The phenomenon of converting to Christianity is taking place among the waves of Syrian refugees arriving in Lebanon, reports The Telegraph newspaper of Britain (January 30). “Hundreds of Muslim refugees living in Lebanon have been baptized in the past year alone,” Josie Ensor writes. The flood of refugees in the country is reported to be at a crisis stage, which is linked to the uptick of conversions. “Some say they converted to benefit from the generous aid distributed by Christian charities, others to help their asylum applications to Europe, the United States, Canada and elsewhere,” Ensor adds.
Whatever is driving the conversions, Lebanon, unlike Syria, has a sizeable Christian population and a growing number of evangelical churches, “which began springing up across the country in response to the crisis over the border.” Some charities accuse the evangelical churches of exploiting the refugees’ situation by pressuring them to convert, Ensor writes. Christian aid workers and leaders deny the charge that these refugees are “rice Christians”—a pejorative term used to describe people who convert for material rather than religious benefits—and say these conversions are voluntary and costly for these new Syrian Christians. One pastor reports that he has received many threatening calls for encouraging apostasy from the friends and relatives of those he has baptized.
