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Northern Europe
Danish parliament rejects ban on boys' circumcision
With about two-thirds majority, the Danish parliament rejected a proposal to make boys’ circumcision more difficult. On Tuesday, the final vote was the outcome of a long process that started with a citizens’ initiative in 2018. All the centre parties in the Danish Folketing voted against the age limit of…
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Central Europe
Gulf of anti-Semitism goes over Europe during conflict in Israel and Palestine
Several European countries suffer from anti-Semitic incidents during the present conflict between Israel and Palestinians. Especially in Germany, this leads to awkward situations. During the demonstrations, shouts such as “Death over Israel” are often heard. Many protests are peaceful. But photos and video's on social media show the dark side…
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Central Europe
Church goers Austria allowed to sing again
In the run-up to the end of the lockdown by the Austrian government on May 19th, Minister of Culture Susanne Raab has reached an agreement with all churches and religious communities to sing again. While existing measures as wearing an FFP2 mask, social distancing of two metres and sufficient disinfectant…
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Southern Europe
Pope concerned about demographic winter
Pope Francis warns Italy and the rest of Europe for a demographic winter. The Roman Catholic leader says that “a society which does not welcome life, stops to live”. The church leader spoke at a meeting of the Family Associations Forum on Friday. This event is a platform for pro-family…
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Central Europe
German Court upholds prayer vigil ban at abortion centre
In the German city of Karlsruhe, the Administrative Court confirmed a municipality’s ban on a prayer vigil in front of a pre-abortion advice centre, Catholic News Agency Germany [reports](https://de.catholicnewsagency.com/story/deutsches-gericht-toleriert-gebetsverbot-vor-abtreibungsorganisation-8432).The challenge was led by Pavica Vojnovic, who organised the prayer events outside the Pro Familia advice centre in Pforzheim, southwest Germany,…
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Christian Life
Dutch Calvinists hesitate to take corona vaccine
More than half (53 per cent) of the readers of the Dutch daily *Reformatorisch Dagblad* say they don't want a vaccine against the coronavirus. This was the result of a [survey](https://www.rd.nl/artikel/926417-meerderheid-refo-s-wil-geen-coronavaccin) conducted in April among 4,000 subscribers of the newspaper and RD.nl. One in three RD readers is planning to…
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Central Europe
Young Germans are more religious than older ones, survey shows
A survey shows that 64 per cent of young Germans believe in God, and 84 per cent have prayed at least once. These numbers are remarkable, considering the continuous annual decline in membership of both the Protestant and Catholic church. INSA, a German institute for political research, did a study…
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Central Europe
Swiss Court: Ban on religious services violates freedom
A Swiss court has ruled the total ban on religious services under anti-Covid measures violates religious freedom. The Swiss government already suspended the imposed measure in December, but the final judgment came last week. The Court confirmed the measure as a violation of the fundamental right to religious freedom. In…
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Western Europe
French Evangelicals express concern about the “anti-separatism” law
The National Council of Evangelicals in France (CNEF) sent a report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee to express their concern about the new “anti-separatism” law. According to the French Evangelicals, the law is initially designed to fight radical Islamism but also restricts Christians in their freedom of worship.…
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Central Europe
Laschet not interested in German values' union
The new German Christian Democratic leader Armin Laschet distanced himself from the so-called Values' Union (Werte-union) in his own CDU party. Laschet is the German party leader in the footsteps of Chancellor Angela Merkel. On Wednesday, he said at a digital meeting of the Protestant Working Group EAK in his…
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