Blasphemy and Apostasy in the UK Asylum System: Policy and Practice in Asylum Cases Submitted Under Grounds of Non- Religiosity

My PhD research investigates the experiences of non-religious asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, a group often overlooked in both migration studies and the sociology of religion. While religious persecution is a recognised basis for asylum under the Refugee Convention (1951), individuals who leave their faith—apostates— face unique challenges in securing protection. Current Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures are not designed to assess their claims, and their experiences remain underexplored in academic literature, apart from a few burgeoning studies emerging in a European context (e.g., Laws, 2024). Research into asylum claims based on persecution for religious conversion suggests there are serious misunderstandings among decision-makers regarding the nature of religious belief (Rose and O¨ztu¨rk, 2024). These challenges exist in non-religious cases, often more complexly. Apostates and non-religious individuals deal with invisibility, where disbelief or secular identities are not always seen as valid asylum grounds. This Fellowship will consolidate my PhD research through publications and dissemination, which will be one of the first publications examining apostate asylum cases in the UK. My research is based on rare access to people seeking asylum on the grounds of non-religiosity, achieved through a partnership with HUK. Using qualitative research methods, this study examines the experiences of asylum seekers (n=12) who have left religion, alongside insights from human rights advocates (n=22) who assist them with their claims. Additionally, it includes an analysis of key human rights laws related to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and Home Office asylum policies. My PhD research has several key findings of how apostasy becomes a ground for an asylum claim that I frame through three themes: ‘Becoming’, ‘Bureaucratising’, and ‘Negotiating’. The Fellowship will facilitate the publication of these findings in three empirical papers. Through these papers, I will establish myself as a pioneering scholar in the field and aid in developing a career in academia. This Fellowship will make methodological contributions through the publication plans by consolidating a multi- stage research approach that integrates diverse data sources. This Fellowship will also make theoretical contributions by employing an innovative conceptual framework that can be applied in various research contexts. The concept of lived non-religion is utilised to explore the personal, social, and political dimensions of apostasy. This is novel, as lived non-religion has not previously been applied to a forced migration context. Coloniality of power and bureaucracy are fused to introduce the concept of ‘coloniality of bureaucracy’—a framework for understanding how asylum procedures shape and regulate non-religious identities. The findings provide insight into how the asylum bureaucracy (in the UK and beyond) plays a significant role in shaping apostate identities, and colonial-era perspectives continue to influence the perception and assessment of non-religiosity. The proposed articles will allow me to contribute to sociological understandings of asylum, migration, and non-religion by challenging dominant narratives that define refugees primarily through religious belonging. Additionally, the findings have broader implications for understanding asylum claims based on internal beliefs. With the support of the Fellowship, I will finalise and disseminate my research effectively, reaching academic and non-academic audiences. This research has implications for the Home Office’s asylum assessment policy and practice; thus, this Fellowship will allow me to work with advocacy groups to disseminate the research findings.