Spain: Churches face secularist hatred

On 8 March 2019, international women"s day, the news outlet Cope reported that a banner reading "You will drink the blood of our abortions" was discovered hanging on the front gate of the Cathedral de Santa Marƒ­a de la Redonda in Logroƒ±o. On the same day in 2018, there had been at least eleven similar incidents against churches carried out by activists. Rachel Niko, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "˜"Spain is one of the bastions of LGBTI gender philosophy and secularist influences are very strong. Since 2010 the government has introduced legislation covering abortion, same-sex marriage, the adoption of minors by homosexual couples, assisted reproduction, and gender identity. The State's alleged neutrality does not stand up in practice, since it is clearly aiming to remove Christian faith and values from the public sphere. The situation for freedom of religion in Spain will most likely worsen in the future since the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) came to power in June 2018, which is known for its opposition to public expressions of Christian faith.""