This week, the European Parliament’s plenary adopted a report, which, after many years, could have taken a strong action in defence of freedom of religion of minorities suffering persecution. “Instead, the ideological ‘pressure’ of the radicalising European left has undermined the original intention of the report. It has prevented the document from effectively condemning religious persecution in line with its initial aim and undermined the report from drawing attention to religious persecution in general but also to the plight of Christians who are the most persecuted for their faith”, underlined the Christian Democrat MEP Gyorgy Hölvényi on the vote of the report.
The MEP said, “There is a great need for EU action against religious persecution, and this is why the report has been put to the agenda. I myself have been involved in the work with 18 amendments to underline the need of the fight against Christian and religious persecution and to recognise the undeniable role of faith-based organisations in humanitarian work in the text”.
“However, the original intention of the report has been reversed, and instead of protecting religious minorities who are suffering from persecution, they are the ones who are blamed for abusing religious freedom and being against normality. The political left in the European Parliament has used the document to blame religious leaders for violating human rights and misusing the religion to impose discriminatory policies to undermine the rights of LGBTIQ people, the rights of women and girls, and to restrict their access to education and sexual and reproductive health and rights,” stressed MEP Gyorgy Hölvényi in a press released issued by his office.
The Christian Democrat MEP emphasized, “It is outrages that this radicalism has gone so far as to undermine freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and to open the door to discrimination against religious communities and religious leaders. These false ideologies make it impossible to protect the victims of religious persecution, leaving women and girls belonging to religious minorities in an even more vulnerable situation”. This approach ignores the importance of religious actors in the protection of human rights and human dignity.
“The left is putting pressure on the European Parliament to degrade religious freedom. This is discrimination against fundamental human rights, a serious violation of freedom of speech regardless of belief or non-belief. We are witnessing a restriction of freedom of expression unprecedented even in Communist times, which cannot be supported under any circumstances. It is an unfortunate fact that during the vote, keeping in mind the original goal of the report, many did not notice the leftist trap against freedom of religion and freedom of speech,” the MEP added.
