Middle East Christians want to stay in UK

THE VAST majority of Christians who have fled persecution and hardship in the Middle East do not plan to return, a study has found, writes Abigail Frymann Rouch.

Research by the universities of St Andrews, Dundee and Lodz also found that UK politicians’ understanding of Middle Eastern Christians was “very limited”.

The two-year study, thought to be one of the first of its kind, surveyed 393 Middle Eastern Christians living in Britain, Sweden and Denmark, and government and church officials with whom they had contact. Britain is home to around 30,000 Middle Eastern Christians.

A number of older respondents said they wanted to return home when they retired, but most of those surveyed said they would not – either because they had put down roots in Europe or because of civil unrest at home.

Many participants said that in Britain they had been mistaken for Muslims.