Muslim refugees converting to Christianity ‘to find safety’

Ibrahim Ali remembers his first church service well. The smell of the candles, the cheap plywood pews, and the hymn singing that sounded so foreign to him at the time, reports The telegraph.
The 57-year-old Muslim Syrian never imagined that when he fled to neighbouring Lebanon to seek refuge from the war that he would end up converting to Christianity.
But Mr Ali is not alone. Hundreds of Muslim refugees living in Lebanon have been baptised in the past year alone.
The situation for refugees in the country - which is hosting more than a million and a half Syrians that make up a quarter of its total population - has become increasingly dire over the course of the six-year conflict.
Some say they converted to benefit from the generous aid distributed by Christian charities, others to help their asylum applications to Europe, the United States, Canada and elsewhere.

 

Muslim refugees converting to Christianity to find safety

Ibrahim Ali remembers his first church service well. The smell of the candles, the cheap plywood pews, and the hymn singing that sounded so foreign to him at the time, reports The telegraph. The 57-year-old Muslim Syrian never imagined that when he fled to neighbouring Lebanon to seek refuge from the war that he would end up converting to Christianity. But Mr Ali is not alone. Hundreds of Muslim refugees living in Lebanon have been baptised in the past year alone. The situation for refugees in the country - which is hosting more than a million and a half Syrians that make up a quarter of its total population - has become increasingly dire over the course of the six-year conflict. Some say they converted to benefit from the generous aid distributed by Christian charities, others to help their asylum applications to Europe, the United States, Canada and elsewhere.