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.
Members of the socialist party said that they would vote against the National Spanish Budget as long as the government continues the provision of funds to the Catholic Church. During an interview broadcast by the media Ser, MP Victorino Mayoral, a socialist representative, claimed that the Catholic Church funding is "dubious, not to mention unconstitutional". Mayoral says that the secular government of Spain cannot afford the funding of a religious organizations that "revives Franco's times“.
Member of the Scottish Parliament asked Strathclyde Police to investigate remarks made by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow. The Archbishop had defended the institution of marriage in a church service.
(ongoing) Visa difficulties for religious personel; police failure to protect the faithful; administrational obstacles prevent religious services.
(2000-2006) Several instances recorded. Christians faced violence including murders, threats, vandalisations and administrational difficulties.
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".
The official speaker for the PSOE on issues related to Education, Adolfo Navarro, has requested the intervention of the Education Council to reprimand another case of "bad education". The complaint submitted by Navarro refers to some material facilitated by the Ethics Professor of two students from Colegio de Jesus who requested it. The material contains traditional Catholic teachings on sexuality. Navarro says the material "only promotes homophobia and ignorance".
Karoli Gaspar Calvinist University in Budapest was sued by the Hatter Support Group for Gays and Lesbians after the University had dismissed a student who was involved in promotion of homosexuality. The university declared that the religious school cannot let, conduct and promote homosexuality, because it is against its morals, beliefs and the way of teaching.
On Sunday June 5th, priest Monsignor Patrick Jacquin was hurt in Notre Dame Cathedral when about twenty members of the association ‘Act Up’ burst into the cathedral, defying the security personnel, in order to perform a mock marriage of two lesbians.
The former Spanish ambassador to the Holy See, Gonzalo Puente Ojea, affirmed that the Catholic Church is a public enemy nowadays. In the view of Puente Ojea, the Church is used to a privilege treatment and its bellicose tone towards the Spanish government is part of a power game.
French member of parliament, Christian Vanneste, sentenced to payments for "homophobic insults"; three years later acquitted by last juridical instance.
Staff sacked after refusing Sunday work.
(1996 - 2005) Legal developments put religious freedom at risk. Christian groups listed as dangerous sects. State power to interfere with religious exercise established by law.
Pastor Ake Green charged with committing a "hate crime" for preaching a sermon on homosexuality in Borghold.
New law prohibits criticism of homosexuality and makes biblical applications to today a criminal offence.
(October 2001-April 2002) Evangelical preacher arrested and fined for displaying a sign in public saying ‘Stop Immorality’.
(1995/1996) Several instances have been collected in which staff were denied the right to conscientious objection and lost their jobs.
Ayios Procopios, a Byzantine church of the 11th or 12th century situated in the village of Synkrasi, in the Famagusta district, in the Republic of Cyprus, was desecrated after the military had occupied the region by force. The iconostasis was destroyed and the portable icons were stolen. The church is today a refuge for birds.
Antifonitis Monastery, a Byzantine monastery, built at the end of the 12th century, was destroyed as a consequence of the Turkish invasion. The heads of the two Archangels in the apse of the church were ruined. Turkish illicit dealers in antiquities cut into pieces and removed from the walls the representations of the Day of Judgment and the Stem of Jesse, vandalising a large part of them.
Government lawyers have told the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Christians should “leave their religious beliefs at home or move to another job” when faced with a clash between the requirements of their faith and their employment.