The City Hall of Barcelona approved a monument to honor the gay, transsexual and lesbian lifestyle in front of Sagrada Familia, the Barcelona Basilica. The proximity of location as well as the political message in relation to the dedication of the Basilica is troubling to Christians.
Police officers of the Turkish-Cypriot government entered a Greek-Orthodox Church in Rizokarpaso on December 25th 2010 and forced the priest to stop the Christmas morning liturgy. They coerced the priest and worshippers attending liturgy to leave the church and then locked its doors.
Manuel Ángel Rodríguez, City Hall representative of Oviedo, proposed the removal of nativities from any public building, specially schools. In 2009, Juan de Padilla school, in Toledo, suppressed every religious reference to Christmas but «Halloween», a foreign celebration to Spanish tradition, was welcomed. Nativity scenes and Christmas carols were replaced in the Toledo school, while decorated trees and the pagan character of Noel were permitted after two parents had complained about the religious connotation of the shepherds and the angels seen in the traditional manger.
In Great Britain many converts from Islam to Christianity are forced to worship in secret at the risk of their own lives according to the report of the French Internet Portal “Observatoire de l’islamisation” which resulted in a report broadcasted 2010 on British TV.
A small group of parents of Santo Angel School reported the School’s Catholic Center to the Ministry of Education of Murcia for "radical ideas” for organizing an optional weekly praying hour.
A Catholic national school found guilty of ''discrimination'' by Equality Tribunal and fined more than €12,000 for not hiring a Protestant teacher.
The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Equality, the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and La Caixa funded the Forum Libertat 2010 on the same days on which the historic visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Santiago and Barcelona took place. The Forum advocated the withdrawal of the public presence of the Catholic Church.
The parents of two students of the public school Ortega y Gasset in Almendralejo (Badajoz) succeeded in their campaign to remove crucifixes from classrooms and prohibit religious ceremonies. The school parent association, who opposes these decisions, called for a protest.
The Greek-Orthodox Church, school, and community in Turkey has been gradually stripped of rights by the Turkish government. European law organizations declare this a violation of human rights.
Mother of an executed prisoner cannot pray at her son's tomb. It is unclear whether he had seen a priest before execution.
Polish equality minister Elzabieta Radziszewska not asked to be a jury-member for this year’s EU journalism award “Together against Discrimination” after explaining rights of schools with regard to employing homosexual teachers.
In a report released in September 2010, the Association of Protestant Churches details the fundamental problems faced by Christians in Turkey. Among them, the place of worship is a troublesome one.
The U.S. House of Representatives deplores: the inability of Orthodox Christians, clergy and other religious communities to access and hold services at their place of worship and cemeteries in the north; the disrepair of churches and cemeteries and the preservation of religious heritage (iconography, mosaics, and other religious symbols); the lack of schools and perspectives for young people in the north.
Ongoing attacks against sidewalk-counseling pro life activists in Vienna filmed and published online.
A statue of the Virgin of Fuensanta (local patron) at the Carazony college in Malaga was removed in September at the request of parents. Another group of parents launched a campaign to ask for it to be reinstated.
The political parties Esquerra Republicana, Izquierda Unida, and Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, requested Parliament to pass a law to remove any religious sign and faith-related traditions -specially those related to Catholicism-, from the public square.
Two Christian pro-life protesters were arrested twice by Police in Brighton and await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service to see if they will face a Criminal Prosecution.
Patriarch Bartholomew leads 250 million Orthodox Greeks worldwide. The community in Turkey has dwindled to a few thousand. The Turkish government refuses to recognize the title Ecumenical Patriarch, or Bartholomew's role as an international religious leader. A journalist from CBS asked Bartholomew about his feelings, he said that he felt “crucified” by the difficulties he faces every day in Turkey.
Dr Tali Argov overlooked for promotion, stripped of her privileges and ill-treated at social gatherings, after converting from Judaism to Christianity.
Lead politicians backing the bill refuse to allow a conscience clause; opposition parties claim that the objections of Christians are being ignored.
Turkish attorneys now in fourth year of prosecuting two Christians for allegedly slandering Islam; despite the lack of any concrete evidence to support their claims, Turkish courts are continuing prosecution.
A moderate Christian preacher, Andy Robertson, was wrongly told by a police officer Gainsborough, Lincolnshire that it is a crime to publicly express the religious belief that homosexual conduct is sinful.
Evangelical Premier Media conducted a survey called "Freedom of the Cross Consultations" in May 2010. 12 % of the respondants answered that they had experienced discrimination personally, another 10% that they knew someone who had. Read here some quotes at the workplace with a special focus on the medical profession.
Evangelical Premier Media conducted a survey called "Freedom of the Cross Consultations" in May 2010. 12 % of the respondants answered that they had experienced discrimination personally, another 10% that they knew someone who had. Read here some quotes with regard to religious symbols and prayer in public.
Street Preacher Dale McAlpine was arrested after stating to a passersby that homosexuality was a sin. After seven hours in a police cell, McAlpine was released. (video footage available!)
The renowned daily reports on a noticeable rise in quality and quantity of attacks against Church buildings.
Christian parents arrested and imprisoned up to 40 days when they refused to allow their children to participate in a mandatory sexual education program.
Vienna-based lawyer Georg Zanger wants to sue leading members of the Catholic Church on grounds of membership in a criminal organisation (§ 278a StGB, Austrian Code of Penal Law).
Various non-Muslim organised religious groups continue to deal with difficulties in Turkish society that seems to refuse to them the right to legal personality. The main implications of this problematic situation lie in their property rights, their access to justice and their ability to raise funds.
A street preacher has been arrested and fined £1000 in Glasgow for telling passersby, in answer to a direct question, that homosexual activity is a sin. He was sentenced for “homophobic remarks…aggravated by religious prejudice.”
A group of socialists, communists, liberals and greens, headed by Dutch liberal Sophie in’t Veld and German green Franziska Brantner seek to ban the Catholic Service which has been in place in Strasbourg for 11 years.
Openly homosexual activists disrupt Catholic services for refusing Holy Communion to open homosexuals.
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.”
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.
Gay activists plan mass kissing provocation in front of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Counterdemonstrations led to new location while a few remained there.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
A group of Catholic nuns were openly insulted in Tuzla on August 21st, 2009.
A Christian church in South Wales was targeted by vandals who smashed its newly restored stained glass windows. Worshippers were forced to cancel services in order to fix damages.
Freedom of speech is being challenged in the case of Miguel Hayworth, a Christian street preacher in Manchester, UK who was silenced by police after publicly reading a passage from the Bible discussing homosexuality.
A new Irish initiative that would grant rights to homosexual couples contains no conscience clause and lays out fines and potential prison sentences for registrars who refuse to carry out same-sex civil partnerships. Concerns from church leaders disregarded as Bill passes Second Stage consideration.