In 2013 Europe had a ceremonial celebration of
the 1,700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan. At its time that
document served as an important step towards turning Christianity into
the official religion of the modern EU. However, that historic
celebration did not stop those who are today convinced that there should
be no place for religion in modern society. The latest scandal of the
year was the firing of a Norwegian TV presenter this past November. The
journalist was punished for showing up at work wearing a cross around
her neck and refused to take it off. That is not the only such case in
Europe. Such persecution is currently underway in practically all
countries of the Old World. One of the main reasons for the growing
phobia of Christianity is the total change of the view of the world and
conscious abandonment of Christian values and rules, thinks Yuri Tabak, a
specialist in religions:
“The last few decades have
been tied to the process of final separation of the European values from
the religious values. The secularization of modern Europe is going very
fast. Its goal is to leave the religious values only for private,
absolutely individual use by the people. A few years ago when the
European Constitution was adopted, they seriously debated the issue
whether the word God could be left in the document. Back then it was
decided that the word God should not be mentioned in that document. In
other words, the entire religious component, traditional for the many
centuries of Europe's development, back then was left out of the modern
view of the world. That is why they are currently trying to take out all
the religious symbols and referrals from use”.
The
persecutors are no longer shy to demonstratively give up their spiritual
roots, to adopt laws that contradict the biblical rules, to ban all
mass festivals with Christian attributes and try to replace the
traditional faith by a non-traditional one. A couple of days ago the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom officially accepted scientology as a
religion. In today's EU the cases when Christian churches and sacred
objects are sold, desecrated or sometimes completely destroyed are
taking place more and more often. With the silent consent of the
European society about 200 unique ancient churches of Kosovo and
Metohija have been lost. The Hagia Sofia, the famous church of
Constantinople (now Istanbul) is also under threat. That grand
cathedral-monument that goes back to the first centuries of Christianity
might soon be turned into a mosque once again. With such an attitude
towards the historic religion, muezzins' call to prayer will soon be
heard all over Europe. Pavel Svyatenkov, a political scientist,
expressed the following concern:
“As the sacred place
does not remain empty for long, the European Union is most likely in for
islamization. Today Islam is actively spreading. Representatives of
that religion come to Europe from Middle Eastern and African countries.
However, I am convinced that with the current persecution of
Christianity the conservative layers of society will start protesting
more loudly. For example, the decision made by the French president
François Hollande to make legal same sex marriages, which this year went
through the parliament, caused great protests in the country”.
Not
only secular politicians, liberals and atheists are to blame for
Christianity leaving Europe, but also the followers themselves. Despite
the fact that the rights of Christians are violated practically every
day, many people are in no rush to defend them. The appeals to the
European Court to restore religious freedoms are quite rare. Meanwhile,
there have been several cases at the European Court of Human Rights when
the fairness in the area of faith has been restored, says Philipp
Ryabykh, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Council
of Europe:
“At some point a woman from Italy tried to
prove that the schools in the country have no right to place a crucifix
on the walls. Initially the ECHR passed a decision in favor of the woman
and enacted that the country’s authorities took down all religious
symbols from state schools. But then the same court revised its decision
and passed a different verdict. The decision protected the presence in
schools of crucifix as a symbol of Christian culture and identity”.
However,
the revision of the crucifix case became possible only due to the
protests expressed to the ECHR by many countries, including Russia. By
the way, the Moscow Patriarchy has repeatedly expressed sharp criticism
of any demonstration of Christianity-phobia and has appealed to the
European community with a request to protect Christians. In 2011 a
special document was passed at the meeting of the Holy Synod, in which
Russian bishops called upon the political authorities, social activists
and scientists, as well as international organizations to apply maximum
effort in fighting the persecution of Christians.