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Christian religious leaders have expressed deep concern over a proposed law in Denmark that would require clerics of all faiths to translate their sermons into Danish.
The new bill, which is aimed principally at radical Islamist groups, is expected to be reviewed in February at the Folketing, the Danish Parliament.
Denmark has more than 270,000 Muslims, and most of the preaching in the mosques is in Arabic.
The Social Democratic government of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says the purpose of the law is to improve the transparency of what is said within religious communities.
It says this is undermined when sermons are delivered in another language.
But the Brussels-based Conference of European Churches (CEC) says the bill is problematic.
Its leaders sent a letter to the prime minister and Denmark's cultural minister, Joy Mogensen, to express their strong reservations.
Rev. Christian Krieger of France, the CEC president, and Dr. Jørgen Skov Sørensen of Denmark, the general secretary, said there are a number of important reasons for using other languages besides Danish in religious services.
They include respect for minority communities and welcoming and accommodating migrants.
A bill that would create mistrust towards religious communities
The letter, which was posted on the CEC website, said the proposed law would not reflect well on Denmark.
"It would be an indicator to non-Danish, European nations and Christian communities that their religious practice and presence in Denmark is questioned and deemed unequivocally problematic," the CEC leaders said.
They suggested that the move would also be an insult to foreign communities that have been established in the Nordic country for decades.
"Why should German, Romanian or English congregations with a long history in Denmark suddenly have to translate their sermons into Danish?" the CEC leaders said.
They also alleged that the proposed law would constitute an attack on religious freedom and would be seen as a sign of cultural close-mindedness.
"This would taint the image of Denmark as an open, liberal and free nation built on a Christian heritage of individual rights and duties," the letter to the government says.
"It was the Evangelical Church in Germany that sounded the alarm on this bill, asking us to support them," noted Sørensen.
Many Christian organizations in Denmark then followed the CEC in denouncing the initiative, including the National Council of Churches of Denmark, the Lutheran Bishop and the European Bishops' Conference.
The Catholic Church is opposed to this bill
"All church congregations, free church congregations, Jewish congregations, everything we have here in Denmark — 40 different religious communities — will be placed under general suspicion by this law," said Anne Mirijam Kaschne, secretary general of the Scandinavian Bishops' Conference.
"Something is happening here which is undermining democracy," she said, according to Catholic News Service.
She said if the Danish government really wants to combat the problem of hate speech, it should "show appreciation for faith communities who are committed to integration".
"We don't know much about this law, but what we do know is that it doesn't make much sense," said Sørensen.
"Should all the sermons be translated? And between the notes taken for the sermon and the sermon itself, which version should be sent? And who is going to read all these sermons?" the CEC secretary general wondered.
He said the proposed law is absurd.
"This will not prevent radical imams who wish to do so from preaching against democracy. They will only have to send the state a different translation of the original version of the sermon," he argued.
"In Europe, there is a tendency to draft bills targeting religious communities in order to fight against radical Islamism," Sørensen added.
So far, the CEC has only received an acknowledgment from the government.
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