The Belgian court overturned Kir’s decision after the order was challenged by conference organizers with the support of ADF International, a Christian legal group that works to oppose threats to religious liberty.
Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, said that while “common sense and justice” had prevailed, the attempt to shut down the conference was a “dark mark on European democracy.”
“No official should have the power to shut down free and peaceful assembly merely because he disagrees with what is being said,” he said in a statement. “The kind of authoritarian censorship we have just witnessed belongs in the worst chapters of Europe’s history.”
Belgian ADF lawyer Wouter Vaassen called the attempt to shut down the conference “unjust” and said that it “should never have happened, especially in Brussels — the political heart of Europe.”
“We must diligently protect our fundamental freedoms lest censorship become the norm in our supposedly free societies,” he added.
Along with Müller, other Catholic speakers at this year’s event included Father Benedict Kiely, founder of Nasarean.org, which helps persecuted Christians; the German aristocrat Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis; and Gladden Pappin, president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs.
Another speaker, Jewish author and broadcaster Melanie Phillips, told the audience that she was in Jerusalem on Saturday night when Iran launched aerial attacks on Israel.
“At 2 a.m., the air raid siren wailed, and I huddled in my stairwell for safety,” she recounted. “Well, I left a war zone to come here. I didn’t realize that I was coming into another war zone in Brussels.”
This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.
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