Perhaps no words in recent political history have so rapidly proven correct as Vice President J.D. Vance’s warning that European religious liberty faces a toxic and growing “threat from within,” according to a new expert analysis of government infringements on Christians.

In his Valentine’s Day address to the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Vance cited a crackdown on free speech and conscience rights to conclude that Europe’s “backslide away from conscience rights” and “deterioration of fundamental freedoms” has “placed the basic liberties of religious [believers] in the crosshairs.”

“Vance is right to be concerned about the direction Europe is heading,” wrote Arielle Del Turco, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, in a new study titled “Is Prayer a Crime? Government Restrictions on Prayer in Europe.” The report covers infringements on Christians’ religious liberty between February 2021 and this month, March 2025. Government suppression of their subjects’ unalienable rights stretches from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, from Spain to Scandinavia, and includes the European Union’s headquarters in the increasingly Muslim-dominated capital of Brussels, according to the analysis, released on Thursday.

These restrictions sometimes target the simple act of prayer itself, the report noted. The EU itself seemingly aimed to regulate the prayer app known as Hallow — advertised in the United States by celebrities such as Jonathan Roumie (who portrays Jesus on “The Chosen”), as well as Mark Wahlberg and Gwen Stefani — out of business. “This situation shows the increasing separation of religion from public life in Europe, where individuals are often discouraged from practicing their faith publicly — although the Hallow app’s purpose is to facilitate personal prayer and devotion,” wrote Del Turco.

The report also shared the stories of eight people in the United Kingdom who have been convicted, arrested, or confronted by police for praying in a free-speech suppression zone around abortion facilities. Some of the victims — which include a Roman Catholic priest, a medical doctor, and a British Army veteran — were fined up to £9,000 (approximately $11,670 U.S.) or derided as “stubborn and ignorant” for their prayerful stand. One Christian affected by draconian speech laws said the police officers who accosted him said, “Kindly move elsewhere outside the exclusion zone where you’ve got your human rights.” Scottish government officials confirmed Christians could be prosecuted for praying inside their own home, if a passerby within the bubble zone happened to overhear their prayer.

“It says a lot when Christians in countries like the United Kingdom face charges for praying outside of an abortion facility. It signals that these governments care more about the ability to kill unborn children than the ability to practice one’s faith freely,” Del Turco told The Washington Stand. “That’s a disgrace.”

The more secular, progressive, and collectivist the government, the worse Christian believers fare. In November and December 2023, police tried to arrest Catholics in Madrid praying the rosary outside a church near the headquarters of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) to pray for deliverance from the anti-Christian policies of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. His suppression of believers praying the series of “Our Father,” “Hail Mary,” and “Glory Be” prayers that join its mysteries only underlined the socialist’s hostility to free speech and religion.

Sánchez also serves as president of the Socialist International. “The increasing interdependence of the world leaves little space for fundamentalist controversies and hostilities,” state SI’s Declaration of Principles. “We therefore reject and condemn any form of religious or political fundamentalism.” The document also praises the rise of feminism, looks forward to “the overcoming of patriarchal attitudes,” and prescribes that governments should weaponize taxpayer-funded benefits and institutions to “transform stultifying social structures and improve the situation of women in society. Specific programmes for children are of the greatest importance.” 

“These clear violations of religious freedom can serve as a temperature check for the current state of religious freedom in Europe,” wrote Del Turco. “They also serve as a warning for Americans about how quickly religious freedom can erode when the government attempts to regulate speech and prevent any speech that may offend particular groups. Although the intended target of such regulations may not always be prayer or religious speech, both are getting caught in the crossfire.”

Accepting government funding can leave Christians open to losing their free speech rights. Officials in Sweden warned Ålidenskolan kindergarten it would face a fine of €960 (approx. $1,060 U.S.) if it did not halt its practice of allowing children to say lunchtime prayers, even though the program was voluntary and the school obtained parental consent. American politicians from Kamala Harris to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton have proposed having taxpayers fund “universal pre-K” for children as young as age 3, further entangling the State with childrearing and potentially secularizing children’s environments at an ever-younger age.

Politicians have sometimes leveraged their control of state resources to change churches’ theological beliefs. Arthur Engberg, who served as Sweden’s Minister of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs in the 1930s, announced he wanted the ruling Social Democratic Party to “de-Christianise the church through its connection with the state,” replacing the state church’s theological Lutheranism with “an atheistic general religiosity.” Sociologist Rodney Stark noted that “many Swedish clergy” eventually “acquiesced when control of the Church passed into the hands of avowed atheists” and “became strong supporters of state socialism.”

Use of the internet, cell phone tracking, and facial recognition software have made it harder for Christians to express unpopular views in public. Del Turco told TWS she wrote the report, because Europe stands at a continent-wide inflection point. “This is a pivotal moment for European countries, as they choose what is going to define their identity. Will they remember and respect the Western values informed by Christianity which enabled them to prosper? Or will they continue on the path of progressivism, where woke virtue signaling matters more than basic human rights like free speech and religious freedom?” Del Turco asked.

FRC previously documented 168 violations of Christians’ religious freedom perpetrated by 16 Western governments between January 2020 to December 2023. Lockdowns introduced in the name of “slowing the spread” allowed EU leaders and U.S. governors alike to close churches while allowing abortion facilities, marijuana dispensaries, and casinos to remain open as “essential businesses.”

“No one should ever be punished by the government for praying. There is perhaps no clearer violation of religious freedom than when a government prohibits or punishes an individual’s communication with God,” concluded Del Turco’s expert analysis. “These alarming violations of religious freedom indicate a growing disrespect for religion in Europe and serve as a warning to Americans to protect our legal right to religious freedom and to foster support for religious freedom in Western culture.”

You can read the full report, “Is Prayer a Crime? Government Restrictions on Prayer in Europe” here.