Economist: WHEN a newly arrived migrant seeks asylum on grounds that going home would mean facing religous persecution, how can the host country test the sincerity of that claim? That is a hard question, especially if the migrant has only recently converted to a different faith. It’s also a very topical one, given the reports that hundreds of newcomers in Germany and the Netherlands have switched from Islam to Christianity. If they come from countries where apostasy from Islam incurs terrible consequences, even the death penalty, then they can make a strong case that their safety depends on finding a new home. So how can authorities tell if they have had a real change of heart or are simply looking for a new way to buttress their case?
According to a report co-authored by some British parliamentarians and published this month, interviewers in Britain often challenge self-described Christian applicants by giving them general-knowledge tests. These are relatively hard ones: How many books are there in the Bible? Can you list the ten commandments? Can you name the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ?
There are people with university degrees in religious studies who might stumble over those questions. But the parliamentarians’ point was not merely that the asylum-seekers were asked too much; it was more that the questioners knew too little and took the simple option of subjecting the applicants to a quiz (the sort one could devise after a quick internet search) instead of probing their feelings in a more searching way.