The high rate of hate crimes and growing Secular Intolerance have a crippling effect on the Religious Freedom of Christians.

The annual report by OIDAC Europe was released in Vienna two days before the International Day of Tolerance (16 Nov.). It focuses on three main developments of intolerance against Christians in European countries: Anti-Christian hate crimes, self-censorship and negative stereotypes and treatment of Christians in the media. OIDAC provides an overview of over 500 Europewide anti-Christian Hate Crimes and discusses disproportionate Covid-19 regulations for churches. The report analyses other forms of discrimination through legislation and lack of competence from authorities when dealing with cases involving religion and religious freedom.

The report summarizes all findings and research from 1st January until 31st December 2021, highlighting key facts about the over 500 cases of anti-Christian Hate Crimes that were reported last year. As in previous years, this hate crime data also contributes to the annual OSCE Hate Crime Report, which will be released on November 16th. Two experts on religious freedom, Janet Epp Buckingham, and Todd Huizinga, are featured with commentaries addressing the importance of freedom of religion and the problem of secular intolerance that threatens this same fundamental freedom. The report includes an exclusive interview with the Finnish politician and former minister of interior Päivi Räsänen, who is being prosecuted for voicing Christian beliefs publicly.