KEY FINDINGS

1. We have identified five European countries in which the
   freedoms of Christians have been most infringed during
   2019/2020: France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
2. Anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe increased by 70%
   between 2019 and 2020. These have a higher frequency in France
   and Germany, although they tend to be more severe in Spain and France,
   due to a reactionary form of secularism.
3. The research indicated two main threatening dynamics that
   affect the lives of Christians: Secular Intolerance and Islamic
   Oppression. While secular intolerance is the driving dynamic in most
   of the cases and areas of life we observed, Islamic oppression mainly
   occurs in concentrated hotspot areas, in which Christian converts are
   the group that is mostly affected along with other residential Christians.
4. We identified four areas of life where Christians are most
   affected. These are church life, education, politics and the workplace.
   We found that the area of church life is the most visibly affected due to
   an increasing number of hate crimes in most countries, but education,
   the workplace and politics are following shortly after.
5. Another finding is that all of the five observed countries have
   problems concerning the protection of Freedom of Speech.
   The UK is the country with the most cases of legal prosecution for
   alleged “Hate Speech”. The other countries only present a few public
   cases, but according to interviewees, have high rates of self-censorship.
6. The right to conscientious objection has been threatened
   mainly in three countries. The alteration of the conscience clause
   in Sweden is already affecting Christian professionals, but similar
   developments in France and Spain could lead to a complete exclusion of
   Christians in certain professions.
7. We have identified two trends in the educational sector that
   are cause for concern. First, Christian university students perceive
   that they cannot debate certain topics freely or express their opinions
   without judgement or negative consequences, which leads to the
   crippling effects of self-censorship. Secondly, various new regulations
   on sex and relationship education are violating Parental Rights.
8. Secular intolerance and discrimination against Christianity seem to
   be based on the opposition against more traditional and
   conservative moral views of Christians. This polarisation also
   appears to be promoted by sensationalist and religious-illiterate media
   that stigmatises and marginalises religious voices in the public debate.
9. Christian converts with a Muslim background are a very
   vulnerable group in European societies, and there is very little
   research about their situation. Our data indicates that many of them
   face intolerance and violence from their social environment, and the
   danger they face is often ignored by state authorities.
10. During the state of health emergency due to the Covid-19 Pandemic,
    churches were repeatedly discriminated against and
    religious freedom denied in various countries. This happened
    either by the unjustified and disproportionate use of power by public
    officials (Spain) or through unproportionate blanket bans on public
    worship, downgrading it to a non-essential service.
11. It was also uncovered that there is a high rate of religious
    illiteracy among state authorities, public officials and journalists.
    The improvement of religious literacy will be a crucial element to
    improve the dialogue and to tackle discrimination and intolerance
    against Christians.
12. There is an urgent need for more research in the field of
    intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe on various
    levels, as the findings outlined.
13. Religion is a social reality that cannot be ignored by academia,
    media or politics. Religion plays a vital role in a stable and healthy
    society.