Pulse
20 Oct 2025

The Family Research Council (FRC) recently released a report that noted an increase in various acts of hostility against Christianity by left-wing groups, and violations of religious freedom by Western governments in 34 countries. Between January 2020 and December 2023, FRC identified no less than 168 major incidents across 16 Western countries.

‘The report is not exhaustive,’ FRC explains, ‘but it offers valuable insights into the diverse ways Western governments – which ought to be the standard-bearers for upholding freedom of religion and expression – are undermining the fundamental human right to religious freedom.’

In February this year (2024), FRC published a report authored by Arielle Del Turco on the rise of hostility against churches in the United States. She writes:

From January 2018 to November 2023, there were at least 709 occurrences of vandalism, 135 arson attacks or attempts, 22 gun-related incidents, 32 bomb threats, and 61 other incidents (assault, threats, interruption of worship services). In 39 cases, multiple types of hostility occurred (e.g., vandalism and arson).

‘In the reporting period of 2023, which spanned from January to November,’ she adds, ‘FRC identified 436 acts of hostility against churches for those 11 months alone.’

This helpful chart, taken from Del Turco’s report, gives a picture of the different acts of hostility committed during this period.

There are also more subtle (but equally noxious) forms of persecution – that Pope Francis has so unhelpfully called ‘polite persecutions’ – which do not involve guns and bombs. For example – and this is also cited in Del Turco’s report – in the United States, university teachers are ‘fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns for students.’

Some readers may find it strange (not to mention disconcerting) that such virulent antagonism against Christianity and Christians are found in Western societies. Aren’t these societies and cultures indebted to the Christian faith and the Judeo-Christian tradition, which have so profoundly shaped western civilisation and given it its most cherished institutions and values?

And shouldn’t the values that the liberal West most revere such as freedom, tolerance and rights put a prohibitive check on the perpetrators of hostility and violence against a living religion and its followers?

Sadly, Western society and culture appear to have either forgotten or ignored the debt they owe to Christianity – or this historical fact has simply been subverted by powerful counter-narratives, worldviews and ideologies that now have hegemonic sway.

Many commentators lay the blame at the door of secularism, and they are mostly not wrong in doing so. There is a variety of secularisms, some of which are deliberately hostile to religion, especially Christianity.

I have in some articles published on this website critiqued the claim that secularism is philosophically and ideologically neutral, and therefore it alone can provide a space for people of different worldviews to live peaceably. Nothing is further from the truth: secularism stands for a certain way of understanding the world that (in principle, at least) excludes other accounts as valid and worthy of consideration.

And, as we have witnessed in many western countries, secularism can nurture hostility against the worldviews it excludes, which is manifested in disrespect, mockery, and, in some cases, even violence against those who hold them.

In addition to militant secularism, there is also progressivism – a general term which signals the radical departure from standard social conventions and traditional (i.e., conservative) accounts of a whole litany of topics: sexuality, marriage, gender identity, and ethics.

These progressive ideas and ideals are antithetical especially to the views and values long-held by Christianity which they seek to overturn. As Patrick Sookhdeo, the International Director of the Barnabas Fund, perceptively observes: ‘Behaviours that are contrary to God’s laws and Christian values are at first permitted, and then celebrated.’

On no other issue is this more evidently played out than that of sexuality. Progressives are determined to eradicate what they regard as ‘repressive sexual codes’ – to use an expression by the theologian and historian Carl Trueman. They are of the view that Christian values will destroy their ideals of human freedom and self-determination if they are left unchecked. Consequently, Progressives try to dismantle Christianity with missionary zeal.

What about orthodox Christians who not only hold these views but are determined to live by them? Sookhedo puts it baldly: ‘Christians who hold conservative views are seen as dangerous to society.’

There is a sense in which the followers of Jesus Christ should not be at all surprised by the hostility and persecution they face. Didn’t Jesus warn his disciples that the world will hate them because they hate him? (John 15:18-25).

Christians should understand that how they respond to this unjust treatment is very much an aspect of their witness to their Lord, who has commanded them to love neighbours and enemies unconditionally (Mark 12:30-31). The Christian response should always be characterised by grace, a willingness to forgive, and compassion.

This attitude and posture, however, does not imply docility on the part of the Christian who is a victim of persecution. Christians have every right to protest against the maltreatment, and seek justice through legitimate avenues. But this attitude prohibits the Christian from retaliating in ways which mimic the acts of their oppressors, and which do not bring honour to God.

The Christian response must also include the willingness to serve the very people who insult and revile them, for that is the nature of agape. Christians must continue to love their unrepentant aggressors with a measure of the generous love with which God loves sinners. (All this must seem to some counter-intuitive; it is certainly counter-cultural.)

In their response to persecution, then, Christians must exhibit that rare combination of meekness and strength.

Hostility and persecution do take a toll on their victims. Christians are tempted to give in, to compromise, or to conform – perhaps they will be left alone if they are no different from the rest of society. But Christians must resist all temptations to acquiesce to the dictates of the dominant culture, or be cowed by the bullying of their oppressors.

They must continue to be faithful to the God who has called them into the light from the darkness (1 Peter 2:9), and walk the long and difficult road of obedience. In other words, they must be determined to ‘obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).

Finally, Christians must heed the (again, very counter-intuitive and counter-cultural) injunction of the apostle Paul to ‘Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them’ (Romans 12:14 [NLT]).

Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor at Trinity Theological College (Singapore) and Theological and Research Advisor of the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity.