Magdi Allam's high-profile conversion

The Italian writer Claudio Magris comments on Magdi Allam's conversion. "Nothing is more important than the conquest of faith or its loss. All the more so when the baptism takes place in adulthood, in an age of reason, and when it is a free, thought-out and painful choice, as in the case of Magdi Allam. Baptism is an act of inner life, independent of the media and politics. Being baptised by the pope has no more value than being baptised by the humble hands of a local priest. Baptism does however carry an indirect political importance, because it changes the individual ... . The form [Magdi Allam's] baptism has taken is intended to give it immediate political significance."

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