“In Europe, where religion has often been seen as a problem, public opinion hasn’t been particularly concerned about the fate of religious communities. This seems to be changing now, as false images of religion give way to a greater awareness of its contribution to the common good,” said Rudiger Noll, director of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches (CEC).
European Union foreign ministers have condemned the use of terrorism against Christians, Muslim pilgrims and other religious communities. Some church leaders think the EU’s 27 member-states should go further.
In March, the Vatican’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, highlighted an “increased proliferation of episodes of discrimination and acts of violence,” citing evidence that 75 percent of those “killed because of religious hatred” worldwide were now Christian.
