The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe) said in its annual report for 2022/2023 that social hostility against Christians increased by 44%.
“In 2022, OIDAC Europe documented 748 anti-Christian hate crimes in 30 different countries, ranging from arson attacks, graffiti, desecrations, and thefts to physical attacks, insults, and threats,” the report said.
“Between 2021 and 2022, there has been an increase in antiChristian hate crimes from 519 to 748, including arson attacks, which rose from 60 to 105. OIDAC has identified an increasing trend in hate crimes perpetrated by radicalised members of ideological, political or religious groups that follow an anti-Christian narrative,” it added.
The organization documented 38 cases of physical assault against Christians in Europe as well as three instances where a Christian was murdered during an attack.
Many of the cases were a result of extremist ideologies.
“Throughout 2022, OIDAC Europe observed that there had been a surge of clear extremism-motivated attacks. This is in comparison to prior years, where most crimes had an unclear motive or were perpetrated by private persons,” the organization wrote. “However, in 2022, there were many more clear signs revealing an extremist motive. Particular groups have been identified as perpetrators through messages left behind through graffiti, leaflets, or social-media postings claiming authorship for the hate crimes.”
Germany had the greatest number of hate crimes against Christians, with 231 documented incidents.
Italy was the next-highest country, with 146 incidents.
Slovakia had the lowest number of hate crimes, with only 3 documented attacks against Christians.
According to the report, the majority of hate crimes stem from vandalism, although there were “11 cases that showed a satanistic background, 16 attacks were identified as coming from far-left Antifa or anarchist groups, 11 attacks were perpetuated by Islamist groups, 9 cases were perpetrated by extreme feminist or LGBTIQ groups, and 4 cases came from ‘anti-Clerical’ groups.”
