---
title: "5 facts about religious hostilities in Europe"
description: "Harassment and attacks against religious minorities continue in many countries there, and hostilities against Jews in particular have been spreading."
date: "2015-02-27"
authors:
  - name: "Angelina E. Theodorou"
    job_title: "Former Research Analyst"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/angelina-e-theodorou/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/02/27/5-facts-about-religious-hostilities-in-europe/"
categories:
  - "International Religious Freedom & Restrictions"
  - "Islam"
  - "Judaism"
  - "Muslims Around the World"
  - "Religious Freedom & Restrictions"
---

# 5 facts about religious hostilities in Europe

[![Religious Hostilities in Europe](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/02/FT_15.02.26_europeHostility.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/02/26/sidebar-religious-hostilities-and-religious-minorities-in-europe/)

While Europe is not the region with the highest level of religious hostilities – that remains the Middle East-North Africa region – harassment and attacks against religious minorities continue in many European countries. Indeed, according to a [new study by the Pew Research Center](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/02/26/religious-hostilities/), hostilities against Jews in particular have been spreading.

Here are five facts about social hostilities – i.e., hostilities perpetrated by individuals or social groups rather than by governments – that tend to target religious minorities in Europe:

In 2013, the most recent year covered by the study, **harassment of Jews in Europe reached a seven-year high. **Jews faced harassment in about three-quarters (34 of 45) of Europe’s countries. In France, for instance, [three men attacked a teenager](http://www.adl.org/anti-semitism/international/c/global-antisemitism-2013.html#.VDaxYnJAS9L) who was wearing a traditional skullcap, or kippa, in Vitry-Sur-Seine, reportedly threatening to “kill all of you Jews.” In Spain, vandals [painted a large swastika](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=220334) on the side of a bull ring in the city of Pinto, along with the words “Hitler was right.” And in the town of Komarno in southern Slovakia, metal tiles in the pavement honoring a local Jewish family killed in the Holocaust were destroyed when [vandals poured tar over them](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222267).

**Muslims experienced harassment in nearly as many European countries (32 of 45) as Jews. **By comparison, the Middle East and North Africa was the only region where Muslims faced more widespread harassment, dealing with hostility in 15 of that region’s 20 countries. In Germany, [bloody pig heads were found](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222219) at a site where the Ahmadiyya Muslim community was planning to build Leipzig’s first mosque. And in Ireland, several mosques and Muslim cultural centers [received threatening letters](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222227), with [one of the letters stating](http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/justice-minster-alan-shatter-condemns-muslim-hate-mail-29782916.html): “Muslims have no right to be in Ireland.”

**In two-thirds of the countries in Europe, organized groups used force or coercion to try to impose their views on religion in 2013. **Sometimes this activity is aimed at dominating a country’s public life with the group’s particular perspective on religion through means such as online intimidation of minority religious groups. Other times, it is focused on a particular religious group, such as anti-Semitic postings and anti-Muslim rhetoric on online forums. In Italy, for example, four men were sent to prison after they [published lists of Jewish residents and businesses](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222229) on neo-Nazi websites. This type of social hostility was more prevalent in Europe (30 of 45 countries, or 67%) than in any other region.

**Women were harassed over religious dress in about four-in-ten European countries (19 of 45) –** about the same share as in the Middle East-North Africa region (where it occurred in eight of 20 countries, or 40%). This includes cases in which women were harassed for either wearing religious dress or for perceived violations of religious dress codes. In France, for example, two men [attacked a pregnant Muslim woman](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222215), kicking her in the stomach and attempting to remove her headscarf and cut her hair; she suffered a miscarriage in the days following the attack. And in Italy, two Moroccan men attacked a young Moroccan woman, beating her for “offending Islam” when she [refused to wear a headscarf](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222229).

**Individuals were assaulted or displaced from their homes or places of worship in retaliation for religious activities in roughly four-in-ten European countries**. In Poland, for example, arsonists [set fire to the door of a mosque](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222255) in Gdansk. And in Greece, [arsonists attacked Jehovah’s Witnesses’ houses of worship](http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2013&dlid=222221) and several informal mosques in multiple cities during the year.

*For details on the sources and methodology of this analysis, and to read an expanded sidebar* *on social hostilities toward religious minorities in Europe, see our *[*full report on religious restrictions*](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/02/26/religious-hostilities/)*.*