“Christianophobia” documented online by Europe for Christ

Jan 20, 2008 / 16:59 pm

The non-governmental organization (NGO) Europe for Christ wants to combat and document what it sees as a growing phenonmenon in Europe—Christianophobia—or an irrational fear of Christians or Christianity.

Europe for Christ explains that it created the website to provide governments and institutions with objective and reliable data on the phenomenon of Christianophobia in Europe and to prevent the hatred of Christianity from spreading.

While the term has only been in use since 2004, the history of Christianophobia is long and often hard to trace.

In a speech at Lourdes in 1983, Pope John Paul II noted that fear of Christianity was prevalent then: “Today, besides prison, concentration camps, forced labor camps, and expulsion from one's country there are other punishments less known but more subtle: not violent death but a kind of civil death, not only isolation in prisons or in a camps but social discrimination or permanent restriction of personal liberty,” he lamented.

The ecumenical group’s main work is centered around “prayer for a Europe built on Christian values, education on vital issues of concern for European Christians and action and support for Christians when needed.” However, in their efforts to support these goals, Europe for Christ “stumbled over several cases of discrimination of Christians in Europe” and now maintains an up-to-date listing of them on the site.

Visitors to the site can read about recent cases as well as submit their own personal stories of Christianophobia for inclusion online. The web address is: http://www.christianophobia.eu/