Christians are "clearly the most persecuted group" in the world, and Europe cannot afford to continue ignoring the breach of their fundamental rights, the President of the European Parliament (EP) said Wednesday in a high-level meeting on religious persecution in Brussels.
EP President and German MEP Martin Schulz said the persecution of Christians is "undervalued," does not receive enough attention, and "hasn't been properly addressed," according to Breitbart.
"I can assure you that Parliament will make its contribution wherever it can to protect Christians," Schulz said, according to Church Times. "Persecution is happening outside the EU, but we can't afford to ignore it. All of us, particularly in the EP, are aware that dialogue and mutual respect are needed. Fundamental rights are under great threat today and persecution of a religion."
EP Vice President Antonio Tajani, an Italian MEP in the Parliament's European People's Party (Christian Democrats), echoed the concerns of Schulz, warning that Europe sometimes "falls into the temptation of thinking we can ignore" the task of protecting persecuted Christians.
Tajani cited a new report from Open Doors that found that "Islamic extremism is by far the most significant persecution engine" of Christians and that "40 of the 50 countries on the World Watch List are affected by the this kind of persecution."
"Every month at least 200 churches or places of worship are attacked. Every day, in every region of our planet, we register new cases of systemic violence and persecution against Christians. No other religious community is faced with such hatred, violence, and aggression as is the Christian community," Tajani said.
He claimed that more than 70 percent of Christians have fled Iraq since 2003 due to Islamic persecution, with another 700,000 Christians being displaced in Syria since the start of the civil war.
"The West must break the silence on the persecution of Christians in the world," said Tajani, and Europe must establish "a model of society in opposition to religious radicalism and brutal and criminal projects, such as creating an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria and then extending its tentacles into to Libya," reported Breitbart.
"It should shake us up, that on our continent, Christians are not safe," Schulz said.
Tajani also said that he was convinced that the battle against religious extremism can only be won with the help of religion. "No one may, in fact, forget that in all the great monotheistic religions life, a gift of God the Creator, has sacred value. In the name of religion, we have an obligation to condemn all those who show contempt for life and kill in the name of God. Who shoots in the name of God, shoot against God," he said, according to EU News.
