Convert or Die!

[MineralMan]

We're hearing that right now in the news, in connection to Iraq. But, it's not a new thing. Religions have done that for a very long time, from time to time. And it's not just Islam that engages in that sort of threat. Other examples exist.

Whoever does it, it's just plain wrong. It always has been wrong, and it will always be wrong.

You can read about its long, long history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_conversion

[CJCRANE]

1. What's also missing is that many of them are Westerners.

All the reports about individuals I've seen are about Brits, Aussies, French etc.

How did we let this extremism incubate on our own soil with all the surveillance we have now?

[Igel]

3. Because pointing it out was condemned.

How do you find it and what do you do about it?

The first looks like profiling (hard to find Islamic extremism in a Buddhist temple). We tended to think Muslims were victims, and being a victim means you have to be somehow blessed.

Or you have to use informants. Or infiltrate. All are bad, and even if you do it to the KKK and a mosque, well, it's okay to infiltrate the KKK but mosques ... nuh-uh.


What we "did" about it was usually work to increase tolerance for Islam and decry outbreaks of Islamophobia. If a Muslim went extremist, other Muslims wouldn't "snitch" on him for religious or social reasons. And for a long time, just as people try to say all victims in their group are innocent and pure of heart, so mosque congregants confronted with a possible accusation from outside tended to try to say that all their members were innocent and pure of heart. Working with the outsider is a problem of identity and group dynamics that most confuse with some sort of higher-order morality.

That leaves you with a conundrum. Given the extremism and the assumption of all-encompassingly high levels of surveillance, there are only so many options. Perhaps these were especially devious individuals, able to evade the most cunning and invasive surveillance. Petrhaps the authorities knew and did nothing. Or perhaps the root assumption is wrong.

[CJCRANE]

4. Pointing something out rarely stops it from happening.

We point out all sorts of egregious things here on DU.

[MineralMan]

2. For fairness' sake, there has also been forced atheism in history.

See this link for examples, some of which are closer to home than you might think:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_atheism

Forcing people to think or believe, or even to disbelieve in anything is always wrong. Freedom of belief is one of the fundamental freedoms, and one that is frequently violated, too.