Moroccan Convert Finds Religious Freedom in France, Embraces Catholicism

"I was tired of the lack of religious freedom in Morocco," says François, when on the "Le droit en débat" program on Radio Alsace, he is asked about the reasons why a law student who has studied Muslim law in Morocco comes to put everything in parentheses for a spiritual life that he only knows partially.

François says he is ready to testify for Christ, and feels no shame about it. For him, nothing could prevent him from carrying his alliance with the Lord high and strong. A rather delicate testimony because of the fracture that his approach has created with his relatives, his community, his country. But he has prepared himself and says he is "ready to bear the distance, the rupture, the banishment", if that is the price to pay to live in harmony with his faith.

For years, François confesses to have had the impression of living in a lie, of pretending to profess a faith which for him was only superficial and from which he dreamed of freeing himself. "I perceived a frustration in me but which I kept secret, I could not reveal it to my relatives. I felt fear and a deep guilt at the idea of wanting to move away from Islam." An inner rejection of Islam whose consequences he knows well if he were to externalize it in Morocco, a country where Islam is the State Religion. Although the risk was great, he is convinced that he has nothing more to do with the religious education he received from an early age "In Islam, they tried to convince me forcefully of things in which I did not believe. I did not have that freedom that I felt with Christ."

One thing is to be attracted to Christ, another is to cross the threshold of the Church. In France, the fear of creating inter-community conflicts prevented François for a time from fulfilling his dream of becoming Catholic. Many priests refused to grant his wish for baptism. But he will eventually find some, so great was his determination to embrace Catholicism. He was therefore baptized in secret, away from prying eyes, except for God and the priest who decided to accompany him in this evangelization mission.

By receiving baptism, the Moroccan knows that he has taken a path with no possibility of turning back. He has just renounced the life he had, his family, his loved ones, and to a certain extent his country, Morocco.