of 10 Anglican clergy experienced some kind of violence from 1999 to 2001.”

    – Independent Academic Research study, September 2001

  • "There seems to be a prejudice against Christians or against the manifestation of the Christian faith which totally puzzles me."

    – Archbishop Peter Smith, September 2011

  • "Christianity isn’t being violently rejected from the public sphere, but quietly banned from all areas of the collective memory."

    – Jean-Pierre Denis, June 2011

  • "You stand a better chance of earnest representation if you are a hedgehog [than a Christian in the UK] – and I speak as a patron of the Hedgehog Protection Society."

    – Miss Widdecombe, October 2011

  • "If you are a badge-wearing Christian, you are more likely to be marginalised more than any other religion."

    – Peter Kerridge, Feb. 2012

  • "Christians [in the UK] continue to voice concern about the ability to express their faith in the workplace."

    – Report on International Religious Freedom of US state department, Nov. 2010

  • "The influence of a certain anti-Christian attitude is being spread through the media, in textbooks or in public opinion."

    – Cardinal Peter Erdö, September 2011

  • "Excluding signs of Christian civilization from Europe does not make it a place friendlier to non-Christians."

    – Russian-Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion, September 2011

  • "Christianity will become a faith that can speak in the public square less and less freely."

    – Archbishop Charles Chaput, August 2010

  • "[There is a] crisis of religious freedom by the development of an aggressive form of secularism which seeks to condemn Christians to a marginalization in public life."

    – Jaime Urcelay, May 2011

  • "Does fairness and equality only apply to people who are non-Christians in this country?"

    – UK House of Commons, M. Jackson, Feb. 2009

Recent cases

REPORT A CASE

No Parental Consent Necessary for Minors' Abortion

There is no parental consent with regard to abortion. Much attention was drawn to a case where an eleven-year-old girl had undergone two abortions in a very short period of time without parental consent. The Parliamentary Ombudsman held that it had gone too far and concluded that “it is obvious that a child of this age (11 years) does not have the maturity to consider the consequences of an abortion by herself.” Read more ...

No Opt Out of Sex Education

In 2011, the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company, a public service company (UR), launched a sex education campaign in Swedish schools, called “Putting sex on the map” (co-produced by RFSU, a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation), targeting children of lower secondary school age. Parents objected to the content of the materials, including explicit images and sex scenes, and said that scientific information, including physical and psychological risks of early sex debut, many sexual partners or abortion, is not included as much as it would be necessary. Read more ...

Homeschooling Practically Prohibited

According to the Education Act (2010:800) homeschooling is practically forbidden in Sweden. Homeschooling is allowed only when exceptional circumstances apply, which is hardly ever granted. According to the preparatory work of the government bill, permissions should be granted with great restraint, stating explicitly that religious and philosophical reasons are not to be considered as exceptional circumstances. Read more ...

State Educational Programme Angers Christian Parents

Spanish educational law includes a set of mandatory and evaluable school subjects under the generic category of Education for Citizenship which are indoctrinatory and violates the rights of parents. The Education for Citizenship curriculum is mandatory for primary and secondary education (children ages 10-16), and must be implemented into all Spanish schools (public and private). Read more ...

Homeschooling Severely Limited

Homeschooling is severely limited in Slovakia. In fact, it is allowed only for pupils of 1st - 4th class in basic schools, for disabled children, or for children in custody and who are not able to go to school for longer than two months for health reasons. Permission for “individual education” must be granted by the director of the district school of the pupil. Another major problem is that the person who teaches the pupils has a pedagogical university qualification. As a consequence, homeschooling is very rare in Slovakia. Read more ...

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