“At the moment, there are 82 religious and convictional offices in Brussels and Strasbourg, two of the sites of the European Parliament. Yet only 37 organisations representing churches and religious communities are listed in the transparency register. And there are around 120 religious groups in dialogue with the European Commission. This means that not many faith and belief groups have a formal relationship with EU political entities, but their overall number is huge.”In the corridors of the European Parliament, extremist religious groups are becoming more and more active, especially Christian organizations. They are trying to impose their philosophy, which is very undemocratic – a very ideologically driven agenda that is against all fundamental rights. I call them extremists because these groups go far beyond their religious convictions to oppose fundamental European principles. They claim that abortion is murder, homosexuality is paedophilia or sex education is collective masturbation at school. These groups are obsessed with abortion and homosexuality. Moreover they are making many attempts to influence European institutions to pass legislation setting back the clock on these issues, Our challenge is to counter these attacks on recognized human rights.”SOURCE: Tanja Fajon, Conscience No. 1, 2016