American Christians: Heed the Example of Decimated Europe | The American Spectator

Mass immigration and rising godless progressivism have resulted in a surge of hostility and violence against Christians in Europe, but the same could happen in America if American Christians aren’t careful. José Luis Bazán, a consultant to Europe’s Catholic bishops, recently issued a report on the phenomenon, documenting roughly 1,600 attacks against Catholic Churches in France and Greece, as well as similar attacks in Spain and Italy. “These attacks reflect a climate of ideological hostility toward religion,” Bazán told Catholic News Agency. “Attacks or acts of vandalism against places of worship are pandemic,” he emphasized. “We have fragmentary elements here and there, but if you put them all together, you realize the upward trend.”

Much of the violence is fueled by the influx of Muslims Europe has been victim to over the past several decades, which is often permitted and even welcomed by secular, progressive authorities. Similar trends have been noted by watchdog organizations like the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDAC Europe). Over the course of 2023, OIDAC Europe reported, cases of hostility and violence against Christians soared, with Islam-inspired attacks and hate crimes more than doubling.

A few recent examples of that hostility include the vandalizing of a Catholic Jesuit church in Germany, the firebombing of an evangelical church in Switzerland, acts of defilement and vandalism against a German Protestant church, the vandalism of Catholic churches in Munich, death threats against a German pastor, the murder of an Assyrian Christian in France, an arson attack against a French Catholic church, a rash of theft and vandalism targeting Catholic churches in Italy, and vandalism and arson attacks targeting a church in Spain. Those are just a few examples from August to early this month.

Yet European authorities continue to promote progressive, anti-Christian ideologies and welcome violent Muslim insurgents, all while deriding Christians. A recent European Union report, for example, labeled Catholics “religious extremist actors” due to the Catholic Church’s age-old position opposing abortion, but Islam was mentioned only once.

The situation may not be quite so dire for Christians in America — yet — but it may quickly become so. Already, the targeting of Christian churches and organizations is becoming increasingly commonplace. Catholic churches across the U.S. have been attacked and vandalized over the past several years, particularly during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 and in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. According to CatholicVote, nearly 540 American Catholic churches have been targeted since May of 2020, with attacks ranging from vandalism and property destruction to firebombing and arson.

Additionally, civil authorities have targeted Catholics. Then-president Joe Biden’s FBI oversaw a program to illegally infiltrate and spy on American Catholic traditionalists, labeling them “ethnically motivated violent extremists,” based largely on information from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Numerous Christian pro-lifers found their homes raided and themselves arrested, prosecuted, and even jailed for their commitment to defending the innocent unborn. Notably, Christian husband and father and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated last month, a tragedy which leftists celebrated online.

Meanwhile, America’s Catholic bishops prattle on about anti-racism and the need to welcome foreign hordes from the third world into our nation. If the bishops enjoy walking the streets outside of their often-borderline-palatial residences, attending swanky fundraising dinners, or even just preaching from the pulpit without being stabbed, shot, run over, or firebombed by Muslims, they may want to ease up on the immigration rhetoric.

As for those of us who must sit in the pew as our bishops deliver diluted diatribes on the thinly-veiled social justice theme of the day, we must be aware of the present state of our nation and work and vote to empower leaders who love the Christian faith and have the courage and strength to defend our nation’s spiritual heritage. If we do not, we may soon follow in Europe’s bloodied and bruised footsteps.

READ MORE from S.A. McCarthy:

How Islam Conquered Catholic Spain — Again

The Life and Death of the Traditional Latin Mass

How the SPLC Targets Catholics and Other Christians