Church leaders not being ‘honest’ about asylum seekers dodging deportation by converting to Christianity, vicar claims

CHURCH leaders are not being “honest” about the problem of asylum seekers trying to dodge deportation by converting to Christianity, a top vicar has claimed. 

Reverend Matthew Firth said “batches” of largely Iranian and Syrian young men came to his former parish every month for baptisms – but then showed no interest in their new faith.

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Reverend Matthew Firth said church leaders were not being “honest” about the problem of asylum seekers converting to Christianity

He even alleged that immigration lawyers acting for the migrants would pressure him to overstate their commitment to the clergy at removal tribunals. 

The issue of asylum seekers switching religions has come under scrutiny after Clapham acid attacker Abdul Ezedi used the ruse to remain in Britain.

He was granted permission to stay by claiming he would face persecution in Afghanistan for renouncing Islam. 

Home Office Minister Tom Pursglove today said he “does not have evidence of systemic abuse” of the asylum process in this way.

But Rev Firth – who was priest at St Cuthbert’s in Darlington from 2018 to 2020 – said when he joined there was a “surprising” number of asylum seekers trying to convert.

He told MPs on the Home Affairs committee: “Week in week out, significant groups of mainly Iranian and Syrian male asylum seekers were being brought to me in sizable cohorts.

“At a time six or seven people were brought to me by people saying ‘these people need baptism’.”

He said he tried “press a pause button” on the baptisms after spotting the “pattern” of behaviour where asylum seekers had no interest in Christian life.

Rev Firth said there was an “unwillingness” among Church of England leaders to be “totally honest” about the problem – adding: “I think there’s a lack of awareness.”

He said: “I know from colleagues around the country that they’re seeing a similar dynamic, whether that’s in Liverpool or Wakefield or Stockton or Darlington.”

Tory MP Marco Longhi accused senior bishops of “aiding and abetting” bogus asylum claims.

But the clergy hit back, with the Bishop of Chelmsford Rev Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani saying Rev Firth’s numbers “don’t add up”.

She said: “I think he’s absolutely right to say that clergy should be very vigilant. We take baptism incredibly seriously, it is a sacrament.

“It is not something to be played with. And we also expect our clergy to act honestly and truthfully and within the bounds of the law. But the figures don’t quite add up for me.”