• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Forced Conversion

SalixIncendium

SalixIncendium

अहं ब्रह्मास्मि
Staff member
Premium Member
Forced conversion has historical precedents from Abrahamic faiths all the way to Hinduism.

If an authority arrived today and made it mandatory that you convert to a faith that has been branded the only legal religion and forbade you to continue your current religious practices and beliefs, what actions would you take? Would you abandon your current religious beliefs to remain within the confines of the law? Would you defy the authority and continue you current practices? Would you follow the only legal faith publicly but continue to practice your current faith in private? Why?
 
Kemosloby

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
SalixIncendium said:
Forced conversion has historical precedents from Abrahamic faiths all the way to Hinduism.

If an authority arrived today and made it mandatory that you convert to a faith that has been branded the only legal religion and forbade you to continue your current religious practices and beliefs, what actions would you take? Would you abandon your current religious beliefs to remain within the confines of the law? Would you defy the authority and continue you current practices? Would you follow the only legal faith publicly but continue to practice your current faith in private? Why?
Click to expand...

We can see forced conversion in North Korea, forced to become Atheists or at least keep any thing else hidden.

Nobody was ever forced to convert to Christianity, only to Catholicism. If forced to convert to Catholicism or Atheism I would do the only honorable thing and hang myself.
 
Terese

Terese

Mangalam Pundarikakshah
Staff member
Premium Member
I would politely decline and worship privately. I'm a private person anyway :)
 
The Emperor of Mankind

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
Kemosloby said:
Nobody was ever forced to convert to Christianity, only to Catholicism.
Click to expand...

The descendants of numerous indigenous cultures would disagree quite strongly with this sentiment. If we could summon the shades of those Roman citizens who had to witness their temples & shrines being torn down by mobs of Christians, I'm sure they would disagree with you too.
 
Vinayaka

Vinayaka

devotee
Premium Member
Forced is a strong word, and suggests at gunpoint, or at the threat of death. What about the many coerced conversions, in exchange for jobs, for money, for food, for power, for status? Do these count at all?
 
Last edited:
Kemosloby

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
A Greased Scotsman said:
The descendants of numerous indigenous cultures would disagree quite strongly with this sentiment. If we could summon the shades of those Roman citizens who had to witness their temples & shrines being torn down by mobs of Christians, I'm sure they would disagree with you too.
Click to expand...

How do you know those Roman citizens didn't convert and tear them down themselves?
 
9-10ths_Penguin

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Kemosloby said:
Nobody was ever forced to convert to Christianity, only to Catholicism.
Click to expand...
Oh, really?

One example from my country:

In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for aboriginal people in Canada. It thought their best chance for success was to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations.

The Canadian government developed a policy called "aggressive assimilation" to be taught at church-run, government-funded industrial schools, later called residential schools. The government felt children were easier to mold than adults, and the concept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society.
Click to expand...

Many churches implicated in the abuse apologized in the 1990s. Archbishop Michael Peers offered an apology on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada in 1993, stating "I am sorry, more than I can say, that we were part of a system which took you and your children from home and family."

Four leaders of the Presbyterian Church signed a statement of apology in 1994. "It is with deep humility and in great sorrow that we come before God and our aboriginal brothers and sisters with our confession," it said.

The United Church of Canada formally apologized to Canada's First Nations people in 1986, and offered its second apology in 1998 for the abuse that happened at residential schools.
Click to expand...
A history of residential schools in Canada
 
Kemosloby

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
pcarl said:
I think the Native Americans would strongly disagree. I also don't think many Catholics were on the scene yet.
Click to expand...

The preachers were out killing indians? That's about like blaming the existence of bars in America on Christianity. Where do you draw the line on separation of church and state? Everything bad on church and everything good on state?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top