Christians Refugees in Germany Forced to Worship in Secret, Hide Crosses Amid Death Threats from Muslim Migrants

Aug 11, 2016 11:25 AM EDT

Thousands of Christians who fled persecution in Iraq and Syria are once again suffering at the hands of Islamists in refugee camps in Germany, prompting lawmakers to call on the government to deport migrants who insult or attack believers.

According to Breitbart, Christians living in refugee camps in Germany are told by Muslim migrants they are "impure as a dog" and deserve death for rejecting Islam.

"Toys of Christian children are being destroyed, Christian asylum seekers are told not only to wash their dishes after eating but also that they must clean the entire kitchen as it would otherwise be 'unclean'. Many Muslim asylum seekers call all Christians unclean. Church services are held in secret, bibles and crucifixes have to be hidden," Iranian-born pastor Mahin Mousapour explained during a press conference on Monday.

Mousapour, pastor of the Evangelical Free Church, shared her own experience of being threatened at knifepoint on the street and warned that a "misconceived tolerance" had led Germany to be overly respectful to Islam while disregarding Christianity.

For example, during the month of Ramadan, migrant shelters in Germany catered to Muslim eating schedules, with Christians receiving only leftovers. The timing saw Christians disturbed by Muslims eating and reciting surahs before sunrise and then staying up very late for dinner.

She called such "anti-Christian hate crimes" a "horrific attacks on our fundamental values and our Constitution" and emphasized, "We are here in Germany, in a Christian country! We must not allow others to change that."

Bundestag member Erika Steinbach advocated deportation for Muslims who attack or insult Christian migrants on the basis of their religion: "This kind of crime weighs on me more heavily than shoplifting. If we do nothing about it we will lose our foundations in this country," she said during the press conference.

She also urged the European Union to set up refugee camps outside the bloc's external borders, where migrants would "stay until the war is over, then go back home".

Over one million refugees were resettled in Germany in 2015, many of them fleeing the civil war and Islamic extremism in Syria. While Christians are among the majority Muslim refugees, they have generally been provided little protection and are forced to live next to the Muslims despite ongoing persecution.

In May, persecution watchdog Open Doors Germany reported that three-quarters of resettled Christian refugees-as many as 40,000 people-had experienced repeated attacks due to their faith.

The German-language report "Religiously Motivated Attacks on Christian Refugees in Germany," suggested German authorities and police have avoided publicizing such incidents to avoid the "taboo" topic of Muslims attacking Christian refugees.

The ministry surveyed 230 refugees, most of them men in their 20s who converted to Christianity from Islam in their home countries. Believers told of insults, threats, violence, and sexual abuse; 86 said they had suffered bodily harm from fellow refugees and staff at the resettlement centers.

"These figures are just the tip of the iceberg," stated Open Doors, which conducted the survey with several partnering organizations in the country.