CHURCH: English court denies asylum to Malaysian who wants child raised Christian

English court denies asylum to Malaysian who does not want child to be raised a Muslim

CWN - July 22, 2013

The second-highest court in England has upheld the government's decision to deny asylum to a Malaysian Catholic woman who does not want her six-year-old son, also a baptized Catholic, to be raised as a Muslim.
The mother took her son to Great Britain and sought asylum amid concerns that her husband would soon convert to Islam. The husband has since become a Muslim.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal acknowledged that the government's decision to return mother and son to Malaysia would result in the boy's circumcision and being raised a Muslim.
"C [the boy] himself is only 6 years of age and although he has been baptised a Christian and admitted into the Roman Catholic church, there is no reason to think that he has as yet formed any independent religious faith," the court ruled. "He will be able to make his own decisions about religious matters when he grows up. Removing him with his mother to Malaysia where he can be brought up by both parents in the country of his nationality would not interfere with any of his own Convention rights and is clearly in his best interests."

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• British Appeals Court Upholds Asylum Denial; Returning Boy To Be Circumcised and Rasied As Muslim Does Not Violate His Rights (Religion Clause)
• Full text of decision