Six Bibby Stockholm barge migrants baptised on same day
Six asylum seekers from the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset were baptised at a church in Weymouth on Sunday.
Around 40 men currently on the barge in Portland are either practising Christians or enquiring about the faith, The Telegraph has been told. Of these, seven have been baptised at Weymouth Baptist Church since October.
Church leaders and Home Office officials are facing questions over asylum seekers converting to Christianity.
It follows the revelation that Abdul Ezedi, the Clapham chemical attack suspect, was granted asylum on the basis that he had converted to Christianity, despite having been convicted of two sex offences three years earlier.
Mike Stear, a spokesman for Weymouth Baptist Church, told The Telegraph that the church had a “rigorous programme of baptism preparation in place”, which lasted around six weeks, and it was important that the process was taken “seriously and not for any ulterior motives”.
He stressed that the “majority” of the 40 migrants were already practising Christians before their arrival in the UK.
It is also understood that a large number of the group come from Iran, where conversion from Islam to Christianity is illegal and can be punished with imprisonment.
Mr Stear said: “If they [the asylum seekers] have been enquiring about baptism, then the church has a rigorous programme of baptism preparation – there’s also ongoing Bible study on a weekly basis, and the guys will attend that.
“We are greatly helped by a British person who is fluent in Farsi, who has worked in multiple places with Iranians for over 30 years. The thing is that they are not just meeting one person but a number of church leaders or those involved in the leadership, and getting to know them.”
Mr Stear said a number of people were often baptised on a single day for practical reasons because of the preparation involved in filling the baptistery. He added that no other baptisms were currently booked at the church.
Between 10 and 15 of the 40 Bibby Stockholm migrants had been baptised at churches in other parts of the country before being taken to the barge, Mr Stear estimated.
He added: “It is important to the whole Church that baptism is taken seriously and not for any ulterior motives. It is not in the Church’s interest to have baptisms for any ulterior motives that aren’t genuine.
“If they are disingenuous, it undermines the integrity of the Church and more importantly it undermines the integrity of the Gospel and the integrity of the person of Christ. So seeking to be as secure as possible in baptism preparation is important.”
Refusal to baptise if there are concerns
Mr Stear said measures in place included calling other churches when a migrant said they had been baptised there in order to verify those claims.
He said the Weymouth church had not yet refused to baptise an asylum seeker living on the barge, but confirmed that such a decision would be made if there were concerns.
He added: “I think if there was disinterest in the classes and it was just felt that they were turning up for the sake of it, that would be picked up and there would be conversations.”
Mr Stear said he and other church leaders were “accurately aware” of the impact of cases such as that of Ezedi, which he described as “tragic events that should have never have happened”.
“What’s difficult is when incidents like this happen, very quickly the populist view is that everyone is tarnished with the same brush,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean everybody should be put under suspicion, and it doesn’t mean that every church is doing baptisms is just doing it for the sake of doing it.”
