The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) is a nongovernmental organization registered in Austria and a member of the Fundamental Rights Platform of the EU-Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA). OIDAC’’s mission is to Research, analyze, document, and report cases of intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe;

Their SUMMARY OF FINDINGS from the 2023 year is below:

“ANTI-CHRISTIAN HATE CRIMES

1. Combining police statistics and civil society data, 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes were identified in 35 European countries, including 232 personal attacks on Christians.

2. The most affected countries in 2023 are France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with anti-Christian hate crimes doubling in Germany compared to last year.

DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHRISTIANS

3. New findings have revealed widespread discrimination against Christians in the workplace and various spheres of society. The expression of traditional religious beliefs is increasingly met with hostility and can lead to discrimination and bullying at work or even loss of employment.

4. Christian politicians are particularly vulnerable to discrimination based on their personal religious beliefs and may be forced to choose between their political career and their religious beliefs.

5. These forms of discrimination have a ‘chilling effect,’ leading many Christians, particularly among the younger generation, to self-censor or even hide their beliefs at university and in the workplace, as recent findings demonstrate.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTRICTIONS

6. A number of restrictions on religious freedom affecting Christians in Europe have been identified concerning public prayer, religious manifestations, public expression of religious beliefs, religious autonomy, parental rights and conscientious objection to military service and certain medical procedures.

7. In 2023-24, several people have been fined and prosecuted for peacefully praying in public streets in so-called ‘buffer zones’ around abortion clinics, including a man convicted in the UK for praying silently in his own mind.”

Lifesite News has a good synopsis of the OIDAC report; they write:

(LifeSiteNews) — Anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe have more than tripled from 2022 to 2023, according to a new report, and an estimated large number of cases remain unrecorded.

In a 2024 report released November 15, the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) found — with gaps in reporting for many countries — a total of 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes committed in 2023 in contrast to 749 incidents recorded in 2022.

The hate crimes consisted largely of vandalism, including acts of desecration against sacred images at churches. The documented incidents also included 232 personal attacks on Christians involving physical violence and harassment.

Police statistics on the crimes were only available from Austria, Finland, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, leaving it to OIDAC Europe to obtain statistics from the remaining 30 countries included in the report. OIDAC numbers capture only a fraction of the incidents that can be documented by police reports, meaning a “high number of unreported cases” is assumed, according to Anja Hoffmann, executive director of OIDAC Europe.

The numbers from 2023 mark an explosion in anti-Christian hate crimes amid a “steady increase” in the number of such incidents in the almost 15-year period OIDAC Europe has been documenting them.

The question is, who (or what) is fueling this anti-Christian hate?