Hamburg – In Search of a New God (Video)

In a Hamburg city park, 80 refugees change their religion in a mass baptism.

According to FCNN, 80 asylum seekers are currently being baptized – they have converted from Islam to Christianity. The idea quickly arises that they are doing this just for the sake of a positive asylum outcome. But changing one's faith requires a greater sacrifice.

Germany celebrates Father's Day, or rather, the Ascension Day, or both. A cloudless blue sky covers Hamburg. People relaxing in the sun, jogging, and walking their dogs fill the entire Hamburg city park. Among them: 80 people dressed in white. They are not celebrating Father's Day with a glass of beer or getting a little tan in the sun; they are there because God is the only one who has brought them there. Because on this day they are being baptized. 80 men and women from Iran and Afghanistan stand in front of a small stage, waiting for the priest to baptize them. Friends, family, and church members are with them. Voices filled with excitement can be heard, children are playing among the benches. The women are wearing white flowers and the smell of barbecue coals is everywhere. "Today is a big day for us," says Mahshad with great joy. Six months ago, the young woman and her husband, Amir, came to Germany from Iran. They currently live in a refugee camp in the city of Bielefeld. But they came to Hamburg for their baptism. "The Alpha Omega Church (their current family) gave them shelter after they fled Iran." And Mahshad says enthusiastically: "A new life is beginning for us."

Hopeless and disappointed with Islam

Like Amir and Mahshad, hundreds of refugees are currently seeking baptism. Across Germany, many Christian churches are reporting an influx of such refugees. According to Pastor Babayan, 196 Iranians and Afghans have been baptized this year in the Persian-speaking church in Hamburg alone. And his wife, Nasrin Babayan, believes that number will likely reach 500.

According to Mr. Babayan, “the motivation for converting is the same for most of them: they are disappointed with Islam.”

As Shima from Iran said, “I have been searching for peace, health, and happiness all my life, and I have not found it in Islam.” Being a Christian is happiness for me.

Also, the young couple Mehdi and Sulmaz found something in Christianity that they had not found in Islam their entire lives: “love.” Sulmaz says: “In Islam we always lived in fear. Fear of God, fear of sin and the punishment for sin. But in Christianity, on the contrary, God is love.

Is converting to another religion a prerequisite for receiving a positive asylum application?

And this God is celebrated today with the sound of harps and guitars and joyful songs. People who are walking by stop and look at everything with disbelief and surprise.

An elderly woman in a corner says in disbelief: "Who are they fooling?" Anyone who gets baptized as an asylum seeker is always accused of doing so only to get a positive asylum decision. Because according to the latest legal news, changing faith is effective for getting a positive asylum decision and they can stay in Germany. For many who have changed their religion, returning to their homeland is a life-threatening danger. In Iran and Afghanistan, they are called apostates and are punishable by death.

But changing religion is a long process. Legally, changing religion is only a mental reason after fleeing, just like marriage is mentioned in the case law. For example, marriage and changing religion can be considered reasons for a residence permit. These are reasons for fleeing, which are made up by asylum seekers even after their journey. According to the law, mental reasons for fleeing are recognized in the first asylum application if the person has been active in the country of origin. For example, an asylum seeker must have changed his religion in the country of origin.

Proving your faith in court

An asylum seeker in this situation not only had to prove his faith in court, but also from the perspective of the church. Baptism in the Persian-speaking church takes months in classes for seekers. And even attending these classes is not necessarily a guarantee of acceptance into baptism and Christian fellowship. “I don’t baptize someone if I feel that they don’t believe with all their heart,” says Pastor Babayan (64). He specifically noted that I don’t ask people to memorize a psalm or how to pray. I ask how their life has changed. Because Christian faith changes their way of thinking and worldview. And when someone tells me, I can sleep well at night again or forgive an old enemy; that’s when I know that person is a Christian from the bottom of their heart.”

"He who does not believe will not be baptized."

The Iranian-Armenian pastor, Babayan, admits that many come to him trying to get a better chance at asylum by converting. “About 20 to 30 percent of people are really” looking for the good news of the gospel. People who come to us just because of the confirmation slip will be rejected. And I get angry emails from people who have been rejected for baptism. And to put it very simply, anyone who doesn’t believe will not be baptized.

It should be noted that changing religion alone does not prevent desertion. Pastor Babayan says that approximately “ten percent of people who become believers nevertheless desertion.”

Muslim asylum seekers threaten Christians

But the priest Babayan is not the only obstacle that converts who want to convert have to overcome. Those who have turned away from Islam also have to worry about their safety in Germany. Amir and Mehshad leave the refugee camp in sports clothes when they plan to go to church on Sundays. Mehshad says that we pretend to go out for sports. This beautiful young woman and her husband are afraid of their Muslim neighbors. Here we have learned that even in Germany we cannot freely confess and declare that we are Christians. And he says with some anger that Muslims are stronger than Christians.

In the camp where they live, Muslim neighbors force them to gather for prayer five times a day. And anyone who doesn’t do so is threatened and intimidated. “And this is the same Islam that we have fled from.” He and his wife have already received several death threats. “But we can’t even complain because the security guards and translators in the camp are also Muslims. And they also cover for their fellow believers,” said Mahshad, 23, in despair.

Sama, 24, from Afghanistan, is also afraid of her neighbors in one of the camps in Hamburg. There, she is constantly subjected to sexual harassment and insults. "Our environment is very scary," says the young woman. And the threats come not only from neighbors but also from the camp's security guards.

Those who have changed their religion become apostates.

Pastor Babayan reports that he often hears from church members that they are being threatened in the refugee camps. In recent months, there have even been cases where this verbal hostility has escalated to physical violence. Many refugees who have converted to Christ have been beaten, and one was even stabbed and seriously injured. Such people who have converted from Islam to Christianity are ostracized. Some are even ostracized by their own families, like Amir and Mahshad. Turning their backs on Allah is punishable by death in their country. Shaima from Iran has also been ostracized and antagonized by her fellow countrymen. “If my old friends hear that I have become a Christian, they will no longer want to have anything to do with me,” she laments. Yet tears of joy welled up in her eyes as she was baptized in a lake in the city park. And he is not the only one who entered the lake shivering because of the cold water, but 80 others were baptized with him. Excitement, joy, and fear were visible in their eyes. The images were rare: small and large boats could be seen on the lake. The blue sky over Hamburg and the bright sun shining on the white hulls. Those who were rowing slowly rowed and passed the baptismal font in amazement. The people on the lake cheered the baptized with joy and songs. And those who were baptized did not let themselves be confused by the onlookers. Even when a drunk man threw his beer bottle at them and spat in the water. And one of the church members simply said: "It doesn't matter."

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