By Ryan Foley, Christian Post. (Photo: Pascal Bernardon/Unsplash)
More than three dozen attacks targeted Christian churches, symbols and worshipers in Europe throughout the month of July, with the most heinous examples involving the desecration of churches with bodily waste and the stabbing of a woman as she prayed at a Catholic church in Ireland.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) has released its July analysis documenting anti-Christian incidents on the continent, which revealed that “40 anti-Christian hate crimes targeting Christian places of worship, religious symbols, cemeteries, clergy, worshipers, Christian converts, and other Christian individuals” occurred the preceding month.
The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe describes itself as an organization that seeks to “contribute to a Europe where Christians may fully exercise their fundamental rights to freedom of religion, conscience, expression, and association, without fear of reprisals, censorship, threats, or violence.”
The organization compiles its monthly and annual reports using its own research alongside police records and data from other organizations, and reports its findings to the OSCE for its annual hate crime report. In its most recent annual report, OIDAC documented 2,211 anti-Christian hate crimes across Europe in 2024, with France, the U.K., and Germany historically ranking as the most affected countries — a pattern broadly consistent with July’s monthly breakdown.
The prevalence of anti-Christian incidents in Europe remains unchanged from June, when 40 anti-Christian hate crimes also took place, falling short of the monthly high of 41 incidents recorded in March. In July, the most common type of anti-Christian violence in Europe involved vandalism, with 18 instances reported.
There were also eight arson-related attacks, seven instances of desecration, two incidents where physical violence was directed against Christians, two cases involving threats, two instances where religious objects were stolen and one incident that constituted a combination of vandalism and violence.