The Christian Caritas and Diakonie are Germany’s largest welfare providers. They currently recruit abroad and in refugee shelters to fill staffing shortages in care. Yet, they also seek to preserve their organisations’ Christian identity. Drawing on interviews with facility managers, my research explores how these initiatives shape institutional life in care homes. Specifically, I examine meanings attributed to conversion, notably in relation to Muslim staff. My analysis shows that Christians, nominal (‘by heritage’) or observant, are seen to ‘naturally embody’ care ethics and have privileged access to permanent contracts and leadership positions. The churches’ politics of identity, I argue, racialises affiliation with Christianity into a category of belonging naturally inhabited by some, and only potentially – and always debatably – attainable for others. The analysis feeds into controversies about conversion in the sociology of race and extends scholarship on identity politics beyond its usual focus on minority or far-right activism.

Christian Caritas和Diakonie是德国最大的福利提供者。他们目前在国外和难民收容所招募人员，以填补护理人员短缺的情况。但是，他们也试图保留其组织的基督教身份。根据对设施经理的采访，我的研究探索了这些举措如何影响养老院的机构生活。具体来说，我研究归因于conversion依的意义，尤其是与穆斯林教职人员有关的意义。我的分析表明，名义上（“传承”）或善于观察的基督徒被视为“自然地体现”了护理伦理，并享有获得永久合同和领导职位的特权。我认为，教会的认同政治将与基督教的隶属关系种族化，成为某些人自然居住的归属类别，并且只有其他人有可能（而且永远是有争议的）可以实现的。该分析引发了关于种族社会学转变的争议，并将关于身份政治的学术超出了通常针对少数群体或极右翼行动主义的关注。