Europe, too many violations

Also the cradle of human rights, the European continent, has been surveyed in the “Report on Religious Freedom in the World” compiled by Aid to the Church in Need. The situation in Europe on the degree of respect of freedom of conscience was presented by Martin Kugler, a member of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe. Over the past seven years, the Centre has documented more than 1,300 cases, cataloging, depending on the case, hate crimes, increasing vandalism, negative generalizations and exclusion. The victims are the major religious communities present in our continent: Christians, Jews and Muslims. Unfavorable legislation. In a survey of 2013, conducted with the support of the Vatican nunciatures in Europe, the Vienna Observatory documented 41 laws adversely affecting Christians. The survey asked for example whether a Christian could wear religious symbols at work or if Christian parents may exempt their children from compulsory education to sexuality. The situation is addressed with a “weak response” on the part of the political realm. The ACN document also includes specific national cases. Here are some. Northern Countries. The geographical mapping designed by ACN in its annual report, shows that countries such as Denmark, France, Netherlands, UK, Sweden and Norway appear in the list whereby “the degree of violation of religious freedom” is “worrying” and “worsening”. The phenomenon – says the Report – is linked to the spread in Europe of an “aggressive atheism” and a ” liberal secularism” that have a strong impact on issues such as religious schools, gay marriage and euthanasia. “Although the general public believes that the faithful should be free to practice their faith in private – says the report – consensus decreases when it comes to the freedom to manifest one’s faith in the public arena”. This means that “the rights of certain groups are increasingly crushed by the rights of other groups” and that “whenever the right to gender equality or those of homosexuals go against the rights of conscience of believers, the first usually prevail”. The United Kingdom. Catholic adoption agencies in the United Kingdom that refuse to entrust children to same-sex couples have been forced to change their norms or to shut down. An Official Report of the Scottish Government on the other hand has shown, in 2011-2012, an increase of 26% (876 complaints were filed) of aggravated crimes with a religious background, mostly directed against Catholics and Protestants. But discrimination is not only directed against Christians. Strongly affected are also Muslims and Jews. In fact, the findings of a survey conducted by the BBC show that Muslims are the object of discrimination in the area of recruitment. An imam of Birmingham has been the target of spitting only because of his “Muslim-guise”. Acts of anti-Semitism have affected all Jewish leaders in the country, an increase of 5% compared to 2012. Denmark. In June 2012 there was a strong tension between the State and the Lutheran Evangelical State after the approval of a law that compels Church pastors to celebrate religious marriages between same-sex couples. The new regulation recognizes the right to freedom of conscience for the pastors but it demands that the local bishop ensures that these marriages be celebrated all the same. Belgium. On April 18 2013 at the Free University of Brussels in Ixelles feminist activists with bare breasts belonging to the Femen group have tried to block the Conference of Catholic archbishop André Leonard with shouts and insults accusing him of homophobia. In Belgium, the tragic memory of the terrorist attack against the Jewish Museum in Brussels on May 2014, that caused the death of three people and the wounding of a fourth person, is an open wound.