Forced conversion
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A forced conversion in religion is said to occur when an opponent of a particular religion compels an adherent to give it up, or incur penalties such as job loss, incarceration, torture, or death. Usually in addition to being compelled to give up his or her old faith, the victim must join the faith of the person compelling him or her.
There is considerable controversy over whether documented cases of forced conversions reflect official religious teachings.
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[edit] Christianity
Modern Christianity does not accept forced conversions as valid.[citation needed] However, the position was different in the Middle Ages. Pope Innocent III pronounced, in 1201, that even if torture and intimidation had been employed in administering the sacrament, nevertheless one:
...does receive the impress of Christianity and may be forced to observe the Christian Faith as one who expressed a conditional willingness though, absolutely speaking, he was unwilling. . . . [For] the grace of Baptism had been received, and they had been anointed with the sacred oil, and had participated in the body of the Lord, they might properly be forced to hold to the faith which they had accepted perforce, lest the name of the Lord be blasphemed, and lest they hold in contempt and consider vile the faith they had joined.[1]
[edit] Forced conversion of Muslims
The Crusades have been portrayed as attempts to convert "heathen" people to Christianity.[2]
[edit] Forced conversion of Jews
At the time of the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion from Spain in 1492, Jews were offered conversion or expulsion. Many chose to leave Spain (quite a few found safety in the Muslim Ottoman Empire), but others stayed behind. Subsequently, in 1497, the Jews in Portugal were forcibly converted to Christianity. [3]
[edit] Islam
The general position of Islam is hostile to forced conversion. Sura 2:256 of the Qur'an is often cited: "There is no compulsion in religion".
Some critics of Islam claim the Qur'an supports forced conversion and have complained that its adherents have a long history of forced conversions(see Dhimmi) (see Aslim Taslam) The typical argument given by Islam's opponents is that deadly violence is directed towards people who refuse to convert, or convert and then lapse into apostasy. Various Qur'anic suras are cited:[citation needed]
- 9:73, "O Prophet! Struggle against the unbelievers and hypocrites and be harsh with them"
- 9:5 Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free.
- 4:89, They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.
Supporters of Islam deny these accusations, asserting that the early sura 2:256 shows that "Islam is a religion of peace", and this interpretation is supported by historians. [4][5][6][7][8][9]
[edit] Forced conversion of Jews
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While Jewish communities in Arab and Islamic countries fared better overall than those in Christian Europe, Jews were no strangers to persecution and humiliation among the Arabs and Muslim. Princeton University historian Bernard Lewis wrote that "The Golden Age of equal rights was a myth, and belief in it was a result, more than a cause, of Jewish sympathy for Islam." (Bernard Lewis, "The Pro-Islamic Jews," Judaism, (Fall 1968), p. 401.)
Muhammad, the founder of Islam, traveled to Medina in 622 A.D. to attract followers to his new faith. When the Jews of Medina refused to convert and rejected Muhammad, two of the major Jewish tribes were expelled from Medina. In 627, Muhammad's followers killed between 600 and 900 of the men in Medina, and divided the surviving Jewish women and children amongst themselves. (Bat Ye'or, The Dhimmi, (NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1985), pp. 43-44.)
[edit] Shinto
During its 1910-1945 colonization of Korea, Japan required Koreans to give up Christianity and install a kamidana in their homes.
[edit] References
- ^ Grayzel, Solomon, The Church and the Jews in the Thirteenth Century, rev. ed., New York: Hermon, 1966, p. 103
- ^ "The spread of Islam stands in contrast to the actions of the followers of Christianity, who since the time of the Emperor Constantine have made liberal use of the sword - often basing their conduct on Biblical verses. This was especially true of the colonization of South America and Africa, where native peoples were systematically wiped-out or forced to convert." [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Sir Thomas W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam
- ^ Marshall G. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam
- ^ Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples
- ^ Ira Lapidus, History of Islamic Societies
- ^ L.S. Starorianos, A Global History, the Human Heritage
- ^ [3] Islam Spread by the Sword? The Myth and The Reality]
