The New York Times set firmly on Pope Benedict in its front page coverage of the fallout of the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Poor journalism with anti-Christian bias.
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).
Over 300 parents and children filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights on the grounds that Spain’s compulsory “Education in Citizenship” classes promote sexual promiscuity and abortion and provide materials that mock Christianity. In 2012, the Spanish government stopped the programme.
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.
Catholic League presents several examples of media bias against Christians in the United States, mainly around sex abuse scandals. US media is also widely in use in Europe.
A day after a pro-life manifestation had taken place in Plaza Nueva, Seville, a graffiti was found on one of the walls of San Román Church. The graffiti displayed the phrase: "Put your rosary away from our ovaries". The church wall was cleaned on the same day after a public outcry on intolerance and vandalism.
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 19th century Cambridgeshire church has been gutted following a massive fire, reportedly started when yobs set Bibles and prayer books alight. The horrific fire in Westry, near March, left the village church in tatters with only the external brickwork remaining.
The church of Sainte Clair of Quimper was burglarized on the night of Thursday, March 18th, 2010. The tabernacle was also desecrated. Burglars broke into the church; all the furniture were forced-open, the liturgical cloths thrown to the ground and every room was carefully searched including the bell tower. But in the end, visitors left with only a CD player and a microphone.
The Bible was thrown to the ground, tiles were broken, benches overturned, flower pots broken in the parish church of Arras. It is not the first time damage was noted in this church. This case of vandalism deeply shocked Father Berthe, who evokes the "lack of respect while the good news of Jesus' love is a source of hope for everyone."
A Dutch marketing company was sued after refusing to print bath towels that supposed to be an advertistment for promoting homosexual behaviour. The company had declared on their website that they are not interested in orders that are conflicting with their Christian beliefs and morals. Invoking the Equal Treatment Commission (ETC), the company was accused of not fulfilling a service that was beneficial for the general public and discrimination against certain social groups.
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.
Twelve crosses were removed from the walls of the surgery unit of the public hospital of Bad Soden, Germany, in February, while patients were watching.
Graffiti on church walls, destruction of religious art, and desecration of objects of worship becoming increasingly commonplace in France.
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.”
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."