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EUROPE: EU must acknowledge persecution of Christians
By John Newton
Neville Kyrke-Smith, UK director of Aid to the Church in Need
The European Union must acknowledge the reality of Christian persecution in the world today and not fudge the issue, Aid to the Church in Need has said.
That was the message from the charity’s UK office after a meeting of 27 EU foreign ministers on Monday, 31st January failed to agree a statement on the persecution of religious minorities – because some did not want Christians mentioned.
Aid to the Church in Need’s UK director, Neville Kyrke-Smith, said: “Politicians need to acknowledge the reality of the persecution facing many Christians in the world today and not hide the issue because of religious correctness.”
He added: “This is a serious situation – over the last six months we have seen a growth in oppression and violence being used against Christians, such as the arrest of about 70 Christians in Iran shortly after Christmas – and it needs to be seriously addressed.”
According to reports, discussions broke down because the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, refused to refer to Christianity in the statement – claiming it was politically incorrect to name any specific religious group.
Previously, the European Parliament’s 19-point resolution on “The Situation of Christians in the Context of Freedom of Religion” of the 20th January noted various attacks on Christians.
These included the bomb attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt on New Year’s Day, the bombing of a chapel in the Philippines on Christmas Day, and attacks on Christians in Nigeria.
Mr Kyrke-Smith said: “While I am disappointed by the news, I am not entirely surprised that the European Union has failed to move forward the issue of Christian persecution due to political correctness.”
Expressing concern about the EU foreign ministers’ failure to clearly state that Christians are being oppressed he added: “This stems from a false liberalism that undermines true freedom.”
Ministers were unable to reach agreement after Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini decried the proposal as inadequate, objecting to the omission of any reference to the persecution of Christians.
Reuters news agency reported that Mr Frattini said: “The final text didn’t include any mention of Christians, as if we were talking of something else, so I asked the text to be withdrawn, so in fact it has been withdrawn.”
France backed Italy on the need to include references to specific religious minorities, including Christians and Muslim groups.
Aid to the Church in Need UK welcomed the suggestion that other religious groups should also be named, but underlined the seriousness of the situation faced by Christian communities in many countries at this time.
Mr Kyrke-Smith said: “In several countries where Christians are oppressed they are not alone in suffering – in Iraq, for example Yezidis and Mandaeans have also been hit by extremists over the last few years.
“But as Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana told Aid to the Church in Need, Christians in Iraq are being specifically targeted at the current time and saying the recent attacks – in which more than 50 people were killed – are not aimed at the Christianity community belittles their suffering.”
Aid to the Church in Need UK’s biennial report on the oppression of Christians, Persecuted and Forgotten? will be published at the beginning of Lent.