CV NEWS FEED // Intolerance towards Christians in the West has risen sharply in recent years, according to a new report from the Family Research Council.
Family Research Council (FRC) is a nonprofit research and educational organization that focuses on family issues in society from a Christian perspective. According to the 2024 report on Christian intolerance in the West, several countries are taking “authoritarian measures against Christians simply trying to live out their faith.”
The report continued:
In the United Kingdom, Christians are being arrested for silently praying in their own heads outside of abortion facilities. In Germany, we see crackdowns on alternative faith-based forms of education. In the United States, Christian teachers and coaches are being fired for their beliefs about human sexuality, and Christians can no longer assume that their place of worship will not be targeted with violent action.
FRC analyzed open-source documents and other reports to determine the extent of violent acts against Christians. Between January 2020 and December 2023, the organization found 168 different acts of Christian intolerance in 16 different countries.
The majority of incidents (58) were in the United States, with 43 others in the United Kingdom and 36 in Canada. The year 2020 had the highest number of reported violent acts, as most incidents occurred when pastors were fined or jailed for holding services that violated government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions.
“In 2021, we identified 49 incidents. Many of these incidents were still related to COVID-19 restrictions, but a good amount were related to Christians expressing their biblically informed views on marriage and sexuality, as well as praying or preaching in public,” the report stated.
2022 had only 25 incidents, but 2023 had 33 intolerant acts that were mainly related to free speech issues.
“The past three years each having fewer incidents than 2020 does not necessarily indicate an overall decline in intolerance toward Christians,” the report continued. “Although FRC identified fewer incidents related to COVID-19 after 2020, incidents that we identified of Christians facing discrimination for their biblically informed beliefs increased.”
The report stated that:
These stories are alarming and show the diverse ways Western governments—which ought to be the standard bearers for upholding freedom of religion and expression—are undermining the fundamental human right to religious freedom.
