(LifeSiteNews) — A new report from the Family Research Council (FRC) highlights the growing persecution and intolerance towards Christians in the West.
The report entitled “Free to Believe? The Intensifying Intolerance Toward Christians in the West” documents 168 incidents of persecution or unfair discrimination against Christians across 16 countries between 2019 and 2023.
Tony Perkins, President of FRC, called the report a “warning call” and said, “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.”
The authors of the report admit that their work is “far from exhaustive” but it does highlight “the factors contributing to Western governments’ violations of Christians’ religious freedom.”
The country with the highest number of incidents in the FRC report was the U.S., with 58, followed by the U.K., with 43, and Canada, with 36 cases.
The majority of the cases recorded in 2020 and 2021 were related to COVID-19 restrictions, as many church leaders were fined for holding in-person services during lockdowns or because Christians lost their jobs for refusing to take COVID-19 shots due to moral and religious objections.
The second theme seen throughout the past four years was Christians being fired, fined, arrested, or even imprisoned for speaking out against the LGBT or abortion agenda, as well as for praying or preaching in public.
The report highlights the case of former Finnish MP Päivi Räsänen, who was put on trial for “hate speech” for posting a bible verse that condemns homosexual acts. This case is “emblematic” of the increasing trend of portraying anything that contradicts “progressive secular values” as bigoted or hateful, according to the FRC report.
READ: Päivi Räsänen is fighting on behalf of Christians not only in Finland but across the West
The authors single out the U.K. as being especially draconian when it comes to censoring the freedom of Christians to express their views, with its “buffer zones” around abortion clinics as the most prominent example. Numerous faithful Catholics and other Christians were arrested and fined for peacefully praying in front of abortion mills, including those, like pro-life activist Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, who were arrested for praying silently in their heads.
“It points to a very dangerous trend when people silently praying are being arrested based on presumed thought crimes,” the report states.
READ: WATCH: UK Catholic woman fined again for silently praying outside abortion center
The FRC also points out the ways that Christians have been unfairly discriminated against in schools and universities for defending marriage and traditional sexual morals. For instance, Jessica Tapia, a Christian teacher in California, was fired in early 2023 for refusing to hide the “gender transition” of students from their parents.
The report included the case of Josh Alexander, the Canadian teenager who famously organized a protest at St. Joseph Catholic High School against males using women’s bathrooms. He was expelled and then arrested for trespassing when he returned to his school. Alexander said his parents were put on leave from their jobs as teachers in Ontario simply for being related to him.
READ: Catholic school board upholds Josh Alexander’s suspension for opposing gender ideology
In Germany, a Christian hybrid school was shut down in 2023 by government authorities “for violating Germany’s ‘educational mandate.’” Homeschooling and hybrid schools that enable students to be partially educated at home are effectively banned in Germany, and private schools face stringent regulations by the state.
In 2020, a Swedish hospital denied two nurses’ employment over their refusal to perform abortions on religious grounds. The European Courts of Human Rights refused to take up their case.
READ: Pro-life midwife can be forced to do abortions, court rules
The report did not mention the attacks by U.S. Intelligence Agencies against traditional Catholics in the U.S., including the FBI’s internal memo showing the agency was surveilling “radical traditionalist Catholics” for allegedly being a magnet for “violent extremists.”
In September 2022, FBI agents raided the home of a Catholic pro-life speaker, Mark Houck, and arrested him in front of his terrified kids for a minor altercation with an aggressive pro-abortion activist a year prior. LifeSiteNews broke the bombshell story at the time.
A few weeks later, a SWAT team raided the home of another pro-life father of 11 children, Paul Vaughn, for participation in a peaceful 2021 pro-life rescue at a Nashville, Tennessee, abortion facility, which has since been forced to stop committing abortions to comply with current state law.
READ: FBI raids pro-life father of 11 with guns drawn in front of children weeks after Mark Houck raid