Christianity Grows in Syrian Town Once Besieged by Islamic State

KOBANI, Syria (Reuters) - A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago. 

The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them toward their new faith. 

After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town’s first evangelical church opened last year. 

Islamic State militants were beaten back by U.S. air strikes and Kurdish fighters at Kobani in early 2015, in a reversal of fortune after taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria. 

After years of fighting, U.S.-backed forces fully ended the group’s control over populated territory last month. 

Though Islamic State’s ultra-radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith. 

Many in the mostly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, whose urban centers are often secular, say agnosticism has strengthened and in the case of Kobani, Christianity.

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