Law forces children to convert

The Chaldean Patriarch has condemned as unconstitutional a new law that designates children Muslim if their parent or step-parent converts to Islam, or if their mother marries a Muslim.

Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako last week met Iraqi President Fouad Masoum to express grave concern about the law passed by the Iraqi Parliament late last month that specifies “children shall follow the religion of the converted parent to Islam”.

Assyrians, Yazidis, Mandeans, Kakai and Bahai leaders fought the law and their representatives walked out of the parliament session in protest after it was passed. They had unsuccessfully lobbied for the previous law to remain in place under which children of parents who became Muslim were allowed to decide at 18 if they wanted to embrace their parent’s new faith. It is illegal in Iraq for Muslims to convert.

In a statement to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the Patriarch said the law “tramples over” provisions in the Iraqi constitution that guarantee freedom of conscience, protection against coercion, and religious plurality.

Christians in Iraq face harassment, workplace discrimination and are more vulnerable than Muslims to terrorist attacks. Many are therefore converting to Islam because of these huge pressures.

Chaldean Bishop Rabban al-Qas of Amadiyah and Zaku in Kurdistan told the Rome-based AsiaNews that lawmakers had been manipulated by extremists “to eliminate minorities” from Iraq. “Not only have they taken homes and property from Christians,” he said, “but now they also want to take their willpower, hope, freedom of religion and freedom to choose for the future.”