| Revision as of 23:15, 20 September 2012 edit78.144.139.119 (talk) →India: allegations of love jihad group were quashed in the kerala high court as baseless.http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/02/stories/2010120254530500.htm← Previous edit | Revision as of 23:18, 20 September 2012 edit undo78.144.139.119 (talk) →India: the buddhist forced conversion was reported in 1995 as cited in reference, not suitable for 21st century heading.Tag: section blankingNext edit → | ||
| Line 102: | Line 102: | ||
| 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 ] or die.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> In March 2007 the BBC reported that people in the ] religious minority in ] alleged that they were being targeted by ] insurgents, who offered them the choice of conversion or death.<ref></ref> | 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 ] or die.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> In March 2007 the BBC reported that people in the ] religious minority in ] alleged that they were being targeted by ] insurgents, who offered them the choice of conversion or death.<ref></ref> | ||
| ====India==== | |||
| In Jammu & Kashmir, the ] 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."<ref>Tundup Tsering and Tsewang Nurboo, in: ''Ladakh visited'', Pioneer, 4/12/1995.</ref><ref></ref> | |||
| ====Pakistan==== | ====Pakistan==== | ||
Revision as of 23:18, 20 September 2012
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.
Rise of Christianity
See also: ChristianizationEnd of Roman empire
Forced conversion was a major means in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In 392 A.D. the emperor Theodosius I instituted a law making Christianity the only legal religion of the empire, and forbidding Pagan practices by law as a means to stabilize the declining empire:
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 Theodosianus XVI 1.2.).
This law led to the destruction of most pagan temples in the empire.
Medieval era
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:
...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. ... 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.
Spanish Inquisition
After the end of the Islamic control of Spain, Muslims and Jews were murdered and expelled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497. After the Reconquista, so called "New Christians" were those inhabitants (Sephardic Jews or Mudéjar Muslims) during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era who were baptized under coercion and in the face of murder, becoming forced converts from Islam (Moriscos, Conversos and secret Moors) and forced converts from Judaism (Conversos, Crypto-Jews and Marranos). Then the Spanish Inquisition targeted primarily forced converts from Judaism who came under suspicion of either continuing to adhere to their old religion or of having fallen back into it. Jewish conversos still resided in Spain and often hiddenly (cryptically) practiced Judaism and were suspected by the "Old Christians" of being Crypto-Jews. The Spanish Inquisition generated much wealth and income for the church and individual inquisitors by confiscating the property of the persecutees or selling them into slavery. The end of the Al-Andalus and the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula went hand in hand with the increase of Spanish-Portugal influence in the world, as exemplified in the Christian conquest of the Americas and their aboriginal Indian population. The Ottoman empire and the Netherlands both absorbed much of the Jewish refugees.
Goa Inquisition
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.
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
See also: Islamization, Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques, and Safavid conversion of Iran from Sunnism to ShiismSome have argued that early Islamic scripture and law forbids forced conversion in theory, In opposition to forced Islamization, verse of the Qur'an (2:256) is frequently cited, reading "let there be no compulsion in religion". Muhammed and his followers never practice forced conversion of the Pagan Arabs during Muhammad's conquest of Arabia. None of the Quraish was forced to become Muslim, but Muhammad’s victory convinced some of his most principled opponents, such as Abu Sufyan, that the old religion had failed.
However, forced conversions have occurred during Islamic history and rarely has it been official government policy. Noted cases include the conversion of Samaritans 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. The dispute also extended to the allegedly forced conversion of Sabbatai Zevi, an Ottoman Jew from Smyrna. In reality, at the beginning of 1666, the Ottoman Sultan in Constantinople ordered Sabbatai, who had many followers and had claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish messiah, to be imprisoned. When Sabbatai was later taken to Adrianople, the Sultan's physician, a former Jew, advised him to convert to Islam. The following day he converted before the Sultan, who happily rewarded Sabbatai by conferring the title (Mahmed) Effendi, and appointing him as his doorkeeper with a high salary. A number of Sabbatai's followers also went over to Islam and about 300 families converted and were known as dönmeh (converts). The sultan's officials ordered Sabbatai to take an additional wife to demonstrate his conversion.
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 the Moplah Riots of 1921 in Kerala, Muslim Mappilas forcibly converted thousands of Hindus to Islam and killed all those who refused to apostatise. During the Noakhali genocide of Hindus in 1946, several thousand Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam by Muslim mobs.
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.
Twenty-first century allegations
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.
A Christian aid group revealed that students from Myanmar's Chin ethic minority were being forced to shave their heads and convert to Buddhism, despite the president's insistence that religious freedom is protected in the South Asian nation.
"President Thein Sein's government claims that religious freedom is protected by law but in reality Buddhism is treated as the de facto state religion," said Salai Ling, Program Director of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO).
Richard Chilvers reports on the human rights abuses committed against Christians by the Burmese junta CHILDREN from Christian families in Burma between the ages of five and 10 have been lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist monasteries. Their heads are shaved and they are trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again.
In a visit to Chin and Kachin refugees in New Delhi and Mizoram State, India, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) heard accounts of cultural genocide and religious persecution and discrimination.
Burmese forces offer incentives to impoverished villagers to convert from Christianity to Buddhism in Chin state, an area which is 90 per cent Christian.
Christianity
The Baptist 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. A Few Christian evangelists in India have been accused forced conversion of Hindus, and some of them have been jailed for forcefully converting. 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".
Hinduism
Indian Christians have alleged that "radical Hindu groups" in Orissa, 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.
Father Jebamalai told UCA News the "induced and forced" conversion of 2000 tribal Christians in Gujarat was aimed at creating "a sense of fear among Christians and prevent missioners from working in the area".Christian leaders in the state say that Hindu radicals fear tribal and lower-caste people receiving an education because it may lead them not only to stop slaving for upper-caste Hindus but also to question the idea of high-caste superiority.
Some 40 Hindu radicals attacked some Tribal Christian Rabha in the village of Deuphani (Assam). After showering them with insults, death threats and beatings, they forced the victims to abjure their Christian faith.
Nandapeda is the only village with majority Muslim population in the Dangs district, considered the poorest district in the whole of India. The government has been pressurizing the Muslims to convert to the Hindu religion or face eviction from their land. Some of the residents of this village moved the Gujarat High Court against the government's pressure of converting and changing their religion. The families have been living in the village for over 100 years. On June 13th 2008 a senior officer had called a meeting in Ahwa and asked them to change their religion or vacate the land.
Islam
Indonesia
In 2001 the Indonesian 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.
Middle-East
In 2004 Coptic Christians in Egypt 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.
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 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.
In June 2009, International Christian Concern (ICC) reported the rape and killing of a Christian man in Pakistan, for refusing to convert to Islam.
Somalia
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.
See also
References
- http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/greece/paganism/paganism.html
- For the Massacre of Verden, see Barbero, Alessandro (2004). Charlemagne: Father of a Continent, page 46. University of California Press. For the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, see Riché, Pierre (1993). The Carolingians. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-1342-3.
- Grayzel, Solomon, The Church and the Jews in the Thirteenth Century, rev. ed., New York: Hermon, 1966, p. 103
- 500 ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORCED CONVERSION OF THE JEWS OF PORTUGAL
- Of umbrellas, goddesses, and dreams: essays on Goan culture and society Robert Samuel Newman, 2001
- The Goa Inquisition, Being a Quatercentenary Commemoration Study of the Inquisition in India by Anant Priolkar, Bombay University Press
- Everyday Nationalism: Women of the Hindu Right in India Kalyani Devaki Menon, 2009
- Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay 1967
- M. D. David (ed.), Western Colonialism in Asia and Christianity, Bombay, 1988, p.17
- Between ethnography and fiction: Verrier Elwin and the tribal question in India Tanka Bahadur Subba, Sujit Som, K. C. Baral, North Eastern Hill University. Dept. of Anthropology - Social Science
- http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jVyzbHAJ_hAC&pg=PA374&dq=Ituraeans+forced+conversion&hl=en&ei=dNUATu3BAciv8QORmPTHDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=Ituraeans%20forced%20conversion&f=false, retrieved 2011-06-20
{{citation}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9y7nTpFcN3AC&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=Ituraeans+forced+conversion&source=bl&ots=hxTELYx1Vd&sig=_EhvKuhvcja0F7ZTkGcW6ET6nG8&hl=en&ei=lMwATsfQOcmn8QO41syeDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Ituraeans%20forced%20conversion&f=false, retrieved 2011-06-20
{{citation}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - accessdate=2011-20-06 http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MA-4VX5gWS4C&pg=PA599&dq=Ituraeans+forced+conversion&hl=en&ei=f9MATobdEMiW8QPYpqyTDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Ituraeans%20forced%20conversion&f=false accessdate=2011-20-06
{{citation}}: Check|url=value (help); Missing or empty|title=(help); Missing pipe in:|url=(help) - ^ Waines (2003) "An Introduction to Islam" Cambridge University Press. p. 53
- 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
- Islam - A Short History, Karen Armstrong, Phoenix Press, 2001, p20
- Haykal, M.H. (1933) The Life of Muhammad, translated by Isma'il Razi A. al-Faruqi. The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, Cairo, Egypt & the University of Chicago.
- Husayn, M.J. - Biography Of Imam `Ali Ibn Abi-Talib, Translation of Sirat Amir Al-Mu'minin, Translated By: Sayyid Tahir Bilgrami, Ansariyan Publications, Qum, Islamic Republic of Iran
- ^ Lewis (1984), p. 17, 18, 94, 95.
- M. Levy-Rubin, "New evidence relating to the process of Islamization in Palestine in the Early Muslim Period - The Case of Samaria", in: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 43 (3), p. 257-276, 2000, Springer
- Fattal, A.(1958) Le statut légal des non-Musulman en pays d'Islam, Beyrouth: Imprimerie Catholique, p. 72-73.
- http://www.fis-iran.org/en/irannameh/volxix/mashhad-jewish-community
- Conversion, Tijana Krstić, Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, Ed. Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Alan Masters, (InfoBase Publishing, 2009), 145-146;"As a part of their education, devşirme children underwent compulsory conversion to Islam, which is the only documented forced form of conversion organized by the Ottoman state.".
- http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-great-rambam-joel-kramers-maimonides/86437/
- Adam Kirsch, "The Other Secret Jews", review of Marc David Baer, The Dönme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries, and Secular Turks, The New Republic, 15 Feb 2010, accessed 20 Feb 2010
- Intolerant ruler: Aurangzeb (bbc.co.uk)
- Guru Tegh Bahadur (BBC.CO.UK)
- Hindu culture during and after Muslim rule: survival and subsequent challenges. M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. 1994. p. 103. ISBN 978-81-85880-26-6.
- Besant, Annie. The Future Of Indian Politics: A Contribution To The Understanding Of Present-Day Problems P252. Kessinger Publishing, LLC. ISBN 1-4286-2605-0.
- "Fatal flaw in communal violence bill". Rediff.com. 2 July 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
- Khan, M.A. (2009). Islamic Jihad: A Legacy of Forced Conversion, Imperialism and Slavery. Bloomington: iUniverse. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-4401-1846-3.
- 26 Hindus beheeaded by Islamist militants in Kashmir
- Burma at the turn of the twenty-first century p.120 Monique Skidmore
- http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-students-in-myanmar-forced-to-shave-heads-convert-to-buddhism-81211/
- http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-students-in-myanmar-forced-to-shave-heads-convert-to-buddhism-81211/
- http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/9th-april-2004/5/christian-children-forced-to-convert-to-buddhism-i
- http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/9th-april-2004/5/christian-children-forced-to-convert-to-buddhism-i
- http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/9th-april-2004/5/christian-children-forced-to-convert-to-buddhism-i
- Bhaumik, Subhir (April 18, 2000). "'Church backing Tripura rebels'". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
- Christianity threat looms over Bhuvan Pahar Assam Times - June 23, 2009
- India Pastor Jailed For Converting Hindus, Corpse Exhumed
- Indian couple detained on forced conversion charges
- Satisfied with govt action- Archbishop Moras
- ^ the word revert is used in this context; not convert; see Older than the Church: Christianity and Caste in The God of Small Things India by A sekhar;Washington post article
- "Orissa: Christian leaders disagree with US panel's report". Rediff News. 2009-08-14.
- http://www.christiantoday.com/article/hindu.extremists.convert.2000.christians.in.india/15965.htm
- http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Assam:-tribal-Christians-beaten-and-forced-to-convert-to-Hinduism-25003.html
- http://www.countercurrents.org/hashmi170908.htm
- Maluku refugees allege forced circumcision, BBC News Online, Wednesday, 31 January 2001
- Heba Saleh (BBC News, Cairo), 'Conversion' sparks Copt protest. BBC News Online 9 December 2004.
- Iraq's Mandaeans 'face extinction'
- Taliban Tells Pakistani Christians: Convert or Die
- Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
- The assault on Assyrian Christians
- Told to Convert or Die, 21 Assyrian Families Seek Shelter in Baghdad Churches
- "Maluku refugees allege forced circumcision". BBC News. 2001-01-31. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- 'Conversion' sparks Copt protest
- Kidnapped Fox journalists released
- Told to Convert or Die, 21 Assyrian Families Seek Shelter in Baghdad Churches
- The assault on Assyrian Christians - International Herald Tribune
- The Religion Report - 30 May 2007 - Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
- BBC News on-line 7 March 2007
- 25 Hindu girls abducted every month, claims HRCP official] The News, Tuesday, March 30, 2010
- Report on Fox News, from AP
- Nora Zimmett (June 13, 2009). "Christian Man Raped, Murdered for Refusing to Convert to Islam, Family Says". FOX News. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- "Al Shabaab Reportedly Beheads 4 Christians, Rips Gold Teeth From Locals' Mouths". FOX News. August 12, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
