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Muslim Kurds Convert to Christianity in War-torn Northern Syria
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - Many Muslim Kurds disillusioned with Islam are converting to Christianity in the Syrian border town of Kobani.
Kobani, which was the site of intense conflict between the Islamic State and U.S.-supported Kurdish forces between 2014 and 2015, was almost completely leveled in the war. Many questioned the role played by Islamic ideology.
“This was painted by IS as a religious conflict, using religious slogans,” said Zani Bakr, pastor of the recently founded Church of the Brethren, Kobani’s first and only evangelical church.
“ISIS encouraged them to find out about Islam, and see if it was true Islam or not," explained Farzad, a man who works for a Christian NGO, according to Kurdistan 24 news.
Church of the brethren now has almost 100 members and serves as a beacon among the 300 Christians who have taken up residence in Kobani, which lies along the Turkish border, since the end of the conflict.
The recent flourishing of Christianity in the Northern Syrian outpost, which is now ruled by a Kurdish transition government, comes as a surprise sign of life in hardscrabble soil. Aside from house meetings, the last open Christian meeting in Kobani was 55 years ago, while the last church was destroyed three decades ago.