You know what...considering i'm christian and all...(not really but who is?)...i've always been wanting toask..isn't it the same freaking god? Jews, muslims, and chriistians all believe in the same one...so converting isjust basically like replacing broadband for dsl, you'll still get to the internet right? I don't know but to answer the question, I'd lie my ass off...I think god would need living breathing human beings to sacrifice virgins to and not martyrs. Live to pray another day i guess.

Technically, they all worship the same God. That's about the only part they agree on. The rest is where the Crusade/Jahad browbeating comes from.

I say switch, switch back after they leave, and call it a day. Keeping your heart beating is the most important thing.

I dont know many people who would rather die than convert religion. Its so stupid that a person would force their beliefs on another person like that but I wonder how they'd expect you to be genuinely converted by the barrel of a gun, you'll obviously do anything you can to avoid death.

How about I just admit that you make some good points, but I maintain that you don't understand how great of a resistance I have to being forced into anything? Does that work?

1) When you "convert" to Islam, you do not renounce God. I just want to point this out to begin with.

2) Under no circumstances should a non-muslim be forced to take islam as his religion because it's against everything islam stands for.

3) These Extremists have nothing to do with Islam. This is something that all Muslims agree on: They are doing everything that Islam DOESN'T stand for, in the name of Islam. It's like saying I hate racism and then spit on someone who's different while going to a non-racist conference!

4) So the conclusion is: The thing the kidnappers did was SO WRONG! Islam should never be forced upon someone because it's against what Islam stands for. End of story.

I'd say that if it really came down to it, I wouldn't convert. Sure, I'd probably be dead, but like han89 said, they're essentially preaching a perverted form of Islam, which I have no respect for (I do respect Muslims in general though, just not the ones who preach, breathe, sleep, and eat hatred for anyone who isn't following the same exact guidelines they are).

Also, suppose you convert, but they don't let you go back to your home? What if they made you stick around in a Muslim community, to see if you're really serious about "converting"? It wasn't brought up very much in this topic, but suppose that happened? Would you still convert?

Even though I don't always act it, I consider myself a Christian, and during a "test" like that, I won't deny Jesus (because I really believe what Jesus said about denying Him before men, and in turn He would deny you before God and the angels).

The way I looked at this thread, it'd be like a KKK member forcing you to convert to Christianity (yes, I know, white supremacists are much more complex, but then again, so are Islamic terrorists, so I'm keeping it simple). I just couldn't in good conscience do that, nor would I force my beliefs upon someone else under threat of death.

I think the problem with organized religion in general is that although they preach that you should live in this way, not everyone who's in that faith practices it. And unfortunately only the bad stuff usually gets remembered, so people bash them for that stuff.

Assuming I didn't answer the way I did above, threatening to kill me wouldn't really make me convert anyway. If anything, I'd be more resistant to it (particularly if I've heard nothing but bad stuff). On the other hand, if they showed me the good aspects of Islam, and letting me live among them to see how Islam would benefit me and others, then I'd probably be more likely to consider it.

I think that's one of the problems nowadays, people try to force their beliefs onto others, but then either don't practice what they preach, or just tell me I'm going to hell because I don't believe in so-and-so. Heck, most of my life I was anti-religion as well, and was wondering why anyone even bothered believing in that stuff. Then I read the Bible for myself, and began to see the stuff that goes on in there, and although there are some discrepancies, just the stuff I read was enough to convince me that being a Christian would be worth it for me. Strangely enough, a lot of this stuff that interested me, no Christians ever bothered to tell me about it (such as how people will often do good deeds simply to be seen and praised for it. But Jesus explained that if you do it in relative secret, God would see it and reward you for it).

Sorry for the long post, figured I'll post something hopefully worth reading :D

Valueing your own religion more than your own life is directly in line with the ideal terrorist.

That said, I'm astonished at the mass stupidity in this thread. As if "converting" actually means anything if forced at gunpoint. No need for false pride.

Suppose you do convert and they let you go home. Will you stay on the religion you were converted to? 99.99% of the time it will be NO. So the chances are once you convert to their Islam, you will not be released and be forced to stay with them under their Islam. And stick around in their Muslim community will mean becoming a terrorist, so until you are ready to become a terrorist, then the answer is: NO I won't convert!


The Islam that these terrorists claim to be following has a hatred to Christians and Jews. While the real Islam clearly says that Jesus IS a prophet of christianity and he is as much of a prophet to us (I am a Muslim just so you know who lives in a mixed community between christians and muslims) as Mohammed (the last of the prophets) is. true Islam never denies Jesus and sees him the same way Christians see him.

Like the KKK was refused by MANY to just white people, these groups are considered as much bad as the KKK to the Muslims. Like Racism is refused, so is these groups preachings!

Totally agree. To see what Islam is truly about, I would suggest a movie called "Al Rissala" (The Message) which is an arabic old movie that was translated to English or French (not sure which one though) and that talks about the life of the Prophet Mohammed (like The Passion Of The Christ). It is the perfect exemple to see what the TRUE original Islam was all about.

Which is the way the prophet said Islam should be preached. By showing the good aspect of it. Not by pointing a gun to the head of someone and telling him: CONVERT OR DIE!!!

My beliefs are in my heart. Words are just words. If it means getting out of there alive, of course I'd say anything they wanted.

Ah come off it, people were simply answering the question put to them at the start of the thread:

There's no need to question intelligence based on opinion. If you were told to convert at gunpoint it wouldn't affect you, but renouncing their faith in any way, shape of form could put incredible guilt on others, y'know?

Ok i must say i'm very satisfied with the way the discussion went after this intro, which i thought would lead to some sort of shit-flinging contest. Everyone here except Soluzar seems to have a healthy mindset about it.

Let me clear two things up though, as a past muslim (Athiest now) :

1- Islam never stated you can do that, and there is a verse that specifically orders not to ask a person to convert or else, and i mean or else ANYTHING, not just death : It's porhibited to force them by offering any unpleasant alternative, even if that alternative's clipping his toe-nails, if that discomforts the person in question . : So this fanatic is acting out of his ass, against Islam's teaching.

2- Islam states that the prophet Muhammed was asked about being in such a situation (if you're a muslim) and being asked to announce your disbelief in islam in exchange for your life, and he said that if you fear any harm you can say that you don't to save your life, as long as you still believe in it in your heart. Clearly stated "hadeeth" (reports about the prophet's sayings).

Just had to state that to be fair. I'm against the idea of religion in general, but also against misleading actions.

Also, Soluzar is a liar.

One more thing : Although you CAN lie and "convert" to save your life , if it's a situation that can lead to many people following suit (because they thought you took it in by heart) or any other case that would shake the foundations of belief/representation of islam in other people's minds you would be responsible to stand by your beliefs. If something little such as one's life is at stake then it's ok to lie (according to the prophet) but anything causing mass confusion or damage should be handled in another way. You get my point.

I would probably just convert to their religion until I could get the fuck out of there and then not think anything more of it. Then I would then go home and get back to my normal life and not practice that stupid religion at all. Just because I converted and they think I have their religious label stamped on my forehead doesn't mean jackshit to me if deep down inside I think it's a bunch of bullshit.

As for the journalists, they did the right thing. If they had clung to their beliefs and laughed in the face of death, I'd doubt their captors would have a change of heart and let them go on account of their bravery and how they stuck to their own convictions. Their captors are one-minded extremist motherfuckers who want to convert everyone to their one true religion. I'm sick of people trying to force their religious beliefs on other people. Don't they have anything better to do?

This has nothing to do with the question...

I'm sure you wouldn't like someone saying that about your religion would you?

My views on it, well what they said was kinda out of place. I just think people need to relax and love one another.

Thats pretty much it. They dont seem to understand that, which is ok, because they will have to learn one day.

I'm really into my faith (Catholic [remember the religious debates at the old Gamingforce?]), so I'd gladly die so I wouldn't deny Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I don't have as much respect for extremists in anything, to be honest (I'm a moderate-lean-liberal in my faith), and I know that Moslemsin general are good people, so these people really don't scare me at all.

Whilst I'm not a steadfast practionier of the christian faith, I wouln't give them the satisfaction of the deed, I'm a believer of Jesus dieing for our sins and I'm not going to throw that back at his face for my own life.

Quite frankly, I'd attempt to take out as many of them before they do so to me if such an occasion arised and they instigated it.
And, no, that's not me signing up at the war office.

He doesn't seem to have a religion. (Maybe you meant "beliefs"?)

Most religions use faith to justify them and faith is (essentially) believing something without having reasonable evidence. I think that's pretty fucking stupid, but if you don't, be my guest.

I'd convert for as long as needed. The beauty of atheism is there's no sins. lol

Are you talking about the two Fox journalists - Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig? This was in GAZA CITY NOT IRAQ!!:lolsign:

I'm not even religious, so if some crazy Islamic extremists want me to say "blah blah blah Allah, blah blah blah Muhammad blah blah blah" to save my life then sure, its not like it really means anything to me. I sure as hell ain't gonna throw away my life just because I refuse to say something that holds no meanin for me.

Moslemsim? :eyebrow:
They're MUSLIMS. And they'll act as good people until they're enough to continue the Jihad.
With the current situation, anything below paranoia is too insecure. And you're in the US, which (because of its location) is more secure than our weakling, politically-correctness driven Europe.

I'd probably choose death, mainly because living in a world full of believers in any fundamentalist religion would suck.

I tend to revel in that which most people consider bad habits, such as smoking, drinking, premarital sex. Some religious denominations are even picky about music and books, and since I like listening to Rock and reading the likes of Allen Ginsberg, I'd pretty much have nothing left to do with myself.

I don't know man. You're making a generalization that isn't logical. Why would you think any random muslim living out their lives in the world would personally care about waging a holy war on everyone else? What on earth would bring me to go out and buy the gun that my broke college student ass can't afford, go around waving it and trying to convert people to Islam? I'm certainly not encouraged to do so by the Qu'ran, and in fact I'm even told not to. So like the law of human psychology goes, if you see anyone doing something, it's because the benefits of doing so are greater than its costs or at least equal and this applies to muslims too. So all those people out there waging Jihads and whatnot, they think that there's some problem (Israeli occupation issues, American political interference, whatever) that is inconvenient enough to make them stop living their daily lives, pick up guns, risk and in some cases even freely give up their lives to try and make a difference happen. And to also misquote/represent the Qu'ran so they can pick up moral support and numbers on the way. Not the best or the most effective way, but that's all they know how to.

Anyway, back on topic, hell yeah would I 'convert' to whatever you want me to save my life. I'll put my Intro to Acting class skills on full throtle and reduce you to tears with my religious fervour, in fact, the CNN news footage of it might even be up for an Oscar Award. But dude, to actually convert? That's like asking me to renounce gravity. I couldn't do it even if I tried. I have a certain way that I feel the world and morality works that is synonymous with my religious views, and unless you can convince me otherwise, it'll still hold like the way we believe in atoms or the way in the ancients believed in the four elements.

First of all...I don't think that the extremists are doing Jihad.In Islam,Jihad has broader application,not only about war.Jihad is something you do for change,a good change. Even to be back to your own 'good' self is consider as Jihad. Even studying itself is consider as Jihad because by studying,you change yourself to be more knowledgeable.

About 'convert or die' issue....there is no forced in religion. Religion is deeply connected to faith. Even if you convert but your heart is not....that is not a 'true' convert. One who convert must do anything that has prescribed to him/her by God. But if he is to do 'ibadah(worship) halfheartedly, nothing good he will get from God; no bounties He'll give to him.

This Hadeeth is true. You can lie just to save/preserve your life. Life is considered as a trust from God.To preserve it is to preserve your faith even though to die in His way is more honorable. It's just a matter of time whether you'll got to Heaven fast or slow.

I'm a Muslim. If you ask me whether I agree to what those filthy extremists have done.......I just feel like killing them for they create islamophobia.

The journalists convictions were not strong enough to be stood by and so they made their choice.

I, personally would never change mine for any reason.

Haz.

Eh, they think we want to hear their lies, so let's asssume they play by the golden rule, thus meaning we can assume they want to hear lies as well, and pretend to convert. Play their game that they're so insistent on everyone playing, use their rules against them.