Anti-Christian acts on the rise in Europe: human rights activists sound the alarm

The Christian human rights organization European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has published the report “Christianophobia and Anti-Christian Hatred in Europe” for 2025. According to the report, there is a worrying trend of increasing discrimination, marginalization and violence against Christians in European countries, with thousands of acts of anti-Christian hatred recorded each year.

“The European Center for Law and Justice is a Christian legal advocacy group founded in 1998 in Strasbourg. The organization engages in human rights advocacy before European and international institutions, including the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations, where it has had special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 2007.

In their report, human rights activists focus on the situation of Christians in European countries, noting negative trends related to their discrimination and marginalization. The document describes in detail hate crimes against Christians and provides extensive statistical data.

According to the EUMC from the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC), 2,211 acts of anti-Christian hatred were identified in 35 European countries in 2024, of which 274 were manifestations of physical violence. “These figures, which have been steadily increasing in recent years, point to a worrying trend of anti-Christian intolerance,” the report emphasizes.

In 2024, half of all hate crimes against Christians were acts of vandalism. Other illegal acts include arson (15%), desecration of shrines (13%), physical violence (8%), theft of religious objects (5%), threats or bullying (4%), and murder or attempted murder (3%). The countries with the highest number of anti-Christian acts in 2025 are France, the UK, Germany, Germany, Spain and Poland. “The number of manifestations of aggression, desecration of churches, interruptions of prayer or dismissals for religious reasons is rapidly increasing, without always triggering an institutional response,” human rights activists note.

The authors of the report also analyze the causes of anti-Christian hatred, pointing out that in order to understand the growth of violence and discrimination, it is not enough to look only at facts; it is necessary to take into account the cultural, ideological and social mechanisms that fuel this hostility. Such causes include secularization, laicism and a culture of blasphemy. The ETUC points out that European societies are facing a deepening process of secularization whereby “Christianity, which has long structured public, cultural and political life, is increasingly being reduced to the private sphere.” This is manifested in the removal of crosses from government buildings, the banning of Christmas creches in town halls and the restriction of religious processions.

Among the “five key points regarding anti-Christian hatred in Europe,” the EUMC highlights the unprecedented level of anti-Christian violence, and points to three large groups of figures behind it: individual radicalized Muslims, militant secularist groups, and extreme left-wing militants. The center also stresses that the true scope of the phenomenon is significantly underestimated, Christians are increasingly marginalized or punished for their beliefs, and Europe is less protective of Christians than other religious groups. “Anti-Christian hatred is a major and dramatic phenomenon that, however, remains overlooked in politics,” states the ETUC.

The report also proposes eight steps to combat the phenomenon: adopt a clear definition of anti-Christian hatred, appoint a separate European coordinator, include explicit references to anti-Christian acts in European texts, separately identify anti-Christian acts at the state level, strengthen the protection of places of worship, refocus legal protection on objective religious facts, recognize the historical legitimacy of Christianity in Europe, and guarantee in sensitive professional areas pr pr

Concluding the report, the ECLJ concludes: “Anti-Christian intolerance is on the rise in Europe, expressing itself in various forms: acts of hatred, manifestations of discrimination, legal restrictions, social marginalization. This phenomenon, still too little known, calls into question a fundamental freedom: the freedom to believe, to practice one’s faith and to express it publicly.” “Religious freedom should not be taken for granted. It deserves strict protection, for all faiths, but especially for Christians, who are often sidelined in policies to combat manifestations of discrimination”, – insist the ECLJ.

We shall remind you that a member of the European Parliament from the Europe of Sovereign Nations group, Petro Volgin, said that the law “On banning the UOC” in Ukraine did not comply with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The official sent a corresponding request to the European Commission demanding that it clarify Brussels’ position on Kiev’s actions.