Forced conversion
Encyclopedia
A forced conversion is the religious conversion
or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death. Typically, such a conversion entails the repudiation of former religious or philosophical convictions.
I instituted a law making Christianity the only legal religion of the empire, and forbidding Pagan practices by law:
This law led to the destruction of most pagan temples in the empire, and contributed largely to the demise of Paganism
.
During the Saxon Wars
, Charlemagne
, King of the Franks, forcibly Christianized the Saxons
from their native Germanic paganism
by way of warfare and law upon conquest. Examples include the Massacre of Verden in 782, during which Charlemagne reportedly had 4,500 captive Saxons massacred upon rebelling against conversion, and the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae
, a law imposed on conquered Saxons in 785 which prescribes death to those that refuse to convert to Christianity.
Pope Innocent III
pronounced in 1201 that even if torture and intimidation had been employed in receiving the sacrament, one nevertheless:
The "New Christian
s" were inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula
(Sephardic Jews or Mudéjar
Muslims) during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era who were baptized under coercion, becoming Converso
s or Morisco
s. In spite of their new faith, they were suspected by the "Old Christians" of being Crypto-Jews or Crypto-Muslim
s. Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497.
Religious persecution took place by the Portuguese in Goa
, India from 16th to the 17th century. The natives of Goa, most of them Hindus were subjected to severe torture and oppression
by the zealous Portuguese rulers and missionaries and forcibly converted to Christianity.
For the forced conversion of the Idumaeans under John Hyrcanus, see Flavius Josephus Antiquities 13.257-258. For the forced conversion of the Ituraeans under Aristobulus, see Flavius Josephus Antiquities 13.319.
In Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism Harold W. Attridge says that “there is reason to think that Josephus’ account of their conversion is substantially accurate.” He also writes, “That these were not isolated instances but that forced conversion was a national policy is clear from the fact that Alexander Jannaeus (ca 80 BCE) demolished the city of Pella in Moab, “because the inhabitants would not agree to adopt the national custom of the Jews.” Josephus, Antiquities. 13.15.4, 397
Maurice Sartre has written of the "policy of forced Judaization adopted by Hyrcanos, Aristobulus I and Jannaeus”, who offered "the conquered peoples a choice between expulsion or conversion,”
And in 'The early Roman period, Volume 2', William David Davies has written that. “The evidence is best explained by postulating that an existing small Jewish population in Lower Galilee was massively expanded by the forced conversion in c.104 BCE of their Gentile neighbours in the north.”
is frequently cited, reading "let there be no compulsion in religion".
However, in practice, forced conversions have been very common throughout all Islamic history, although it was but rarely official government policy. Noted cases include the conversion of Samaritan
s to Islam at the hands of the rebel Ibn Firāsa, conversions in the 12th century under the Almohad
dynasty of North Africa and Andalusia
, as well as in Persia under the Safavid dynasty where Sunnis were converted to Shi'ism and Jews were converted to Islam. A form of forced conversion became institutionalized during the Ottoman Empire
in the practice of devşirme, a human levy in which Christian boys were seized and collected from their families (usually in the Balkans), enslaved, converted to Islam, and then trained for high ranking service to the sultan.
There is dispute amongst scholars as to whether the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides
converted to Islam in order to freely escape from Almohad territory, and then reconverted back to Judaism in either the Levant or in Egypt. Maimonides wrote a book on apostasy
wherein he advocated accepting forced conversion rather than suffer martydom, and to then seek refuge afterward at a place where it was safe. Sabbatai Zevi
, an Ottoman Jew from Smyrna, was forced to convert to Islam,
and had no opportunity to return to Judaism. Sabbatai, a charismatic figure, had many followers,and ultimately claimed to be the messiah. He went to Constantinople where the Sultan placed him in a prison in Abydos. He gained his freedom by accepting Islam, along with his wife, and was then further forced to take a second wife to verify his true conversion.
K. S. Lal
, alleged in his book Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India
that between the years 1000 and 1500 the population of Hindus decreased by 80 million in the Indian Subcontinent
due to forced conversion to Islam and widespread slaughter of Hindus who resisted conversion.
Muhammad Ghori committed genocide against Hindus at Kol
(modern Aligarh), Kalinjar and Varanasi. According to Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir, 20000 Hindu prisoners were slaughtered and their heads offered to crows. Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir records that in Kol (Modern Aligarh), "those of the horizon who were wise and acute were converted to Islam, but those who stood by their ancestoral faith were slain with the sword.
Mughal ruler Aurangzeb
cherished the ambition of converting India into a land of Islam
. For this, he encouraged forced religious conversions and destroyed thousands of Hindu temples during his reign.
During Tipu Sultan
's invasion of Malabar
in the late 18th century, he forcefully converted over 400,000 Hindus to Islam. During the Moplah Riots of 1921 in Kerala
, Muslim Mappila
s forcibly converted thousands of Hindus to Islam and killed all those who refused to apostatise.
Church of Tripura is alleged to have supplied the NLFT with arms and financial support and to have encouraged the murder of Hindus, particularly infants, as a means to depopulate the region of all Hindus. In 2009, the Assam Times reported that about fifteen armed Hmar militants, members of Manmasi National Christian Army, tried to force Hindu residents of Bhuvan Pahar, Assam
to convert to Christianity. Few Christian evangelists in India have been accused forced conversion of Hindus. Archbishop Moras
, refuting these allegation of forced conversions and the charges of conversions against the Christian missionaries, said "We do not believe in forced conversions" "It is easy to charge people with wrong allegations but difficult to stop evil powers that are working against Christians".
, India have forced Christian converts from Hinduism to "revert" to Hinduism. These "religious riots" were largely between two tribal groups in Orissa
, one of which was predominantly Hindu and another predominantly Christian, over the assassination
of a Hindu leader named Swami Lakshmanananda
by Christian Maoists operating as terrorist groups in India (see Naxalite
). In the aftermath of the violence, American Christian evangelical groups have claimed that Hindu groups are "forcibly reverting" Christians converts from Hinduism back to Hinduism. However, some local Christian groups have dismissed these allegations.
n army evacuated hundreds of Christian refugees from the remote Kesui and Teor
islands in Maluku (province) after the refugees stated that they had been forced to convert to Islam. According to reports, some of the men had been circumcised against their will, and a paramilitary group involved in the incident confirmed that circumcisions had taken place while denying any element of coercion.
occupied the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo
for several days, angry at the disappearance of a priest's wife in a village in the Nile delta
, who, they alleged, had been forced to convert to Islam. The BBC
reported that allegations of forced conversions of Copts to Islam surface every year in Egypt.
Other notables among these have been the cases of Iraq's Mandaeans, Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians
, Christians of Pakistan and Assyrian Christians of Iraq who have faced coercion to convert to Islam.
In 2006 two journalists of the Fox News Network had been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint. After conversion they were made to read statements on videotape proclaiming that they had converted, after which they were released by their captors.
There have been numerous reports of Islamic attempts to forcibly convert religious minorities in Iraq. In Baghdad, Christians have been told to convert to Islam, pay the jizya
or die. In March 2007 the BBC reported that people in the Mandaean religious minority in Iraq
alleged that they were being targeted by Islamist insurgents, who offered them the choice of conversion or death.
have been engaging in a "Love Jihad
", whereby Muslim
men were trained to seduce college-going Hindu
and Christian
girls to marry them and forcibly convert to Islam. Both Hindu and Catholic Christian groups in the state expressed alarm at this trend and have been working together to protest this trend. The High Court
in the state has resolved to probe the matter. The primary Islamic group currently being held responsible for this is the Islamic extremist front Popular Front of India
, a conglomeration of radical Islamist groups disguised as civil rights groups that are dedicated to implementing Islam
ic Sharia
law in Hindu majority India. The Catholic Church in Kerala has joined up with Hindu groups in order to combat this trend. Such cases of "Love Jihad" have reportedly started to occur in the neighboring state of Karnataka
as well.
In 2007, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, a right-wing Hindu leader in India, received a letter from Jaish-e-Mohammed
, threatening him with death if he did not convert to Islam.
Jammu & Kashmir- The Ladakh Buddhist Association
has said: "There is a deliberate and organised design to convert Kargil's Buddhists to Islam. In the last four years, about 50 girls and married women with children were taken and converted from village Wakha alone. If this continues unchecked, we fear that Buddhists will be wiped out from Kargil in the next two decades or so. Anyone objecting to such allurement and conversions is harassed."
In 1998 Prankote massacre
, 26 Kashmiri Hindus were beheaded by Islamist militants after their denial of converting into Islam. The militants struck when the villagers refused demands from the gunmen to convert to Islam and prove their conversion by eating beef.
In May 2007, members of the Christian community of Charsadda
in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, close to the border of Afghanistan
, reported that they had received letters threatening bombings if they did not convert to Islam, and that the police were not taking their fears seriously. Although eventually no actual action was taken on that threat by the terrorists.
In June 2009, International Christian Concern
(ICC) reported the rape and killing of a Christian man in Pakistan, for refusing to convert to Islam. In August 2009, ICC reported that four Christians working to help orphans in Somalia were beheaded by Islamist extremists when they refused to convert to Islam.
Sikhs in Pakistan, concentrated in the Lahore area, have been constantly under a threat to convert to Islam. As jizya
was legalized by the Government of Pakistan in 2009, the Taliban have been kidnapping minority communities to claim this tax; while officials use a significantly pro-Islam constitution to encourage conversions without direct participation.
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death. Typically, such a conversion entails the repudiation of former religious or philosophical convictions.
Christianity
Forced conversion was a key factor in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In 392 A.D. the emperor TheodosiusTheodosius
Theodosius is a name which might refer to one of several people:* One of three emperors of ancient Rome and Byzantium:** Theodosius I , son of Count Theodosius...
I instituted a law making Christianity the only legal religion of the empire, and forbidding Pagan practices by law:
It is Our will that all the peoples who are ruled by the administration of Our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans....The rest, whom We adjudge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative" (Codex TheodosianusCodex TheodosianusThe Codex Theodosianus was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Theodosius II in 429 and the compilation was published in the eastern half of the Roman Empire in 438...
XVI 1.2.).
This law led to the destruction of most pagan temples in the empire, and contributed largely to the demise of Paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
.
During the Saxon Wars
Saxon Wars
The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the more than thirty years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of disaffected tribesmen was crushed. In all, eighteen battles were fought in what is now northwestern Germany...
, Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, King of the Franks, forcibly Christianized the Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
from their native Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
by way of warfare and law upon conquest. Examples include the Massacre of Verden in 782, during which Charlemagne reportedly had 4,500 captive Saxons massacred upon rebelling against conversion, and the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae
Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae
Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae is a legal code issued by Charlemagne and imposed upon the Saxons during the Saxon Wars in 785...
, a law imposed on conquered Saxons in 785 which prescribes death to those that refuse to convert to Christianity.
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
pronounced in 1201 that even if torture and intimidation had been employed in receiving the sacrament, one nevertheless:
...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 LordEucharistThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, 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.
The "New Christian
New Christian
New Christian was a term used to refer to Iberian Jews and Muslims who converted to Roman Catholicism, and their known baptized descendants. The term was introduced by the Old Christians of Iberia who wanted to distinguish themselves from the conversos...
s" were inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
(Sephardic Jews or Mudéjar
Mudéjar
Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
Muslims) during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era who were baptized under coercion, becoming Converso
Converso
A converso and its feminine form conversa was a Jew or Muslim—or a descendant of Jews or Muslims—who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries. Mass conversions once took place under significant government pressure...
s or Morisco
Morisco
Moriscos or Mouriscos , meaning "Moorish", were the converted Christian inhabitants of Spain and Portugal of Muslim heritage. Over time the term was used in a pejorative sense applied to those nominal Catholics who were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.-Demographics:By the beginning of the...
s. In spite of their new faith, they were suspected by the "Old Christians" of being Crypto-Jews or Crypto-Muslim
Crypto-Islam
Crypto-Islam is the secret adherence to Islam while publicly professing to be of another faith; people who practice crypto-Islam are referred to as "crypto-Muslims"...
s. Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497.
Religious persecution took place by the Portuguese in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, India from 16th to the 17th century. The natives of Goa, most of them Hindus were subjected to severe torture and oppression
Goa Inquisition
The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian state of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812. The Goan Inquisition is considered a blot on the history of...
by the zealous Portuguese rulers and missionaries and forcibly converted to Christianity.
Judaism
Forced conversions are rare, but are reported to have happened under the Hasmonean Empire. The Gentile Galileans, Samaritans and Idumaens were forced to convert to Judaism, (either by threats of exile, or threats of death, depending on the source.)For the forced conversion of the Idumaeans under John Hyrcanus, see Flavius Josephus Antiquities 13.257-258. For the forced conversion of the Ituraeans under Aristobulus, see Flavius Josephus Antiquities 13.319.
In Eusebíus, Christianity, and Judaism Harold W. Attridge says that “there is reason to think that Josephus’ account of their conversion is substantially accurate.” He also writes, “That these were not isolated instances but that forced conversion was a national policy is clear from the fact that Alexander Jannaeus (ca 80 BCE) demolished the city of Pella in Moab, “because the inhabitants would not agree to adopt the national custom of the Jews.” Josephus, Antiquities. 13.15.4, 397
Maurice Sartre has written of the "policy of forced Judaization adopted by Hyrcanos, Aristobulus I and Jannaeus”, who offered "the conquered peoples a choice between expulsion or conversion,”
And in 'The early Roman period, Volume 2', William David Davies has written that. “The evidence is best explained by postulating that an existing small Jewish population in Lower Galilee was massively expanded by the forced conversion in c.104 BCE of their Gentile neighbours in the north.”
Islam
Early Islamic scripture and law forbids forced conversion. In opposition to forced Islamization, verse of the Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
is frequently cited, reading "let there be no compulsion in religion".
However, in practice, forced conversions have been very common throughout all Islamic history, although it was but rarely official government policy. Noted cases include the conversion of Samaritan
Samaritan
The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism...
s to Islam at the hands of the rebel Ibn Firāsa, conversions in the 12th century under the Almohad
Almohad
The Almohad Dynasty , was a Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his...
dynasty of North Africa and Andalusia
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
, as well as in Persia under the Safavid dynasty where Sunnis were converted to Shi'ism and Jews were converted to Islam. A form of forced conversion became institutionalized during the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in the practice of devşirme, a human levy in which Christian boys were seized and collected from their families (usually in the Balkans), enslaved, converted to Islam, and then trained for high ranking service to the sultan.
There is dispute amongst scholars as to whether the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
converted to Islam in order to freely escape from Almohad territory, and then reconverted back to Judaism in either the Levant or in Egypt. Maimonides wrote a book on apostasy
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
wherein he advocated accepting forced conversion rather than suffer martydom, and to then seek refuge afterward at a place where it was safe. Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi, , was a Sephardic Rabbi and kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement...
, an Ottoman Jew from Smyrna, was forced to convert to Islam,
and had no opportunity to return to Judaism. Sabbatai, a charismatic figure, had many followers,and ultimately claimed to be the messiah. He went to Constantinople where the Sultan placed him in a prison in Abydos. He gained his freedom by accepting Islam, along with his wife, and was then further forced to take a second wife to verify his true conversion.
K. S. Lal
K. S. Lal
Kishori Saran Lal was an Indian historian. He wrote many historical books, mainly on medieval India. Many of his books, such as History of the Khaljis and Twilight of the Sultanate, are regarded as standard works....
, alleged in his book Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India
Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India
Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India is a book by K.S. Lal published in 1973.The book assesses the demographics of India between 1000 and 1500 AD. On the basis of the available historical evidence, K.S. Lal concluded that the population of India in 1000 was about 200 million and in 1500...
that between the years 1000 and 1500 the population of Hindus decreased by 80 million in the Indian Subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
due to forced conversion to Islam and widespread slaughter of Hindus who resisted conversion.
Muhammad Ghori committed genocide against Hindus at Kol
Kol
Kol may refer to:* Kol people, tribes of eastern India* Kol language * Kol, an earlier name of the city Aligarh* Kol, Nepal, geographic & administrative subdivision* Kol , a dinosaur from Mongolia...
(modern Aligarh), Kalinjar and Varanasi. According to Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir, 20000 Hindu prisoners were slaughtered and their heads offered to crows. Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir records that in Kol (Modern Aligarh), "those of the horizon who were wise and acute were converted to Islam, but those who stood by their ancestoral faith were slain with the sword.
Mughal ruler Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...
cherished the ambition of converting India into a land of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. For this, he encouraged forced religious conversions and destroyed thousands of Hindu temples during his reign.
During Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
's invasion of Malabar
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
in the late 18th century, he forcefully converted over 400,000 Hindus to Islam. During the Moplah Riots of 1921 in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, Muslim Mappila
Mappila
Mappila or Moplah refers to a Muslim community of Kerala, primarily in the northern region called Malabar, which arose in Malabar as a result of the pre and post Islamic Arab contacts. Significant numbers of the community are also present in the southern districts of Karnataka and western parts of...
s forcibly converted thousands of Hindus to Islam and killed all those who refused to apostatise.
Buddhism
Forced conversion is not permitted in Buddhism and is rarely if ever attempted for religious reasons. However, in Burma in recent years the military dictatorship has strongly encouraged the conversion of ethnic minorities, often by force, as part of its campaign of assimilation.Christianity
The BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church of Tripura is alleged to have supplied the NLFT with arms and financial support and to have encouraged the murder of Hindus, particularly infants, as a means to depopulate the region of all Hindus. In 2009, the Assam Times reported that about fifteen armed Hmar militants, members of Manmasi National Christian Army, tried to force Hindu residents of Bhuvan Pahar, Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
to convert to Christianity. Few Christian evangelists in India have been accused forced conversion of Hindus. Archbishop Moras
Bernard Blasius Moras
Bernard Blasius Moras is an Indian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, currently serving as Archbishop of Bangalore.Born in Kuppepadavu, Mangalore, Karnataka, he was ordained to the priesthood on December 6, 1967...
, refuting these allegation of forced conversions and the charges of conversions against the Christian missionaries, said "We do not believe in forced conversions" "It is easy to charge people with wrong allegations but difficult to stop evil powers that are working against Christians".
Hinduism
Indian Christians have alleged that "radical Hindu groups" in OrissaOrissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, India have forced Christian converts from Hinduism to "revert" to Hinduism. These "religious riots" were largely between two tribal groups in Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
, one of which was predominantly Hindu and another predominantly Christian, over the assassination
Murder of Swami Lakshmanananda
Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others were murdered in August 2008 in the Orissa state of India. Swami Lakshmanananda was a Hindu monk and a highly revered spiritual leader who lived a life dedicated to tribal welfare...
of a Hindu leader named Swami Lakshmanananda
Swami Lakshmanananda
Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati was a Hindu monk and a highly revered spiritual leader who lived a life dedicated to tribal welfare. The Swami was a native of Gurujanga village in Talcher and a tribal himself. Over four decades ago, he left his wife and one year old son to become monk, and moved to...
by Christian Maoists operating as terrorist groups in India (see Naxalite
Naxalite
The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...
). In the aftermath of the violence, American Christian evangelical groups have claimed that Hindu groups are "forcibly reverting" Christians converts from Hinduism back to Hinduism. However, some local Christian groups have dismissed these allegations.
Indonesia
In 2001 the IndonesiaIndonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n army evacuated hundreds of Christian refugees from the remote Kesui and Teor
Teor
Teor is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 60 km northwest of Trieste and about 30 km southwest of Udine...
islands in Maluku (province) after the refugees stated that they had been forced to convert to Islam. According to reports, some of the men had been circumcised against their will, and a paramilitary group involved in the incident confirmed that circumcisions had taken place while denying any element of coercion.
Middle-East
In 2004 Coptic Christians in EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
occupied the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
for several days, angry at the disappearance of a priest's wife in a village in the Nile delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
, who, they alleged, had been forced to convert to Islam. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that allegations of forced conversions of Copts to Islam surface every year in Egypt.
Other notables among these have been the cases of Iraq's Mandaeans, Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
, Christians of Pakistan and Assyrian Christians of Iraq who have faced coercion to convert to Islam.
In 2006 two journalists of the Fox News Network had been kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint. After conversion they were made to read statements on videotape proclaiming that they had converted, after which they were released by their captors.
There have been numerous reports of Islamic attempts to forcibly convert religious minorities in Iraq. In Baghdad, Christians have been told to convert to Islam, pay the jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
or die. In March 2007 the BBC reported that people in the Mandaean religious minority in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
alleged that they were being targeted by Islamist insurgents, who offered them the choice of conversion or death.
India
In October 2009 it was reported that Muslim groups in the Indian state of KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
have been engaging in a "Love Jihad
Love Jihad
Love Jihad also called Romeo Jihad, is an alleged activity under which some young Muslim boys and men reportedly target college girls belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love. While similar activities have been reported elsewhere, the term has been used to...
", whereby Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
men were trained to seduce college-going Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
girls to marry them and forcibly convert to Islam. Both Hindu and Catholic Christian groups in the state expressed alarm at this trend and have been working together to protest this trend. The High Court
High Court
The term High Court usually refers to the superior court of a country or state. In some countries, it is the highest court . In others, it is positioned lower in the hierarchy of courts The term High Court usually refers to the superior court (or supreme court) of a country or state. In some...
in the state has resolved to probe the matter. The primary Islamic group currently being held responsible for this is the Islamic extremist front Popular Front of India
Popular Front of India
The Popular Front of India is a confederation of Muslim organizations in India, including National Development Front, Manitha Neethi Pasarai and Karnataka Forum for Dignity etc...
, a conglomeration of radical Islamist groups disguised as civil rights groups that are dedicated to implementing Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law in Hindu majority India. The Catholic Church in Kerala has joined up with Hindu groups in order to combat this trend. Such cases of "Love Jihad" have reportedly started to occur in the neighboring state of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
as well.
In 2007, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, a right-wing Hindu leader in India, received a letter from Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistani-based, militant Islamic group established by Maulana Masood Azhar in March 2000...
, threatening him with death if he did not convert to Islam.
Jammu & Kashmir- The Ladakh Buddhist Association
Ladakh Buddhist Association
Ladakh Buddhist Association is an organization in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India concerned with interests of Buddhists in Ladakh. It was founded in 1933 by Kalon Tsewang Rigzin and Munshi Sonam Tsewang...
has said: "There is a deliberate and organised design to convert Kargil's Buddhists to Islam. In the last four years, about 50 girls and married women with children were taken and converted from village Wakha alone. If this continues unchecked, we fear that Buddhists will be wiped out from Kargil in the next two decades or so. Anyone objecting to such allurement and conversions is harassed."
In 1998 Prankote massacre
1998 Prankote massacre
The 1998 Prankote massacre was the killing of 26 Hindus in the villages of Prankote and Dakikote in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on 17 April 1998.-Background:...
, 26 Kashmiri Hindus were beheaded by Islamist militants after their denial of converting into Islam. The militants struck when the villagers refused demands from the gunmen to convert to Islam and prove their conversion by eating beef.
Pakistan
Around 25 Hindu girls are abducted every month and converted to Islam forcibly in Pakistan, as reported by Pakistani media.In May 2007, members of the Christian community of Charsadda
Charsadda
Charsadda is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 34°8'43N 71°43'51E with an altitude of 276 metres and lies 29 kilometres from the provincial capital - Peshawar....
in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, close to the border of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, reported that they had received letters threatening bombings if they did not convert to Islam, and that the police were not taking their fears seriously. Although eventually no actual action was taken on that threat by the terrorists.
In June 2009, International Christian Concern
International Christian Concern
International Christian Concern is a non-denominational, non-governmental, Christian watchdog group, located in Washington, DC, whose concern is the human rights of Christians...
(ICC) reported the rape and killing of a Christian man in Pakistan, for refusing to convert to Islam. In August 2009, ICC reported that four Christians working to help orphans in Somalia were beheaded by Islamist extremists when they refused to convert to Islam.
Sikhs in Pakistan, concentrated in the Lahore area, have been constantly under a threat to convert to Islam. As jizya
Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
was legalized by the Government of Pakistan in 2009, the Taliban have been kidnapping minority communities to claim this tax; while officials use a significantly pro-Islam constitution to encourage conversions without direct participation.
See also
- ApostasyApostasyApostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
- Apostasy in IslamApostasy in IslamApostasy in Islam is commonly defined in Islam as the rejection in word or deed of one's former religion by a person who was previously a follower of Islam...
- Covenant of Umar I
- Crypto-PaganismCrypto-PaganismCrypto-Pagans are pagan and neoplatonic groups that have had to pretend to be members of a mandated or mainstream religion while secretly practicing their true religion.-Neopaganism:...
- Forced circumcisionForced circumcisionForced circumcision most commonly refers to the circumcision of a male who has not given his consent. In a biblical context the term is used especially in relation to Paul the Apostle and his polemics against the forced circumcision of gentile Christians...
- Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia
- Religious conversionReligious conversionReligious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
- Religious intoleranceReligious intoleranceReligious intolerance is intolerance against another's religious beliefs or practices.-Definition:The mere statement on the part of a religion that its own beliefs and practices are correct and any contrary beliefs incorrect does not in itself constitute intolerance...