Thanks to the German Bishops’ Conference and the Protestant Church in Germany for the symposium “Conversion to Christianity in the Context of Asylum Procedure”
Thomas Schirrmacher in conversation with Christoph Cardinal Schönborn on 29.5.2018 in the National Council in Vienna about conversion and asylum proceedings © BQ/Warnecke
It is very gratifying that the big churches in Germany have taken the conversion of Muslims to Christianity out of the shadows of often emotional discussions and have it thoroughly examined from all sides – theologically, sociologically and legally – by experts from various disciplines. And it is pleasing that the churches also agree in principle with invited speakers of small churches to protect conversion and baptism from hanger-ons and those who just would like to take advantage of a conversion on the one hand by allowing applicants for baptism a thorough examination of conscience and information, and on the other hand to openly receive those willing to convert and not to associate their wishes with negative associations.
However, I have just read the file of a case in which a convert was refused asylum status because he had not yet been baptized. The baptism is only due in a few weeks at the end of the long baptismal course, as the pastor present confirmed. This shows that it is still a great challenge to make the church procedure accessible and understandable to the decision-makers of the BAMF and that decision-makers who are still newly appointed are somehow cut off from the experience values of the last two years.
Out of this statement was already quoted in: https://www.pro-medienmagazin.de/gesellschaft/gesellschaft/2018/06/13/kirchen-diskutieren-ueber-taufen-von-fluechtlingen/
- See also the DBK press release and the EKD press release (both in German).
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