Hate crimes against Catholics witness ‘largest spike’ in Canada, reveals Christian think tank

Ottawa: A report by a Canadian non-partisan Christian think tank called Cardus found that 2021 witnessed the “largest spike” in hate crimes motivated by religion, most of which occurred against Catholics living in Canada. The report, titled Toward a Hopeful Future: Facing Down Religious Hate, shows that hate crimes against Catholic Christians jumped from 43 to 155 cases within a year between 2020 and 2021. Over 70 Catholic churches across Canada have been vandalised or burned in a “suspicious manner” since 2020. The report found that although the majority of hate crime cases were inflicted upon Catholics, none of the other religious groups were able to escape growing aggression against people of faith in Canada. This point out to an overall shift in the way Canadians are now viewing religion. Majority of Canadians view religion as ‘very bad’ A survey conducted by Cardus reveals that the percentage of people in Canada who view the contribution of religion in daily life as “very bad” or “more bad than good” has risen sharply between 2017 to 2022. “The rise of religious hate crimes is occurring against a backdrop of increasingly negative public attitudes toward the contributions of religion and faith communities to Canada,” the report said. The report continued, “Majority opinions are not necessarily linked to hate crimes, of course — only a tiny fraction of Canadians commit hate crimes. Yet it is reasonable to assume that those who are accused of religious hate crimes may be emboldened by declining respect for or acceptance of religion and religious persons.” Strong hostilities were expressed by atheists and agnostics. Almost half of the respondents believe that religious communities’ contribution in Canada is mostly negative. In conclusion, the report said, “The rise in hate crimes against religious communities, and the increasingly negative attitudes on the part of some Canadians toward the presence of religion in public life and the contributions of faith communities, should concern us all.” Ten churches vandalised in a day In 2021, as many as 10 churches in the Canadian province of Alberta were vandalised in a single day. The incident took place on Canada’s national holiday of Dominion Day when most of the churches were vandalised with red paint in a sign of protest against the Roman Catholic church’s role in Canada’s residential school system, according to BreitBart. Alberta conservative Premier Jason Kenney said, “These folks came to Canada with the hope that they could practise their faith peacefully. Some of them are traumatised by such attacks.” The vandalism came in the wake of churches being burned down to the ground in suspicious fires in several Canadian provinces. In a suspected arson attack, a church in Morinville, Alberta was burned down and reduced to rubble in the same year. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.