According to Bishop Nazir-Ali of Rochester, Muslims who become Christians are increasingly targeted for persecution by their former Muslim community. According to The Barnabas Fund, a charity highlighting Christian persecution across the world, persecution in the UK presently takes place in a variety of forms including verbal abuse, being spat upon, and more seriously, assaults by gangs of Muslims. It is said that some woman converts have even been kidnapped and forcibly taken to Pakistan.
The Bishop is concerned that the persecutions may escalate to serious injuries or even murder. He calls upon the Muslim leaders to teach their people to respect the religious rights of others:
“It’s not for me to put words into their mouths [Muslim leaders], but I would look to them to uphold basic civil liberties, including the right for people to believe what they wish to believe and even to change their beliefs if they wish to do so.”
Also, in the article linked above, is the story of Nissar Hussein, from Bradford, a convert to Christianity over ten years ago, whose family including his five children have experienced almost daily abuse and violence from local Muslims over the past decade. They finally moved in fear of their lives as death threats escalated.
Comments: Civil rights and religious freedom is a corner stone of British society and yet these values are not shared by the Muslim immigrants to the country. Increasingly, the Muslims in the UK are pressing for and seeking the establishment of sharia law within their communities, which in so many ways would be contrary to the prevailing laws and traditions of the UK.