C of E criticised for asylum-seeker conversions after bomb suspect’s confirmation revealed
THE Church of England has come under heavy criticism for a “naïve” approach to the conversion of asylum-seekers, after one supposed convert, Emad al Swealmeen, is suspected of blowing himself up in Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday.
Al Swealmeen, aged 32, a refugee from the Middle East, died when, the police say, his home-made bomb exploded in the back of a taxi parked outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital, at about 11 a.m. The driver was injured and taken to hospital. Four men arrested under the Terrorism Act on Monday have since been released without charge. No motive has yet been revealed for the incident.
It later emerged that Al Swealmeen, also known as Enzo Almeni, converted to Christianity and was confirmed in Liverpool Cathedral in 2017. A picture has been released of Al Swealmeen smiling beside an assistant bishop, the Rt Revd Cyril Ashton, after the confirmation service.
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Paul Bayes, told the Radio 4 Today programme on Tuesday: “It could have been me or any other of my colleagues. . . Confirmations are happy occasions, and you don’t think that this kind of awful future might lie in store. We pray for everybody that we confirm and welcome, and one of the things we pray for them is that they will grow up in holiness and wisdom. Sadly, in this man’s case that does not seem to have happened.”
https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2021/19-november/news/uk/c-of-e-criticised-for-asylum-seeker-conversions-after-bomb-suspect-revealed-to-have-been-confirmed