In 2018, when the Rev Matthew Firth took up his new role at St Cuthbert’s, the church in the heart of the north-east market town of Darlington since the 12th century, he was keen to bring new souls to the faith that he believes in it passionately.
However, it didn’t take Matthew long to realize that there was something suspicious about the large number of Middle Eastern souls lining up to convert to Christianity.
“When I arrived, many adult baptisms were already booked, which was very unusual. The vast majority, if not all, were asylum seekers whose initial asylum applications had already been rejected. Obviously, if you were rejected, the next step was to sign up for baptism,” Matthew told me on the phone from his home in York on Thursday.
All candidates for baptism at St Cuthbert’s were men, mainly from Iran and Syria. The new vicar decided to allow some services to take place – “I felt I had to honor them, I wasn’t just going to cancel” – but, when they did take place, he says the baptisms were like a sort of spectacle. .
“I had the distinct impression that people were trying to make it look like their baptism had taken place. So when the photos are taken, it looks like they are completely overcome with emotion. Create a situation where it appears to be completely flawless and authentic.
Usually, the relatives of the newly baptized take a few discreet photos. Many photos were taken during the baptism of asylum seekers. To the astonished reverend, it looked like a professional job. “All of a sudden, literally, a few hours later, you’ll notice on Facebook that all of their Facebook banner photos and their profile photos have been replaced with baptism photos. All just inundated with baptism photos.
“And, again, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is about making a case. It’s to say: “Look at my Facebook profile!” It’s full of Christian stuff. I am a true Christian. But it was literally revamping a Facebook profile to create a new brand (for themselves). »
Money changed hands
The Cambridge astrophysics graduate, who left the Church of England in 2020 and is now a vicar of the Free Church of England, realized he had fallen on “a treadmill, a real industry of asylum baptisms“. It was a blatant transaction.
As Matthew recalls: “There was one individual in particular who was Muslim and had been granted permission to remain in England. He did not seek baptism himself, because he had been granted asylum. And he was still there and he was taking cohorts of these asylum seekers to church. This would usually be after the service.
“So I was in the back, shaking hands with the regular congregation as they were leaving, and this Muslim man was bringing these people to me and he was immediately saying to me, ‘These want baptism, these want baptism, these want baptism.”
On some occasions, Matthew claims to have even seen money change hands. “I observed things, you know, quietly slipping into the pocket, people slipping money into his pocket.”
Damn it. You mean real physical money? “Yes, I saw that happen. Now, it’s obviously never as obvious as, “Here, here’s the money, get me baptized.” But you see people going into corners and slipping money to the middleman who brings tons of it into the church.
Once asylum seekers ticked baptism off their list of how to gain the right to remain in Britain, representations were made to Matthew to provide an immigration court with proof that their conversion to Christianity was authentic.
“I immediately received a letter. As soon as these baptisms took place, literally a few days later, I heard their lawyer say to me: “Well, can you tell me about this person’s faith and his commitment to the Church, his work as a evangelization and what it does for the Church.
The lawyers specialized in immigration law and Matthew was under the impression that “a lot of it was for legal aid.” Was he pressured to provide a more convincing picture of these so-called Christian conversions?
“Yes, absolutely. So when I sent emails to these lawyers to tell them that all I can tell you is that so-and-so attends Sunday mass, the response came back: ‘ Well, yes, but can you please say that our clients do evangelism? And please can you say that they help adults around the church? Try to train a portrait of them as truly active Christians.”
Matthew flatly refused. “Well, no, sorry, I’m not going to say that, because it’s not true. Or maybe I don’t have any proof.
The genial 41-year-old gets even more heated when he tells me he feels strongly that immigration lawyers expect CofE vicars to be helpful and supportive to their clients . “Having experienced it myself and speaking to colleagues about cases where this happens in other areas, this is a well-known procedure among the asylum seeking community. This is what you do. If you fail your first request, the next step is to go to a church and request baptism.
The reverend put a brake on the asylum/baptism treadmill at St Cuthbert’s, although he never refused anyone the chance to be baptized. “What I said was, ‘Well, great! Come to church for six months. And then they all walked away, because it wasn’t authentic. He points out that some of the men who were granted asylum were never seen again at the church.
“Low Intensity Bullying”
Matthew’s principled stance has upset what he calls the “progressive activists” in his congregation. He was the victim of what he calls “minor harassment” and interpersonal hostility. Their attitude, he said, was: “Why don’t you support asylum seekers? Why don’t you go to court to fight their case?
His response was that he simply treated them like any other candidate for baptism. “I’m perfectly happy for them to follow the normal baptism process, which involves coming to church, but I’m not going to rush some baptisms. But there were one or two people who were clearly hostile towards me because of my approach. They were also involved in the local refugee group in Darlington.
It was not difficult for the new vicar to deduce that a turning a blind eye approach had probably been applied to St Cuthbert before his arrival. “In fact, I am aware of what is happening in many parishes in England, I know of many examples of where this is happening. These are the areas where the government places asylum seekers.
But surely the CofE hierarchy must smell a rat? According to Matthew, senior clergy do not want to know that asylum seekers are using the Church. It’s very encouraging for them to have a lot of adult baptisms, he said, “because it gives a sense that they are successful, that the faith or their ministry has been successful in winning converts.”
“It’s very good for their pride. And of course, it’s wonderful to have many adult people who have come to faith. But, deep in their hearts, I think they know that a lot of these people aren’t genuine.
He cites Mohammad Eghtedarian, a former vicar of Liverpool Cathedral who fled Iran as a refugee and courageously and truly converted to Christianity. “He told me that, in his experience at Liverpool Cathedral, probably more than half of the asylum seekers were not genuine in their requests for baptism.”
One of the converted asylum seekers from Liverpool Cathedral was Emad Al Swealmeen, who was carrying a bomb in a taxi to a maternity hospital on Remembrance Sunday in 2021 when it exploded, killing him. Al Swealmeen was denied asylum in 2014 and lost his appeal three years later before taking a Christianity course for asylum seekers.
