During the recent Canada Day holiday, ten churches were targeted and vandalised as a “protest” against the Roman Catholic Church’s role in the school system. One of the churches was an African Evangelical church that hosted several African refugees who had escaped persecution in Africa and had come to Canada in search of safety and freedom. The incidents of vandalism and hate undoubtedly brought back difficult memories for these survivors and their families.

Incidents of persecution or hate incidents targeting communities of faith in the West have risen in recent years. In France, 129 thefts and 877 acts of vandalism of catholic sites were recorded in 2018. In first months of 2019, the Conference of French Bishops reported 228 violent anti-Christian acts throughout the country.

Incidents like these show a growing trend of active hatred toward Christians and anti-religious sentiments throughout the West, including antisemitism, which has also seen a sharp rise as Jewish communities have frequently found themselves the target of hate and discrimination.

Source: persecution.org