A European delegate fights against Christianophobia and the erosion of religious liberty in Europe
“We can talk about intolerance against Christians in the world. On the streets and in offices, indeed everywhere we find intolerance and hate directed against Christians.. We have to stand up for ourselves and say: enough is enough; we do not have to support this anymore.” These were the words of the British European deputy, Nathan Gill, at the opening of a discussion about Christian intolerance in the European Parliament.
International experts, lawyers, and leaders of support organisations for religious liberty participated in the conference which dealt with the “Devastation of Christianity” in Europe.
Hendrik Storm, director of the Barnabas Fund made the following points:
- “We have to face up to the erosion of religious liberty in Europe. It is easier to ignore the consequences and not to care about the problems… The erosion of liberty is invisible at first sight, but there are fissures below the surface.”
- “You cannot just choose one area of freedom that you want to protect: freedom of speech, or the press, or religion. These areas are strongly related and you cannot separate them. If you want to protect one area, you must protect all of them.”
- “Even in Europe, there is no genuine religious freedom. We must strive therefore to strengthen this right of citizens, and political leaders must come to respect it.”
The Vienna-based ‘Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe’ recorded more than 2,200 cases where Christians were discriminated against since 2006. There have been over 500 documented cases for 2016 and 2017 alone. The report of the Observatory is available to the public on the internet.
Nathan Gill, the European Parliamentary delegate said that if Europe ignores its heritage, it ignores the sacrifices of those who fought for “a liberal and democratic Europe.” He went on to say: “No nation, on its own, can withstand the persecution of Christians… we have to join forces and defend our faith and our rights. We have to be the voice of those persecuted people who cannot speak out to save themselves.”
Source: InfoChrétien