By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News)-- Twelve Armenians who were baptized last month in Istanbul were among the many former Muslims who are now openly embracing Christ after their ancestors were forced to follow Islam during the Armenian and Assyrian genocides that killed millions of Christians one century ago.
According to Barnabas Aid, many people who were compelled by Turkish soldiers to become Muslims are now returning to the faith of their grandparents after discovering their Christian roots.
Many Armenians, Assyrians and Ottoman Greeks who converted to Islam to save their own lives were given new Islamic names. Although women were forced to marry Muslim men and children were adopted by Muslim families, many of them still managed to hold on to a remnant of their former faith by secretly passing their Christian traditions on to the next generation.
Although conversions to Christianity have been happening in Turkey for years, renouncing Islam is risky as any apostasy by male adults still carries a death sentence under shari'a.