Invasion of Europe: Anchor Christians

Germany sees rise in conversions to Christianity, a status that could help asylum claims

On a recent Saturday in a 19th-century Protestant church, Iranian and Afghan immigrants struggled to sing a hymn as the Rev. Hans-Jürgen Kutzner pointed to the German lyrics on a whiteboard.

Pastor Gottfried Martens during a baptism for 

immigrants from Iran in the Evangelical-Lutheran 

Trinity Church in Berlin on Aug. 30. 

Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP

Once a month, Mr. Kutzner gives a crash course in a neon-lit room adjacent to the church to prepare Muslims wishing to be baptized as Christians.

“What you are signing up to today isn’t just this seminar: Preparing yourself internally, going to Mass and integrating into your church, it’s all of that,” he told the 28 attendees as an Iranian woman clutching a rosary translated into Farsi.

Nariman Malkari, a recently baptized migrant from Iran, 

and his godmother, Marianne Bunyan, in front of his tent 

at the Trinity Church in Berlin, where he lives while his 

asylum application is reviewed. Photo: Ruth Bender/WSJ

Priests and researchers say they have witnessed a parallel trend to the surge in migrant numbers flocking to Germany in recent years: A rise in conversions from Islam to Christianity.

While most converts invoke spiritual reasons, people involved in the process point to another motivation: A conversion could make the difference between obtaining asylum or being deported.

Up to a million migrants, many of them from Muslim countries, are expected to arrive this year in Germany alone. Those fleeing war or persecution could qualify for asylum; others seeking better economic prospects likely wouldn’t.

An Iranian asylum-seeker, Aref Movasaq Rodsari, at 

the Trinity Church in Berlin last month. 

Photo: Gero Breloer/AP

“We do get people that come here for reasons that aren’t just spiritual,” said Mr. Kutzner, adding that he believes they are in the minority. “We constantly fight against the suspicion that conversions are only motivated by hopes for asylum.”

One church official said the desire by some Christians to help can get out of hand. “There are middlemen who have started to develop a business out of connecting refugees with churches open to baptizing them,” this person said.

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