U.K. Denies Asylum to Iranian Christian, Says Christianity Isn’t a 'Peaceful' Religion

The United Kingdom has denied asylum to an Iranian Christian convert, saying that Christianity isn’t a “peaceful” religion.

According to The Washington Examiner, the U.K.’s Home Office, which oversees immigration and passports, rejected a man’s application for asylum, saying the applicant’s claim that Christianity is “peaceful” is “inconsistent” with the Bible.

The Home Office said in its denial letter that books of the Bible such as Leviticus, Exodus, Matthew and Revelation are “filled with imagery of revenge, destruction, death and violence.”

“These examples are inconsistent with your claim that you converted to Christianity after discovering it is a ‘peaceful’ religion, as opposed to Islam which contains violence, rage and revenge,” the letter says.

A legal expert told The Examiner that its likely that this decision is more anti-asylum than anti-Christian.

"The Home Office is notorious for coming up with any reason they can to refuse asylum and this looks like a particularly creative example, but not necessarily a systemic outbreak of anti-Christian sentiment in the department,” legal expert Conor James said.

In an opinion column for The Examiner, Becket Adams said there seems to be a “trend in the U.K. of government officials taking explicitly anti-Christian positions.”

Adams pointed to an investigation in Britain where police are looking into a Roman Catholic reporter who allegedly “misgendered” a transgendered person.

“What I’m trying to say is: If you’re a Christian living in the U.K., now might be a really good time to think about emigrating to the land of the free and the home of the brave, where the biggest nuisance for people of faith is an overabundance of options for worship.”

The U.K. isn’t the only country accused of an anti-Christian agenda. In Sweden, Micael Grenholm writes in an opinion column for The Christian Post, that Swedish government officials have been deporting Christians seeking asylum to countries such as Afghanistan.

“Swedish authorities motivate these human rights abuses by claiming that the asylum seekers aren’t ‘real’ Christians,” Grenholm said.

Photo courtesy: Sabrina Mazzeo/Unsplash