For over two billion people across the world, religious freedom is a far-off dream and Christians are the group that is being persecuted the most.
The alarm was raised by Mgr. Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, during the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The prelate said that approximately 2.200.000.000 faithful suffer religious repression today; furthermore, the number of terrorist attacks against Christians in Africa, the idle East and Asia went up by 309% between 2003 and 2010. Meanwhile, in the West, there is a culture that is tending to marginalise Christians more and more.
A third of the world’s population is denied the right to religious freedom: this is according to the findings of a report published by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington, which reveals that over two billion people are deprived of this right, making it very difficult for them to practice a faith.
“The attention that the media gives to this issue focuses mainly on striking cases that affect Christian minorities or other religious minorities in developing Countries. This is because violence is visible in these situations; it is dramatic and creates sensationalism,” Tomasi explained.
But the problem, he went on to say, “Is not just limited to developing Countries; even in Western Countries, in big wealthy Countries, there is a tendency towards a privatisation of religion, a cultural rejection and sometimes hostility towards faith.”