Article By Ryan Foley
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.
Broken down by country, Germany experienced the highest number of anti-Christian hate crimes, with 15 incidents occurring in July. Multiple anti-Christian incidents also occurred in France (10), Italy (5), the United Kingdom (3) and Poland (2). Austria, Finland, Ireland, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina experienced one anti-Christian hate crime each.
Some of the most egregious incidents to unfold in July involved the desecration of churches with human and/or animal waste. At St. Johann Catholic Church in Bad Dürrheim, Germany, a 40-year-old man “left excrement inside the church before damaging the interior while under the influence of alcohol.”
Additional damage sustained by the church included broken glass doors and windows, causing €15,000 worth of damage. €15,000 equates to approximately $17,327.48.
At St. Giles Catholic Church in Worth am Rhein, Germany, dog feces were placed in front of the altar by an unknown perpetrator. St. Symphorien Church in Chambray-les-Tours, France, found itself subject to a vandalism attack where the perpetrators scattered hosts across the floor and left excrement near the entrance. At St. Boniface Church in Abenheim, Germany, unknown perpetrators urinated in the holy water font.
At the Sancta Maria in Albis Church in Breil-sur-Roya, France, a threatening note stating “The only church that illuminates is the one that burns” was left behind. In addition to targeting churches, anti-Christian incidents in Europe last month were also directed at individual Christians.
In Tramore, Ireland, a woman praying at Holy Cross Catholic Church was stabbed before the morning mass by a man with known mental issues. The victim suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. While the report attributed 40 instances of vandalism and violence directed at churches directly to anti-Christian bias, additional incidents occurred throughout Europe in July but were not included in the statistics because an explicit anti-Christian motive could not be established.
“The July data continue to demonstrate a persistent pattern of attacks affecting Christian places of worship, religious symbols, Christian communities and visible expressions of the Christian faith across Europe,” the report concluded.
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