‘Serious threat’: Western nations urged to protect religious freedom amid growing intolerance

October 21, 2024

Religious freedom experts at a recent meeting in Berlin are calling upon Western countries to protect religious freedom, including for those of faith who maintain traditional views on marriage and sexuality.

The Christian Post reports that organizers of the event have expressed concern about “increasing intolerance” toward people of faith in Europe and North America.

The executive director of the Observatory on Intolerance Against Christians in Europe, Anja Hoffmann said, “It is very worrying that the peaceful expression of personal religious beliefs on matters relating to marriage and family has become the potential end of a political career or employment, or even the beginning of a court case. This is a serious threat to religious freedom and leads to widespread self-censorship among traditional believers in the West.” 

According to the Christian Post, the gathering included participants from the Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, the Hungarian State Secretariat for the Aid to Persecuted Christians, and the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, D.C.

The Religious Freedom Institute explained the common concern of the participating institutions that, “religious believers in the West are increasingly being targeted, marginalized, and sometimes even prosecuted for peacefully expressing their traditional religious convictions about family, marriage and human nature. This problem must be addressed to safeguard the pluralistic societies of Western democracies.” 

The meeting also addressed concerns about how Western nations are attempting to impose liberal ideologies abroad and how Global South countries can be punished if they don’t agree to ideological conditionality clauses that align them with prevailing beliefs in Western nations.

Organizers submitted a declaration to International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance member states asking them to affirm religious freedom for all, including those with traditional views on marriage, the family and human nature. 

Photo: top, Credit: Clemens Bilan/AFP via Getty Images