The Spanish TV channel "La Sexta" broadcasted the program “Salvados por la Iglesia” (Saved by the Church), hosted by Jordi Evole. Evole, knows as "el follonero" (the troublemaker), makes fun of the Pope for allegedly wearing Prada; the canonization process; and the Wednesday General Audience hosted by the Pope in the Vatican.
A group of women gathered in front of Santa María del Pi Church in Barcelona for a pro-choice manifestation. Five of them entered the Church, interrupted the service, and in front of the mass attendees chained themselves to one of the church altars for "free and unrestricted abortions".
A parish priest was beaten up by three youths who hurled religious abuse during the attack. The assault took place in the churchyard of St Matthew’s Church in Bethnal Green, East London. Reverend Kevin Scully was left with two black eyes and a cut nose, and only escaped more serious injury because a member of the public intervened.
The Toledo City Hall council representative in charge of community events, Carmen Jiménez Martín, authorized a profane parade the day before of the traditional and highly celebrated Corpus Christi procession. The theater company Morboria used grotesque characters and dressed them in religious gowns; women dressed as prostitutes were marching next to other participants dressed as saints; and a puppet represented the Virgin Mary. Sacred symbols were part of the profane decoration.
Representatives of the United Left (Izquierda Unida Republicana) of Asturias released a public announcement where they condemned the participation of civil servants in the funeral in Madrid by „not being able to distinguish public functions from private life.“ They requested that a laity protocol be applied in the future.
The International Atheist Federation complained to President Rodriguez Zapatero requesting the immediate ending of the announcement of Roman Catholic services at Barajas airport, in Madrid.
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane, a member of the Sinn Fein Party, is importing school uniform policies from London which led to schools being able to ban students from wearing crucifixes and Sikh religious bangles.
The Christian Youth Festival “Christival” experienced tremendous opposition on site. 15.000 peaceful youth disturb by socalled “anti-sexistic alliance” under the name of “No Christival” shouting slogans such as “Masturbation instead of Evangelization” or “Never again Jesus”.
The City Hall of Sevilla, run by the PSOE socialist party, has announced its intention to change the names of some streets associated with Franco and his regime. The proposal is a consequence of the Historical Memory Law that allows the removal of names and signs related to Franco's times. One of them is now considered to be Pope Pius XII and a street named after him. In the PSOE words, the Pope is a "francoist character", well-known as the "Nazi Pope".
EastEnders, a BBC soap opera based on the life of Lucas Aaron Johnson, a pastor played by Don Giler, portrays Johnson as a twisted Christian preacher with strong religious convictions committing terrible crimes. The executive producer Diederick Santer said about the character: "Lucas is doing the Lord's work".
An Italian pro-life politician was pelted with eggs and bottles during an April 2 campaign appearance in Bologna. At least 15 people were injured.
Pentecostal service stormed by perpetrators, pastor beaten, parishioners threatened with pistols held to their heads.
In a newsletter Austrian "Aktion Kritischer Schüler" (Socialist Pupils Association) encourages members to take the occasion of the international day against racism (March 21st) to vandalize churches.
January/March 2008: “Christival” – a large Christian youth festival is protested by “anti-sexistic forces” due to its “conservative” contents such as its opositon to pre-marital sex and abortion. Organisers currently discuss with police how to protect participants and the festival.
The Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich withdraws recognition from "Management Ethics on a Christian Foundation" seminar because of its Christian content. It is said to violate “political correctness” and to have too little reference to the curriculum of business and administration ethics.
Anglican priest, Canon Michael Ainsworth, beaten up and insulted in 'faith hate' incident in his own churchyard by Asian youths.
The Catholic Bishop of Lancaster UK today gave a spirited response to accusations by secularist MPs in a Commons Committee who accused him of trying to establish religious "fundamentalism" in his schools. Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue told the Committee that schools in his diocese should see it as their prime duty to teach the Catholic faith and to evangelise and that this constituted neither "proselytism" nor "fundamentalism".
The Observatory for the Freedom of Religion and Conscience (OLRC) issued a report quoting “100 reasons to be alert” about the attacks against Christianity by Spanish officials. The author affirms that the increasing hostility against Christians aims to eliminate religious expressions from the public square.
A police community support officer (PCSO) told two church workers in Birmingham, “You can’t preach here, this is a Muslim area”. The incident happened as Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham handed out Christian tracts on Alum Rock Road.
A Christian magistrate lost his second and final appeal in a suit in which he claimed his employer had discriminated against him because of his religious conviction that adoptive children ought not to be placed with homosexuals.