Hey, that Spanish Inquisition, that was pretty bad, what with forcing folks to convert to Catholicism or die, huh?
Good thing stuff like that doesn’t happen anymore…or, you know, if it does it’s no big deal! It’s not like they’re burning people at the stake or anything, right? It’s not like during the Crusades when a captured Christian soldier might have his feet boiled in oil unless he claimed “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet…”
It’s all so civilized, now. Sure, you might get kidnapped and terrorized a little…they might point a gun at a guy’s head and videotape him with his face in the dirt, but really, who’s it hurting? It’s not really hurting anyone, right?
LaShawn observes the weirdness of our time: that one might be forcibly converted and still say, “I learned a lot of good things about Islam…” from the very Islamofascists who taught it to him at gunpoint.
It is easy to say I would not be so confused were my head under the sword the terrorists would like to hold over me (and you). I think I would make the right choice, I believe I would de-capitate before I’d capitulate. But if they held the sword over my one of my son’s necks, then what?
Related: Faith and Reason and Forced Conversions
This war is either going to be won, in a long hard slog, or it’s going to be lost. It’s as simple as that. I’m voting for winning it. The alternative is unappealing.
March Hare has a thoughtful and touching post on the subject. And the four shrinks of the Sanity Squad are talking about it in their podcast.
August 29th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Gunpoint Conversions and Martyrdom
Why does it have to come down to a decision to deny Christ, and live, or die as a martyr? There is a third alternative, lead your captors to Christ. These guys are not theological geniuses. If you have a little knowledge of the Koran, paraticularly t…
August 29th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Let’s not forget the superb example of Abdul Rahman, who was willing to accept martyrdom when Afghan extremist officials wanted to execute him.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
From the Martyrdom of Polycarp –
when he came near, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On his confessing that he was, the proconsul sought to persuade him to deny Christ, saying, “Have respect to thy old age,” and other similar things, according to their custom, such as, “Swear by the fortune of Caesar; repent, and say, Away with the Atheists.” But Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance on all the multitude of the wicked heathen then in the stadium, and waving his hand towards them, while with groans he looked up to heaven, said, “Away with the Atheists.” Then, the proconsul urging him, and saying, “Swear, and I will set thee at liberty, reproach Christ;” Polycarp declared, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
* * * The proconsul then said to him, “I have wild beasts at hand; to these will I cast thee, except thou repent.” But he answered, “Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil; and it is well for me to be changed from what is evil to what is righteous.” But again the proconsul said to him, “I will cause thee to be consumed by fire, seeing thou despises the wild beasts, if thou wilt not repent.” But Polycarp said, “Thou threatens me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but art ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why tarriest thou? Bring forth what thou wilt.”
August 29th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
“But if they held the sword over my one of my son’s necks, then what?”
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Ah–the weak point of every mother! Good question. I don’t know what I’d do in that situation.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
That’s the “Sophie’s Choice” moment.
August 29th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Polycarp is a great example of martyrdom. Lore has it that while he was being burned at the stake, he had abundant grace to avoid pain, and he told his captors, “I believe I’m done on this side, you might want to turn me over.” Onlookers smelled bread at his execution, thus linking him to the Eucharistic Christ. The “grandmother magesterium” has taught me to seek Polycarp’s intercession on all matters pertaining to parking. He never fails me.
August 29th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Yep. In saving their skins, those two reporters lost their souls.
‘
That’s their epitaph. If they think they can now “live” after this, they will soon find out they’re sadly mistaken.
August 29th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
A Question of Faith and Conversion
The Anchoress has an article up about the recent forced conversions of Steven Centanni and Olaf Wiig. They “converted” to Islam at gunpoint because they didn’t know what else to do.
Let’s face it: the survival instinct is very strong. And we liv…
August 30th, 2006 at 3:10 am
“But if they held the sword over my one of my son’s necks, then what?”
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Ah–the weak point of every mother! Good question. I don’t know what I’d do in that situation.
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Then let us not forget either the mother of 2nd Maccabees, who watched her sons having their tongues cut out, scalped, hands cut off, all before being fried in a pan –
“Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words: ‘I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law. . . . Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age. I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence. Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them.’” 2 Maccabees 7.
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Kidnapped Fox Newsmen Let Us Down By Not Dying
By converting to Islam at gunpoint two kidnapped Fox News journalists failed to meet the network’s high standards.
September 4th, 2006 at 9:47 am
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