A report on “The persecution of minorities on the grounds of belief or religion” that human rights experts denounced as “openly hostile towards religion” has been adopted by the European Parliament.

While the initial draft of the report referred to religion as a “human right” and “often a last bastion of liberty” in society, the adopted report describes religion as a threat to a free society by criticising it as “an important driver of conflict worldwide.”

The Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) of the European Parliament amended the draft report in such a way that the scope and tone of the report have completely shifted. Defenders of religious freedom have even described the report as openly hostile to religion in some paragraphs. The persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa was omitted and all but one reference to Christians was deleted. The report does include multiple references emphasizing protections for atheist, secular or humanist belief minorities.

Experts also criticised that the victims who were supposed to be protected by this report ended up being painted as aggressors. They also note that the adopted report goes so far as to condemn religions for their stance on marriage and the protection of life from conception until natural death, which goes far beyond the scope of the report.

“While I welcome the EP’s report on the persecution of religious freedom, I cannot help but express my dismay at the way this report has been hijacked to stigmatise religion itself,” said Miriam Lexmann, Member of the European Parliament from Slovakia.