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.
The Anglican bishop of Hereford has been ordered by a court to undergo "equal opportunities training" and pay a fine of £47,345.00, the equivalent of about Euro 63,540.00, for refusing to hire an active homosexual for a position of trust with young people. The ruling also stated that Hereford diocese staff "involved in recruitment should receive equal opportunities training". "The respondents discriminated against the claimant on the grounds of sexual orientation," said the ruling from the Cardiff Employment Tribunal.
As a result of refusing by the Earl of Devon to allow a homosexual couple to hold a civil partnership ceremony, the local Council revoked the licence for hosting all civil ceremonies in the Castle. The Earl of Devon is a devout Christian, who lives with his family in the event location at stake in Powderham Castle.
Molleindustra, Italian artists and engineers, designes video games fostering hatred of Christians and religion in general. User says: Religious hate has never been so much fun.
Pope's visit to University La Sapienzia was cancelled because of anti-Catholic protests and false accusations that the Pope is not supportive of scientific discovery
Spanish socialists lashing out at the Catholic Church, accusing it of hypocrisy and of attempting to intervene in the political process.
A Greek Orthodox priest was given a suspended 70-day sentence after residents complained he rang his church bell too loudly and too often.
The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead displays statue of Christ with erect penis by gay Chinese-born artist Koh.
In Austria two individual incidents were reported in January in which a Roman Catholic Parish Priest was attacked, brutally beaten and robbed. It is unknown if the perpetrators picked the priests as victims on grounds of their faith.
On a website for pledge exchange a members offers the following: "I will post the next public person to bang on about "Christianophobia" a couple of planks of wood and a packet of nails but only if 20 other people will do the same."
Most expensive Turkish TV series ever produced now shown in cinemas. The "bad guy" is Christian.
In 2007 one out of every three Anglican churches suffered a vandal attack at some point during the year. Theft, arson and malicious damage is a problem for churches. Claims cost £1.8 million in total, a significant amount for petty crime. The average cost of these claims was around £900. These statistics don’t even take into account the smaller attacks which churches don’t report to their insurer because the damage is minor. It is therefore likely that many more thousands of churches suffer malicious damage every year.
Many acts of vandalism have occured in France in 2007. Please find here a list of examples of various incidents against Christian sites.
An attack on an Orthodox priest was foiled by Turkish police. The suspect confessed that he had been influenced by the portrayal of Christian missionaries in the TV series “The Valley of the Wolves”, where young Turkish people were depicted as being deceived and bribed for converting to Christianity.
Intentional fire was set at a Catholic chapel in the Cossack village of Leningradskaya, the Krasnodar Region. The motivation of the attack and its perpetrators remain unknown but it could be religious hate.
The war on Christian Christmas symbols wages in many countries. Interestingly, it seems not to be about religion in general. It seems to be against Christian symbols. Find here a collection of cases from the United States.
Catholic League in the U.S. collected several instances of where Christmas symbols were banned, removed or mistreated in the United States. In Europe, similar instances took place.
A Catholic priest was hospitalized Sunday after being stabbed, the latest in a string of attacks on Christians in Turkey. Police said they had detained the suspected attacker.
German "Black Attakk" CEO Karsten Jakob sells four CDs on Ebay which contain hateful language against Christ.
Prolife sidewalk counsellors praying in front of an abortion clinic were violently harrassed and sexually assaulted by people allegedly hired by the owner of the clinic, Dr. Christian Fiala, in Vienna, Austria.
A 36 year old man, wearing a clown costume, entered into the Corpus Christi Parish in Granada during mass and interrupted it. Right after, he destroyed the Baptismal Font with a wrench. The media reported that regulars to the parish had noticed the aggressor in the adjacent areas of the church in the days before the attack.
The Sevilla Biennale of Contemporary Art presented an artwork of German-born Josephine Meckseper intended to merge the concepts of sex and the religious symbolism of Holy Week. Meckseper displays Jesus Christ hanging from lingerie. Christians were offended, but Pablo Suarez, the Museums General Director in Andalucia highlighted freedom of expression without censorship. The Biennale is mostly funded with taxpayers' money.
The Parliament of Catalonia has passed a new law that increases the power of the government over religious organizations. Catholic and Evangelical churches, among others, have raised some concerns about the role of the state regulating activities that belong, originally, to religious organization. Under the new law, and from now on, a permit issued by the local City Hall is needed to carry out any religious activity, and the permit could be denied for security and health issues.
The word "Lord" was removed from a primary school grace before meals after one parent complained the mention was offensive. Contrary complaints of other parents lead to a subsequent reinstatement of the term.
The Czech Constitutional Court dismissed the proposal by a group of senators to abolish a controversial amendment to the church law that churches say limits their rights.
"Humo", a Belgian Dutch-speaking weekly that is known for its liberal and satirical opinions, published a representation of a man urinating in a chalice with the accompanying text: "And Jesus changed wine into urine". Our sources report that this was not the first time "Humo" published blasphemous representations.
Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations, says a report of the Institute for Public Policy Research, a Labour Think Tank.
A priest from the Syriac Christian community has been kidnapped in southeast Turkey.
Local authorities prohibited the ringing of church bells for noise reasons in Tilburg, Holland. A court verdict annihilated the decision in November.
Manchester, England - A Catholic airport worker was suspended for displaying an image of Jesus on a staff room wall after a Muslim colleague made a complaint against him.
A Christian couple was being forced to retire from fostering needy children on conscientious grounds after the local council imposed rules requiring them to discuss homosexuality with the children.
The European Court for Human Rights requested Turkey to bring its education system and domestic legislation into line with Article 2 of Protocol 1 to the ECHR. What triggered this decision was the discovery that religious culture and ethics classes, mandatory in primary and secondary schools, provided exclusively specific instruction in the guiding principles of the Muslim faith and its rites.
The art exhibition "Vamos a Ibiza" (Let's go to Ibiza) by artist Ivo Hendriks shows John Paul II having passive homosexual sex, and Jesus Christ on the way of the cross while a character – half man, half woman - holds a penis to his mouth. The exhibition was authorized and funded by the Ibiza local authorities, and it took place inside the former L'Hospitalet church.
Madrid City Hall and Madrid Community co-sponsored a comic exhibition which shows the Pope consuming pornography, having sex with nuns, and sheep, produced by Italian artist Federico Solmi. Madrid’s mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón is the chairman of the exhibition. The general coordinator, Armando Unsaín, said that "it might be possible that the content of the exhibition offended a minority, but no further consideration should be given to the complaints. We live in a democratic society, and the Church has not been unpolluted to deserve no criticisms."
The Holy See reported one case of verbal assault in Hungary on 14 September 2007.
The exhibit attacks monotheism, and blames it for all wars; extols the divine Elvis Presley as the new atheist god; and traces a parallel between totalitarianism (Communism, Nazism, etc) and its leaders (Stalin, Mao, Kim II Sung, Mussolini, Hitler) and the hierarchy of the Church.
Four unidentified people allegedly broke into the Orthodox Church in a mixed settlement in Bugojno. They set a table and the priests’ robes on fire, and proceeded to desecrate the church. Two individuals were prosecuted for the latter event and sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment with a two-year suspended sentence. The Bugojno Municipal Assembly agreed to compensate the Church for the damage and installed video surveillance.
The Romanian Orthodox church in Békéscsaba suffered an arson attack in the evening of July 24 by unknown people.
On July 20th, in Kozarac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Orthodox Church was stoned and the windows of the church were broken. In another incident on October 19th, a Serbian Orthodox church in Gjilan/Gnjilane, Kosovo was attacked with Molotov cocktails, but the interior of the church was not damaged.
Before and during the Gay Pride Parade Christianity was mocked by Spanish actors Pablo Puyol, Carlos Fuentes, Mariola Fuentes and Pepón Nieto who addressed the gay community encouraging them to "do as much as possible to gain eternal damnation", and "to got a step further on the way to hell". Participants wore bishops' outfits and carried anti-Christian signs.
Church worker Julian Hurst, was handing out invitations for his church's Easter service. Police seized the literature after complaint by homosexual man that church should not be allowed to advertise.
The regional governming authority of Extremadura funded with public funds the book „Sanctorum e In Breedin“ containing photographs displaying pornographic images together with Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, and other Catholic sacred symbols. St. Roque is shown having an erection while holding his dog; Archangel Gabriel's picture displays the angel in sexual climax; extrements are shown over the chalice in substitution of Holy Communion; Jesus Christ is depicted as a transsexual; San Juan de la Cruz is shown having oral sex; and so on.
"Art" in Valencia: Piece "Jaula de Canarios" (Canaries Cage) shows an image of God covered with birds excrement. Another piece shows nuns dancing with members of the military force; and another one displays Jesus and the Virgin Mary being "cooked" in a pan. Sacred images have been beheaded, and the original heads replaced with Disney's characters.
Representatives of Esquerra Unida and ERPV at the Sueca City Hall, Valencia, decided to suppress the religious connotation of the traditional festival that honors the Virgin of Sales. The proposal seeks to strip it of any religious meaning disregarding its Catholic origins. The representatives decided to run the festival under a new dedication, the "Rice Festival".
Three Christians tortured, stabbed, and killed in Turkey. Four of the five men detained, confessed having committed the crime for nationalist and religious reasons.
In April 2007 André-Mutien Léonard, then the Roman Catholic bishop of Namur gave an interview in the weekly magazine Télé Moustique, where he was asked his opinion on homosexuality. In his answer he referred to Sigmund Freud and deduced that homosexuality was essentially psychological in nature. The court cleared the bishop - but the fact that he went through trial is of great concern.
New gay rights law forces the Catholic Church to pull out of offering adoption services in the UK.
In Dean/Decane, Kosovo, the wall of one of the Serbian-Orthodox church’s most revered sites, a 14th-century monastery, was damaged by an anti-tank missile. On 4 May, the Kosovo police service said they had identified a suspect, but no arrest was made.
In Prozor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, four people broke down a metal cross that belonged to the Catholic community from a nearby village, and dragged it a few hundred meters away. The four defendants signed a plea agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office in Mostar, admitting their guilt. Three defendants were sentenced to two months’ imprisonment with a probation period of one year, and one defendant got a sentence of three months’ imprisonment.
Regulations Barring Religious Schools from Teaching Against Homosexuality Approved Sexual Orientation Regulations Pass House of Lords. Concerned Christians prayed outside of the Houses of Parliament.
A Turkish youth disturbed Protestant church services for weeks at a time by making noise in front of church windows in Oberstenfeld (Baden-Wurttemberg).
The City Hall of Leida issued with public funds a catalog in support of a cartoon exhibition showing the evolution of homosexuals groups over the time. The catalog contained pornographic drawings were mixed with Christians symbols; (an artwork of Nazario Luque Vera). The mayor of Leida, Xavier Sàez, was requested to apologize and to stop the further distribution of the catalog but denied any wrongdoing.
A roof surface of almost 50 square meters of lead roofing was stolen from the Serbian Orthodox Church consecrated to Our Lady in Prizren which is in process of rebuilding after the devastation of Albanian mass riots in 2004.
Fernando Perez Crespo, teacher of religion at Carlos III High School, filed a formal complaint for mobbing. For the last four years, the schedule for his class had not been respected by the school authorities, parents who had requested religious instruction discovered that their children had been enrolled in other courses instead of Perez Crespo's religion class. At times Mr. Perez Crespo was compelled to use the school bathrooms or the smoking room to for teaching.
A British schoolgirl has been barred from wearing a crucifix necklace in class, the Daily Mail reported.
Totnes Town Council replaced Christian prayers at the start of its meeting with a moment of silence.
Acording to National Sources, 172 acts of vandalism against all religions have occured in France in 2006. A large number of those were perpetrated against Christian places of worship. Please find in the following an exemplary list of indicidents.
Christian sites, ministres and believers have been targeted by various attacks in Kosovo during the year 2006. Here is a non-exhaustive list of these actions:
The Western Isles Council´s registrars have received hate mail and death threats because they refused, on moral grounds, to conduct civil partnership ceremonies. The registrars said that same sex unions would be conducted in fulfilment of the law, but no wedding-alike ceremony would be provided. Gay groups fired back indicating they would follow a human rights suit against the council to ensure gay couples on the Isles the same „rights“ as those elsewhere.
The La Favorita restaurant in Madrid has been fined 12,000 € by the City Hall for refusing to serve a gay wedding party, according to the El Mundo newspaper. The council considers that the owners have committed a ‘serious infraction’ and is guilty of discrimination.
The bishop of Montpellier, Mgr Thomazeau, was celebrating midnight Christmas Mass in his cathedral when he was interrupted by ten individuals who entered uttering insults, yelling, and manifesting in various ways their hostility to the Christian faith; some were naked to accentuate the provocation. The police had to intervene in order to drive them out. The mayor showed great indignation and the faithful were very shocked by such behavior.
The priest Andrei Nikolaev, his wife and three children have died after their house was set on fire in the village Pryamukhino, Tver region. This was not the first time someone tried to disserve the family or the church. Several months before the accident, the priest informed police and asked for help and protection. He even addressed the media for help but nobody answered. The killer doused the house with gasoline and set on fire.
The Odemis Love Protestant Church in Odemis, near Izmir, was attacked with Molotov cocktails. The church, where the pastor and his family lived, had been the target of stone-throwing and harassment in the months prior to the event.
The Catholic School Monte Tabor was vandalized just a few days before its inauguration in September 2006. Early in the morning, wearing gloves, four youths broke into the school and caused significant damage to the establishment, estimated in the amount of 20,000 Euro. Doors, windows, desks, and chairs were destroyed, and the walls painted with anti-Catholic expressions, as well as attacks to the PP, the PSOE political opponents.
Gay Police Association places ad in The Independent with a photograph of a bible next to a pool of blood.
According to the reports of www.kath.net, the business manager of the Office of Tourism in the municipality of Schruns/Tschagguns in Southern Tyrol, Manuel Bitschnau, asked landlords of 300 holiday apartments to remove religious symbols. This was done in the course of a program of “improvement” in the tourism sector. The reason he gave: people of religions other than Christian could feel offended.
The official seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate suffered an attack in Istanbul on October 6th and was damaged by a grenade.
Wolfgang Baake, general secretary of Christian Media Association (Christlichen Medienverbundes KEP) Germany, calls the reporting and public discussion of evolution vs. intelligent design vs. creationism “defamation” of Christians.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has admitted to a marked bias against Christianity among the network’s executives and key anchors.
Stage play “The Revelation” of author Leo Bassi ridicules the Christian faith, by portraying God as illogical and blood thirsty, believers as cruel, and the Church as power hungry.
In July 2005 the Spanish Socialist Youth political wing (JSE) has requested the government to appoint a commission to review the agreements between Spain and the Holy See. The JSE General Secretary and speaker, Herick Campos, emphasized the need to put the Catholic Church "in its place, without any privileges because the Catholic hierarchy has abused of its condition of majority to influence government affairs, specially in issues related to education and finance". This was supported by government leaders in 2006.
One day before the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. in his hometown Marktl (Bavaria), unknown perpetrators threw two paint bombs unto the front of his birthplace at about 5 o’clock in the morning. The building had just been completely renovated. After the attack, the lower part of the facade had to be completely redone. The perpetrators were not found.
On Sept 10th, unknown perperators vandalized the birth place of Josef Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in Marktl in Germany, by throwing colour on the newly restaurated front walls.
Stephen Green, 55, national director of the evangelical organization Christian Voice, Christian Arrested for Distributing Bible Quotes Opposing Homosexuality in South Wales, UK.
The parish Asunción de Nuestra Señora, located in the Benimaclet neighborhood of Valencia, was vandalized and the walls painted with anti-Christian messages and images. The parish priest Juan Luis Orquín pointed out that anarchists and gays group have been attacking the Church on regular basis. The priest added that local authorities have not taken any measure to reduce the harassment and the threat to the church. The local newspaper El Levante reported that before the arrival of Benedict XVI to Valencia, a fire was started at the parish doors and the damage caused is still visible.
On June 24th a LGBT parade targeted Valencia Cathedral where a priestly ordination mass was taking place. Protesters, holding anti-Christian signs and dressed in profane attire, were joined by the Secretary of Social Affairs, Pedro Zerolo. During the same days, an art exhibit was hosted at the University of Valencia. In order to mock the Catholic Church and sacred art, icons were used for profane images.
Fire-raising on Catholic School and Chapel in Montpellier, France.
Students Barred From Wearing Christian Chastity Symbol in Millais School, West Sussex; UK.
The Secretary of the State Department of Communications, Fernando Moraleda, declared that the Government will "not pay more attention to the catechism than to the [official] program". Moraleda´s statement came right after the Pope Benedict XVI requested the teaching of religion in the schools be conducted in similar conditions to other subjects and as it has been agreed to in an international treaty signed by Spain and the Vatican. These agreements are mandatory law for Spain. "The Government has a program and it cannot pay attention to the catechism", Moraleda added.
After receiving a formal claim from the Ombudsman Jose Chamizo, the Council of Andalucia requested the Department of Education to remove crucifixes and other religious symbols from San Juan de la Cruz of Baeza school in Jaén. According to the media, only one parent had complaint to the Ombudsman to remove the crucifixes displayed in the classrooms.
Ruth Kelly, a devout Roman Catholic was made Minister for Women and Equality. Gay rights campaigners reacted with disbelief and stirred up a worrying debate whether a Catholic was fit for such a government position.
Anti-abortion campaigner jailed for sending abortion photo and video to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, UK. He was subsequently denied urgently needed hip treatment.
MTV Cartoon Series Popetown demeans and ridicules Vatican.
Sergei Shavtsov was arrested and jailed for 10 days for organizing a meeting on Christian history and Bible issues without an official permit.
The retired couple Joe and Helen Roberts were interrogated by police officers after they complained about their local council's gay rights policy on the grounds of their Christian belief that homosexual practices are morally wrong.
A painting by Amador Castaner which was displayed for the wine fair of Saint-Amand-Montrond (Cher) angried parish priest Jean-François Breton and the inhabitants. In a scene of holy mass, the people’s cheeks were reddened by drinks and they were waiting for more – namely to receive the blood of Christ (the wine). A woman kneeling at the foot of a priest offered him a rather bald chest. The offending paiting was finally masked.
A Muslim woman was attacked and beaten in her shop. The attacker accused the woman of “Christianizing” his daughter. The perpetrator was arrested and was tried on charges of willful infliction of injury. He was punished with a fine.
War Memorial Cross was removed in Baarsjesweg, Amsterdam, after Moslems in the neighborhood said that it “disturbed” them. After protests of war veterans it was subsequently reinstalled.
Christian media agency CAT is forbidden to show a TV-Spot for advertising their magazine, Baden, Switzerland
Muslim anti-Christian protest took place in London in front of several European embassies and is portrayed on photos which were taken during a demonstration against the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
On 15 February, a man locked two female devotees inside a building near Belgrade. He then started destroying their religious literature and attempted to drag them into the cellar. One of the two victims managed to escape and subsequently called the police, who rescued the other.
Sculpture shows Christ with a Missile instructing Second World War German soldiers in Ferran Cano Art Gallery in Madrid.
In the northern city of Trabzon, a 61-year-old Catholic priest was shot dead while praying in his church. The 16-year-old perpetrator, who was arrested shortly after the shooting, shouted a religious slogan to justify his actions, and allegedly made a confession to the police that indicated the religious motivation behind the attack. The killing was strongly and publicly condemned by the government, including by the interior minister.