Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 14, 2025 / 17:35 pm

U.S. Vice President JD Vance called attention to deteriorating religious freedom and free speech rights in Western liberal democracies throughout Europe during an address to the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany on Friday.

“I come here today not just with an observation but with an offer,” Vance said in a speech to hundreds of high-ranking European leaders, including heads of state and European Union officials.

“Just as the [President Joe] Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the [President Donald] Trump administration will do precisely the opposite, and I hope that we can work together on that,” Vance continued.

“In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town, and under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views — but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square,” he added.

Rather than focusing his remarks on external threats to European security, Vance warned about internal threats, particularly “the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America.”

During Vance’s address, he received scattered applause from a handful of attendees. However, most of the time the majority of European leaders blankly stared at the American vice president, not vocalizing either approval or disapproval of his comments.

Religious persecution and speech laws

The vice president referenced several areas of concern, including arrests in the United Kingdom for silent prayer near abortion clinics, a Swedish court convicting a Christian activist “for participating in Qur’an burnings that resulted in his friend’s murder,” a court annulling the Romanian election results, and the expansion of hate speech laws throughout the continent.

Vance specifically mentioned the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was convicted in a British court for silently praying outside of an abortion clinic for his unborn son who died in an abortion that he helped procure two decades prior.

“The British government charged [him] … with the ‘heinous’ crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes,” Vance said. “Not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own.”

On the same subject, Vance called out the Scottish government for its “safe access zones” law around abortion clinics, which prohibits “religious preaching” and “silent vigils” geared toward discouraging abortion within 200 meters of a clinic.

In some circumstances, the law can apply to activities on one’s own property and within one’s own home if it can be seen or heard within the zone, according to The Telegraph. The Scottish government sent letters to residents who live within the zones to inform them of this law.

“The government urged readers [of the letters] to report any fellow citizen suspected guilty of [a] thought crime,” Vance said. “In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.”

Vance discussed the conviction of Swedish citizen Salwan Najem, an immigrant from Iraq, for participating in a Qur’an burning. His friend, Salwan Momika, was murdered for participating in the burning.

Referencing the court decision, the vice president said the judge determined that “Sweden’s laws to supposedly protect free expression do not, in fact, grant … ‘a free pass to do or say anything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.’”

Vance repeatedly condemned the Constitutional Court of Romania for annulling a democratic election in November 2024 in which independent candidate Călin Georgescu qualified for the runoff after leading in the first round of voting. He also chastised the European Court of Human Rights for rejecting the appeal from Georgescu, who is an outspoken Orthodox Christian and critic of Ukraine.

According to Vance, the courts “straight up canceled the results of a presidential election based on the flimsy suspicions of an intelligence agency and enormous pressure from its continental neighbors.” The courts claimed Russia used advertisements to influence the election.

“If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with,” Vance said.

The vice president also criticized hate speech laws throughout Europe, saying the European Union “warned citizens that they intend to shut down social media during times of civil unrest — the moment they spot what they judge to be ‘hateful content,’” in reference to the Digital Services Act.

Vance compared these modern-day European policies to the Soviet Union censoring dissidents, closing churches, and canceling elections.

“You cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail, whether that’s the leader of the opposition, a humble Christian praying in her own home, or a journalist trying to report the news,” the vice president said. “Nor can you win one by disregarding your basic electorate on questions like who gets to be a part of our shared society.”

During his speech, Vance also criticized “out of control” mass migration into Europe and said the United States is looking to “come to a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine.” He also said it is “important in the coming years for Europe to step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.”

The vice president, who is Catholic, concluded his speech with a quote from St. John Paul II, whom he called “one of the most extraordinary champions of democracy on this continent or any other.”

“Do not be afraid,” he said, quoting the former pontiff. “We should not be afraid of our people, even when they express views that disagree with their leadership.”