Church of England Decries Home Office for Denying Asylum Over ‘Violence’ in Christianity

The Religion of Peace - or, the Prince of Peace?

A Christian speaker holds a copy of the Bible at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, London

© REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

The UK Home Office has refused asylum to an Iranian convert, saying that Christianity is not as ‘peaceful’ as he claims. It even cited Bible verses to support its position. Now the Church of England is stepping in.

The letter from the Home Office now making the rounds on social media uses out of context Bible verses from books like Revelations to disprove the Iranian national's claim in his 2016 asylum request that he abandoned Islam and converted based on the peaceful nature of Christianity.

The letter describes the Bible as being “filled with imagery of revenge, destruction, death and violence,” and therefore “inconsistent” with the asylum-seeker’s claim that Christianity is peaceful “as opposed to Islam.”

Nathan Stevens, the asylum-seeker’s caseworker, tweeted an image of the rejection letter, stating he was “genuinely shocked” to read such “unbelievably offensive diatribe.”

He is not the only one who found the letter distasteful. The Church of England has even gotten involved, stating its “extreme concern” over the “profound misunderstanding” of biblical texts.

To use extracts from the Book of Revelation to argue that Christianity is a violent religion is like arguing that a government report on the impact of climate change is advocating drought and flooding.

The Church also said that the religious literacy of Home Office staff needs to be improved considering how critical religion is to the asylum process.

The Home Office has responded to the widespread outcry, promising to investigate while noting the letter “is not in accordance with our policy approach to claims based on religious persecution.”

So, can Home Office provide examples of Christian violence from the recent past? I can provide examples of hundreds of Muslim acts of violence, extreme violence, just in the past month. Home Office should also know that converting from Islam to Christianity, or any other religion, leaves you condemned to death by Mohammed, in the Quran. And such conversions have resulted in the murder of ex-Muslims quite recently. I've never heard of the murder of a Christian who converted to Islam.

Even though Sajid Javid is technically a Muslim, I have great respect for him, and I don't believe this is his doing. I hope I don't have to adjust my feelings for the Home Secretary.

Below is an extraordinary testimony from a former Imam who converted to Christ based entirely on the Quran. His reasoning is impeccable. The reaction of his family is hardly believable and begins a little past 8 minutes in. It's an amazing video, please watch.