Christian Convert Threatened with Violence

Nothing new there you might think but this is not happening in Egypt or Pakistan or Indonesia - this is happening in the U.K! From an article in the Times Online:-

A British imam's daughter is living in fear of her life under police protection after she received death threats from her family for converting to Christianity.

The young woman, aged 32, whose father is a Muslim imam in the north of England, has moved house 45 times to escape detection by her family since she became a Christian 15 years ago.

Hannah, who uses a pseudonym to hide her identity, told The Times how she became a Christian after she ran away from home at 16 to escape an arranged marriage.

. . .

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali [pictured below], will claim "freedom to believe" is under threat in Britain because of Islamic hostility to conversion.

Hannah, now employed in multi-faith youth work and who gives talks to churches on Islam, is the daughter of a Lancashire imam whose seven other children are demanding she return to Islam.

She has been in hiding, since her home was attacked by a group of men armed with knives, axes and hammers, in 1994. She will describe today how she is in fear of her life after the death threats against her were recently renewed.

. . .

Hannah said she was looking forward to getting married so she could change her name and escape detection by her family. Not all Muslims in Britain are this extreme, she believes.

Not all Muslims anywhere are this extreme, but the ones that are make life very difficult indeed for converts.

"It is representative of some Muslims. I know the Koran says that anyone who goes away from Islam should be killed as an apostate so in some ways my family are following the Koran. They are following Islam to the word. But I do not think every Muslim would actually act on that."

Earlier this year, a Policy Exchange study found that 36 per cent of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed those who converted to another religion should be punished by death.

The fact that Muslim converts to Christianity fear for their lives even in the U.K. is disgraceful. The article does state that she has been given a telephone number by the police that she can call for an instant response if she needs help.

Hannah was speaking at the launch of a new charity called Lapido Media whose aim is to promote "religious literacy".