Evangelicals Harassed and workers Discriminated Against

Case information
Incident date
Country
Spain
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Insult or Incitement
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Defamation
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Comments/Written Statements/Gestures/Graffiti
  • Victim/Witness Perception
Reported to Police
  • Unknown
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

The Federation of Evangelical Entities of Spain (FEREDE) has denounced a ‘fierce media harassment’ on faithful as well as pastors in the churches in Torrejón de Ardoz. It has also denounced all forms of discrimination that the workers have been facing for their confession. The data provided by Health on the coronavirus had also denied that the COVID-19 cases are linked to evangelical churches in Torrejón.

The organization says that due to the stigmatization of evangelicals for rumors about them being spreading the Covid-19 virus, workers "have been prevented from accessing their jobs in different companies because they are evangelicals and attend a church in Torrejón or Leganés." They also document a case where a girl was sent back home from school for the same reason. And some pastors have experienced harassment and surveillance at the entrance of their homes.

FEREDE states that "there is not a single case so far of people linked to the evangelical churches of Torrejón who are diagnosed, hospitalized or following a prevention protocol, because they are suspected of carrying the coronavirus."

Sources