Criticism of British Government Over How Religious Asylum Cases Are Assessed

“Can you recite the Ten Commandments from memory?”

Should someone who has converted to Christianity and fled Britain seeking asylum for their life have to know the answer to this question?

A group of British parliamentarians from various political parties who work on religious freedom issues have criticized the criteria used in assessing asylum applications from people who have converted to Christianity as unjust.

According to this group, the questions asked of these asylum seekers during the processing of their applications are irrelevant and unfair.

This group of parliamentarians believes that those who review these asylum applications often attempt to ask insignificant questions about the Bible rather than seeking to understand the actual beliefs of these individuals.

According to this group, the lack of proper understanding of religion and beliefs causes the asylum applications of people who face prosecution and danger to their lives in their countries due to religious conversion to be rejected by these officials.

Mohammad is an Iranian asylum seeker who has become a Christian. He is trying to obtain permission to reside in Britain.

His asylum application was rejected following the review of his case.

This Iranian asylum seeker says: “One of the questions they asked me was very strange. They asked me what color the cover of the Bible is.”

Mohammad says he responded: “I know that Bible covers come in different colors, my Bible cover is red.”

According to this Iranian asylum seeker, he was asked questions he was unable to answer. For example, he was asked to recite the Ten Commandments, but he was unable to memorize all of them.

When an asylum seeker’s case is being reviewed, the case officer decides on adding their statements to the file. The guidelines for reviewing cases of people who have applied for asylum due to religious conversion state that they should be asked general knowledge questions.

But why does the Home Office, which reviews asylum applications, expect these asylum seekers to know the basic principles of the Bible?

Baroness Berridge, who heads this parliamentary group, said: “The problem we have with this category of questions is that you might be an insincere person, but you could go and find the answers to these questions, yet on the other hand you might be a genuinely sincere person, but you wouldn’t know the answers to these questions.”

“When the system doesn’t ask about people’s genuine beliefs, it shows that those making decisions about the fate of these asylum seekers have not been properly trained.”

There are no official statistics on the number of people applying for asylum for religious reasons. However, evidence suggests that a large portion of these people are likely Muslims who have converted to Christianity.

Members of the Ahmadiyya Islamic sect in Pakistan are another group seeking residence in Britain due to their activities being illegal in that country.

Rio Mark Miller oversees the gathering of Iranians who have converted to Christianity in the city of Stockton-on-Tees. He says that those who review these types of asylum cases should distinguish between knowledge that exists in a person’s heart and soul and knowledge that is memorized.

According to Mr. Miller, they should ask these asylum seekers questions that help them understand why a person abandons the beliefs and religion they were born into.

But there is a question that remains: Is it possible that the current system could be exploited? Could someone not pretend to have found God?

Recent mass conversions in Germany have fueled concerns that such actions might be a great fraud.

The British Home Office is reviewing this parliamentary group’s report.

No official statement has been made on this matter other than an emphasis that guidelines regarding the views of religious groups are regularly reviewed.

There are still no plans to record statistics on religious asylum applications. This is because many applications are complex or overlap with other factors.

Mohammad lives in Yorkshire. Like several others, he was baptized in Greece on his way to Britain.

He says: “To know whether a person is a genuine believer or not, you have to look at their achievements in life. The achievement of life is love and humanity… When people come here they are wounded and living in fear, what they need most is love.”

Source: BBC