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In a surprise move, Europe’s Organisation for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) has officially acknowledged the existence of anti-Christian bigotry.

Albeit somewhat limpwristedly.

The 57-member state monument to “progressivism”, open societies, and pluralism, addressed the problem in a handbook released on October 13.

While the handbook’s language contains the same relativist – “all religions are the same” – coddling about co-existence, the guidelines are a good sign.

Eat the fish, spit out the bones.

“Understanding Anti-Christian Hate Crimes” is a 130-page booklet that functions as both a report and a guide for law enforcement.

Launched through its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), OSCE said the aim is to urgently mitigate the rise in attacks on Christians.

According to the report, “Christian communities across North America, Europe and Asia have faced anti-Christian hate incidents.”

Such as “graffiti, vandalism, threats, physical assaults and murder.”

“Each incident motivated by anti-Christian bias is not only an attack on individuals or property,” the OSCE explained.

Attacks on Christians also threatened “the broader peace, security and stability of societies and the entire region.”

Additionally, these attacks “undermined the core values of religious freedom, dignity, mutual respect, and equality that underpin a democratic society.”

Ignored

Making matters worse, most incidents motivated by anti-Christian bigotry are buried under the carpet, the OSCE asserted.

The global bureaucratic habit of turning a blind eye, they added, “was emboldening the persecution of Christians.”

Likewise, all the “downplaying, under-reporting, or politically overlooking of those attacks” significantly hindered the ability to formulate an effective response.

Further justifying the handbook’s existence, the OSCE said the attacks on Christians were extreme.

The only keywords in the handbook worth noticing are anti-Christian bias and persecution.

Despite the inclusion of a putrid Marxian Woke lecture on “intersectionality” and victimhood, the handbook correctly distinguished between a hate crime, hate speech, and hate-driven bias.

This is helpful for people like me, who refuse to give legitimacy to the first two terms. The terms are vague, easily weaponised, subjective, and therefore ultimately useless.

Intimidated

Noting the challenge to answering the persecution of Christians, the OSCE recognised the cancel culture connection.

Victims are refusing to report crimes for fear of retribution and victimisation. Intimidated, Christians are more likely to “self-censor in public spaces.”

In other words, Christians are being unjustly forced to “limit their ability to fully enjoy their freedom of religion or belief.”

This is why the OSCE is now vocally requesting that once-Christian governments curtail Christian persecution.

Another good reason for the OSCE’s “awakening” is the advocacy of the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ).

ECLJ is at the forefront of the battle.

For the better part of a decade, they’ve been calling on governments to take a stand against anti-Christian bias and its subsequent violence.

For example, the organisation released its own report in September.

Raising the alarm, ECLJ recounted 2,444 incidents during 2023 across 35 European countries alone.

232 of those attacks on Christians involved physical assaults.

Other incidents included “Church desecrations and bans on prayer.”

“Dismissals for religious reasons were also becoming more common, often without eliciting any institutional response.”

Working to encourage a proactive solution to persecution, ECLJ advised using the “imperfect” term “Christianophobia”.

Not as a backdoor for blasphemy laws, like “Islamophobia”, but “as a useful tool for amplifying the voices and prompting institutional action.”

The problem is apparent: Christians are increasingly being marginalised, mocked, and maligned, ECLJ continued to explain.

Those behind the attacks, they said, are usually Islamists, militant atheists, or far-left activists.

Although different, each group shares the common goal of “discrediting Christianity in contemporary society.”

In closing, ECLJ’s September report determined that “the actions of those groups were fuelling a climate of hatred towards Christians in the broader community.”

Alongside their analysis, the OSCE report is damning.

What the agency’s handbook inadvertently admits to is an abject failure to act over the course of close to a decade or so.

Overall, what the OSCE has done here is put radical relativist bureaucracies on notice.

The persecution of Christians is the elephant in the room that European governments can no longer afford to ignore.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.