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Tags: (NEW YORK TIMES) — By FAISAL DEVJIAUG
The conversion of Muslims to liberalism, secularism or atheism has become something of a meme in the West, with arguments raging among scholars, in the press and on social media about the possibility of Islam’s undergoing a “reformation” or becoming “modern,” for which the history of Christianity is supposed to provide a universal blueprint.
It is the almost religious tenor of such transformations that justifies the term “conversion” for them. The single-minded adoption of such profane identities may even be more theological than Muslim conversions to Christianity and other faiths, suggesting that they have now replaced churches and temples in representing religious forms of belief.
Europe’s refugee crisis has seen a spate of conversions to Christianity among Muslim migrants. While numbers are difficult to obtain, The Guardian reported last year about a church in Berlin whose congregation increased from 140 to 700, the newcomers being Muslim converts from Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia, and mass baptisms held at a municipal swimming pool in Hamburg, Germany. The Telegraph reported from Beirut, Lebanon, that hundreds of Syrian refugees in the country have converted to Christianity at least in part to benefit from aid distributed by Christian charities and for better chances of having their asylum applications accepted in Europe.
Whether the converts are repulsed by the violent forms Islam has taken in places like Syria and Afghanistan or are backing up their claims for asylum, the conversions occur quietly and rarely as a result of proselytism. Nor do they tend to be accompanied by any transformation in the appearance, behavior or language of the convert. Analyzing the news reports suggests that these conversions are characterized by multiple quotidian and ambiguous motives.
In parts of the Muslim world, but also non-Muslim countries like India, converting from one religion to another may invite legal punishment as well as social censure. Nevertheless, conversions still occur in these places and tend not to follow the theological model of transformation we have inherited from Christianity.
In recent years, a number of poor Muslims, as a Los Angeles Times article reported in 2014, have accepted Hinduism, their “homecoming” staged for the media by groups seeking to proclaim India a Hindu nation. Not only was there no talk of transformation in these cases, but also no attempt by Muslims to persecute these converts.
Muslims are also increasingly becoming atheists. A 2015 article in The New Republic reported on the spread of disbelief in the Arab world, citing over 250 web pages or groups about atheism with memberships ranging from a few hundred to thousands. There have always been atheists in the Muslim world, including some famous medieval scientists and philosophers.