Simon Cox Blog: Can You Name All Ten Commandments? If Not, This (and 18 Other Questions) Could Get You Deported

Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Can You Name All Ten Commandments? If Not, This (and 18 Other Questions) Could Get You Deported

Take this quiz of Christian trivia faced by converts from Islam seeking asylum in the UK.

What color is the cover of the Bible?

How many books are in the Bible?

Who did Jesus raise from the dead, and which book can you find it in?

These questions, among the nearly 20 questions in CT’s quiz below, have been asked of Christian converts from Islam who are applying for asylum in the United Kingdom. Wrong answers put them at a high risk of deportation. [Take the quiz yourself and see if you’d face the same fate.]

Such questions are unfair, according to a new report released today from the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom or Belief and the Asylum Advocacy Group (which includes organizations such as the Evangelical Alliance UK, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors, and Release International).

“The problem with those questions is that if you are not genuine you can learn the answers, and if you are genuine, you may not know the answers,” Elizabeth Berridge, who chairs the group, told the BBC.

Another problem: the case workers determining whether a refugee deserves asylum don’t necessarily understand Christianity, Mark Miller, a pastor of Iranian converts in a church in northern England, told CT.

“Why did God send Jesus to earth?” he said. “The HO [Home Office] said the answer ‘to wipe out the sins of all humans’ was wrong, and that ‘Jesus came to teach us how to behave’ was the correct answer.”

As refugees stream from the Middle East, countries of refuge—including the United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the Czech Republic—have struggled with judging which converts are sincere.

Asylum seekers, especially from countries hostile to Christianity, know that a conversion may help them remain ...