From BBC News, with thanks to Shiva:
Australia is to review the cases of a group of 30 asylum seekers after some of them converted to Christianity.
The migrants, from Iran and Iraq, are being held in detention centres after their original applications for refugee status were rejected.
Immigration officials said their conversion to Christianity, and changed conditions in their home countries, meant their cases would be reassessed.
It was unclear how many of the 30 have renounced Islam for Christianity.
Immigration officials have said that in some cases, new information had been obtained about the dangers they could face if they were deported.
‘Face saving’
Australia’s Prime Minister, John Howard, said there were concerns that if detainees were sent back to their homelands they could suffer persecution because they had embraced a different religion.
They could even be killed, as Islamic law dictates.
Mr Howard has stressed that this policy of review was not biased in favour of Christians.
The main opposition Labor party, however, has warned that reviewing asylum claims based on religion would damage the country’s reputation.
It said other detainees could be encouraged to adopt Christianity simply to stay in Australia….
Exactly why is that such a bad idea?