Controversial sex ed bill passed in the house of commons and only later turned down as a legislative project. Under the bill, schools, both religious and secular, would have had to give children information on homosexual relationships as well as artificial contraception and abortion, including on how to obtain abortions and contraceptives. Catholic and Anglican schools would have been required to promote abortion, contraception, “civil partnerships” and homosexuality as “normal and harmless.”
Two glass doors were broken and fire set on the altar under the tabernacle. Fire did not spread and was extinguished by itself.
A district judge has thrown out the case against another street preacher, Paul Shaw, who was arrested on February 19 in Colchester over comments he made about homosexual activity.
47 graves were vandalized in Oxelaëre, in Northern France. They were all Christian graves and many of them were tagged with swastika, injurious words and various grafiti. Mayor Stéphane Dieusaert exclaims: "It is pathetic."
A mother of eight was detained on February 17th to spend eight days in a prison. She had refused to send her nine-year-old-son to school on grounds of her objection to sex education.
According to pro-contraception and pro-abortion NGO International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Catholics are indistinguishable from Islamists: “Fundamentalist and other religious groups—the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic schools) for example—have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction.”
Gay activists plan mass kissing provocation in front of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Counterdemonstrations led to new location while a few remained there.
Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Washington has ended its foster-care program and will end its adoption program as well. At issue was the right of the archdiocese to reject gay marriage and remain a city contractor; a bill legalizing same-sex marriage recently passed in the District.
Personal documents of Turkish citizens include information on religion, leaving potential for discriminatory practices. Examples include reports of harassment by local officials of persons who converted from Islam to other religions and wanted to change their ID cards.
The fire was set in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, near the choir, in the middle of previously stacked chairs. Firefighters quickly controlled the fire, but a significant amount of smoke spread into the building. The fire fortunately did not damage the walls and paintings in the chapel. For the police officers as well as for the parish priest, Father Massip, the fire was with no doubt of intentional origin.
Thirty-six graves were targeted in the cemetery of Biéville-Beuville, in Calvados, near Caen. Many crosses were reversed and funeral ornaments wrecked.
“Because of a substantiated fear of persecution”, an American judge on immigration matters argued, the United States is granting political Asylum to a German couple and their children, who are fleeing from compulsory education in Germany.
“A child's life can be destroyed by two things: Christianity and pornography".
The cemetery of Croissy-sur-Seine was desecrated on Wednesday, January 17th. Crosses were broken and headstones were wrecked. No mention of the incident was made in the media.
“I work for the local NHS Trust and female nurses are not allowed to wear a small necklace with a cross. But it seems unfair that Muslim women are allowed to cover their heads with scarves,” says a respondent who wishes to remain anonymous.
The Christian Institute published a report called "Marginalising Christians", cataloguing numerous cases of Christians being sidelined by public bodies, popular media, employers and facing barriers to public funding.
Violation of the Catholic Cemetery; desecration of graves, as well as, the demolition of a cross in Bushat, Shkodër, were reported. Police did not apprehend the perpetrators.
Countless Christian Churches and cemeteries desecrated and vandalized in 2009. Find here a selected overview.
Graffiti on several church buildings, presumably by satanic groups: Two incidents were reported to the police in 2008, one in 2009.
Find here a list of cases for the year 2009 which was brought to our attention .
In 2009 the Roman Catholic Polish magazine, Gosc Niedzielny (Sunday Visitor) was fined nearly €25,000 for an anti-abortion editorial.
In 2008 and 2009 several isolation cases of vandalizing of churches took place in various parts of Lithuania. These cases include on breaking into churches and vandalizing cemeteries, presumably by satanic groups. Some cases were reported to the police.
The orthodox archpriest was shot dead by criminals after he admonished them for hooliganism. The killers came to the church and defecated in the hallway. The priest asked them to stop their acting and was shot to death.
Christmas wordings were substituted by non-religious phrases on countless occasions. Phrases range from “seasonal greetings” to “may your celebration be under a good star” to "white seasons songs" in all European countries. A very interesting report has reached us from an employee of a global corporation based in Switzerland.
‘I feel if I had spoken about almost any other topic I would have been fine but Christianity is seen as a no-go area. It felt as if I was being treated as a criminal. It is like a bad dream that had come true,’ says sacked teacher Olive Jones.
Due diligence omitted in questionable article in German daily Die Zeit wrongly accusing Christians of being in favour of radical law in Uganda. Complaint to Press Council lodged by professor of journalism.
Eight families in Salzkotten, Germany, have suffered heavy fines and now their fathers have been sentenced to prison, because they have refused to send their elementary school-age children to mandatory sexual education classes. State wants “to prevent parallel societies.”
Several acts of vandalism against the church of Derventa were reported in December 2009. Vandals attempted to break in the church, destroyed windows, damaged the cemetery and destroyed lights and decorations.
The advent season is used by Belgian anti-religious politicians to propose ban of religious symbols on objects serving a public function and a ban on religious traditions of public life.
A Christian hotelier couple who expressed their Christian beliefs to Muslim guest during a discussion of religion were subsequently arrested for disrupting public order. Charges were later dismissed.
Homosexual students disrupted a lecture of Protestant philosopher Prof. Edith Düsing at Cologne University. The students made noise and used kissing and banners due to her support of a manifesto in May 2009 protesting the cancellation of an academic lecture at a psychology congress on grounds of the speakers’ research on healing homosexuality.
The International Social Survey Program - a 45-nation academic group - finds that nearly 40 percent of population has negative view of Christians. 49 percent of those surveyed said they would either "absolutely" or "most likely" not support a political party that accepted people from another religion. No non-Muslim religious gathering in Turkey is completely "risk free."
A couple from northern Hessen (Germany) had to pay a fine to the extent of 120 € for taking their children out of school for religious reasons. The district Court of Kassel charged the 48-year-old man and his 43-year-old wife with 60 daily rates of 1€ in an appellate decision. In the previous contested judgment of June 2008 they were supposed to go to jail for three months, even though the attorney admitted that the children are well educated.
New FBI statistics on hate crimes show a nine percent increase in crimes against religious groups in 2008 and an almost 25 percent increase in reported hate crimes against Catholics.
EU-equal opportunities-commissioner Vladimir Spidla has said that absolutely no exemptions can be allowed in anti-discrimination laws, even for religious conscience. In a letter to the British government, the EU has demanded that Britain abolish laws protecting religious freedom rights with regards to "sexual orientation."
United Left (IU) and Initiative for a Green Catalonia (ICV) proposed an amendment to the National Spanish Budget to deprive the Catholic Church of state funding, remove the tax deduction of volunteer contributions of citizens, and end the benefits on value-added-tax and property tax.
The Women’s Telephone Association of Milan launched an awareness campaign on violence against women featuring a semi-nude woman in the position of the crucifixion, with the slogan: “Who pays for the sins of men?”
Chapel set on fire in the night from November 15th to 16th in Over (Hamburg). Damage caused is estimated over 100,000 Euros.
Scotland town eliminated all references to Christmas, an address by a Christian minister, and the traditional nativity from its annual holiday celebration.
Police investigating the brutal assault of two teenage boys in Canterbury in November who say they may have been attacked because they were delivering Christian leaflets.
Scottish gay/transsexual festival "Glasgay!" featured the play "Jesus, Queen of Heaven" in which Jesus is a transsexual woman. Taxpayer money involved. Christian protestors named "homophobic".
Christian woman of Norwich complained about a gay pride march in letter to police upon which she was investigated on hate crime.
Judge Fernando Calamita sentenced to 10 years of occupational ban and fined for delaying the adoption of a little girl by the lesbian partner of her mother as a form of conscientious objection.
Aleksejs Ribakovs, Orthodox Priest, was beaten and forced to move to another city to protect his family. One of the suspects was caught and identified as a young Muslim who proclaimed to hate Christians.
A Somerset Parish Council ended a 115-year tradition of saying Christian prayers at the beginning of its meeting after receiving a complaint.
A church in London has seen congregation numbers dwindle from 100 to 30 since the local council subjected it to noise restrictions following a complaint from a Muslim neighbour.
A large percentage of Turkish residents report that Christians are unwelcome in both the public and private sectors.
Professor Luigi Lombardi Vallauri's teaching contract was not prolonged by the Catholic University of Milano after he taught things like the gospel was the “most frightening message ever made known to mankind” and that “Jesus was through and through a bad human being”. On October 20th, the Court ruled that this was a violation of his freedom of opinion.
Catholics were stoned while participating to a Mass at the cemetery chapel of Donji Vajuf.
Unknown perpetrators placed several pornographic images in the hymnal books of two Tyrolean Churches, and glued various Jewish and Nazi symbols on the front cover.