Leo van Doesburg

The Observatory's Report on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in the Year 2011 was released on March 19th, 2012. This report portrays the most important developments with regard to freedom of religion, the most striking cases of intolerance and discrimination throughout Europe – and what individuals and institutions say about it. The report includes several statistics as well as analysis of the meaning of freedom of religion in the European context. Dr. Gudrun Kugler, director of the Observatory, explains: „Studies suggest that 85% of all hate crimes with an anti-religion background in Europe are directed against Christians. It is high time for the public debate to respond to this reality! We also notice professional restrictions for Christians: a restrictive application of freedom of conscience leads to professions such as magistrates, doctors, nurses and midwives as well as pharmacists slowly closing for Christians. Teachers and parents get ...

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians has just published its 500th case, and behind every case there is a personal story. Working in almost 30 countries with many different languages makes it impossible to research and document all incidents which take place in Europe. The documentation of the Observatory is only exemplary of a phenomeon which is often overlooked, sometimes denied and rarely addressed because it is multi-causal and multi-facetted. The Observatory researches, documents and analyses the problem, which is the first step towards a remedy. Through its work, politicians, decision-makers, journalists, intellectuals and all those interested are able to grasp what is going on, gain a fuller picture and develope adequate responses.You can find the cases here