An Internet user relayed on social networks a photo of a church recently vandalized in Brittany.
Every year, there are a thousand anti-Christian acts, he denounces.
A figure close to the latest estimate, but which needs to be advanced with some precautions.
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Information scrutinized by Auditors
In Rennes, damage was deplored this week in a religious building, the Saint-Aubin basilica. Actions echoed by the local representative of the Republicans Thomas Rousseau, also a candidate for the next municipal elections in the Breton city. “A thousand acts of anti-Christian vandalism every year in France”he said (new window) on the X network, judging this situation “inadmissible”.
A countdown to be handled with care
To find out if anti-Christian acts are observed in these proportions, the first reflex would be to turn to the statistics of the Ministry of the Interior. If the “racist, xenophobic or anti-religious attacks” are the subject of a count, however we do not have a very detailed count which would make it possible to measure only acts of delinquency specifically targeting Christian buildings or individuals.
“A little less than 1000 anti-Christian acts” were identified in 2023 by the services of Place Beauvau, confided (new window) last spring a spokesperson for the ministry. Recent data which agrees with that put forward online by Thomas Rousseau and which also echoes those presented (new window) in a parliamentary fact-finding mission dating from 2021. Dedicated to anti-religious acts, she highlighted “857 anti-Christian acts” over the course of a year.
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In the absence of regular censuses over the years, it is difficult to assert that these volumes of specifically anti-Christian acts are stable or subject to variations. The report of the parliamentary fact-finding mission also underlined that a “certainly a significant proportion of anti-religious acts does not appear” in its encryption. An underestimate linked, among other things, to the fact that complaints are not systematically filed.
In its work, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (independent administrative authority founded in 1947) also urges caution when discussing anti-Christian acts. This category, she writes (new window)reveals itself “difficult to use, because it mainly (87% in 2021) contains damage or theft targeting Christian places of worship”. These damage to churches, if they are acts described as “hostiles”are made “for motivations that are often unrelated to racism”continues the CNCDH. The institution evokes potential “lucrative aspect”of “pure vandalism”or even the “anarchist connotation” damage done.
In summary, it is therefore difficult to provide reliable statistics relating to anti-Christian acts. Although the most recent estimates reported a little less than 1,000 cases per year, the lack of monitoring of these facts over time and the difficult characterization of the acts should encourage caution when discussing this issue.
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