Abstract
The arrival of more than five million refugees in Europe since 2015 has led to increasing investigations into Europe’s management of multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Studies to date have chiefly focused on the integration of the cultural and religious “other,” but we take a different approach by analyzing asylum proceedings in Germany, based on conversions from Islam to Christianity. Negotiations of credibility of newly converted Christian asylum seekers help to show how European legal authorities conceive of their own historically Christian identity and their expectations of newcomers. We show how these negotiations are influenced by the power dynamics in the courts, understandings of cultural and religious contexts, and assumptions about conversion and Christianity. Our interdisciplinary approach provides insights into how European legal authorities navigate the challenge of cultural and religious others to Europe’s cultural cohesion, “values,” and secularism.
Highlights
The arrival of more than five million refugees in Europe since 2015 has led to increasing investigations into Europe’s management of multiculturalism and religious pluralism
Negotiation of “truth” in asylum appeal hearings based on conversion to Christianity reflects the differing expectations of appellant and judge, which often leads to frustration and misunderstanding
Expectations appear to be influenced by courtroom power dynamics, differing understandings of the appellant’s and judge’s cultural contexts, and assumptions of what Christianity is as a religious identity
Summary
The arrival of more than five million refugees in Europe since 2015 has led to increasing investigations into Europe’s management of multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Negotiations of credibility of newly converted Christian asylum seekers help to show how European legal authorities conceive of their own historically Christian identity and their expectations of newcomers. We show how these negotiations are influenced by the power dynamics in the courts, understandings of cultural and religious contexts, and assumptions about conversion and Christianity. Lena Rose is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies She leads and manages the project “Christianity on Trial: Asylum, Conversion, and the Modern-Nation State” (2019– 2022), which focuses on the negotiation of Christianity in asylum processes of religious converts.
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