The European Parliament has been challenged over a new report criticising religion as "an important driver of conflict worldwide."

Release International have noted that the report fails to give examples of persecution, nor mention the plight of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. 

Andrew Boyd, from Release International told Premier: "What the report doesn't distinguish particularly well, and apart from missing out on lots of practical examples, is the difference between state sponsored persecution and the kind of persecution that takes place at the hands of militant groups. 

"But it's right to say that religion is being used as a touchstone for conflict around the world. 

"That's true, but it's always been true. 

"But what they are not doing is pointing out the vast swathes of Africa - including Nigeria where Christians particularly are being targeted by Islamist militants, radical jihadists.

"That ISIS and Boko Haram are slaughtering Christians and they're being driven out of their lands, it is an extension of a very old idea, which is the jihad, the holy war.

"This ideaology was actually from the 19th Century."

Andrew goes on to say this is how these Ideologists are justifiying their wars, he said: "The people who are seeking to impose power and control over other people will go to the highest possible authority they can to justify that, and that's usually calling on the name of the Almighty, and saying that we're doing these dreadful things in God's name. 

Andrew says we are seeing a level of this in Ukraine, he says: "We've seen elements of headlines like is this a holy war, this is Putin's Holy War, where the notion is that the Russian Orthodox Church is being rallied to kind of bring back the way wood around Europe back into the Russian Orthodox fold. 

"Putin is the man who's running to do this. 

"So we've seen all throughout history, without exception that religion is used and abused as a means of controlling and forcing other people to toe the line."

Link to the report: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0137_EN.pdf