Christian Today ran a telling piece, featured below, that originally was published by Open Doors, Australia, a Christian advocacy and persecution watchdog. The report reveals what most people already know, but many choose to turn a blind eye to, about what Muslims “all over the Middle East and North Africa” typically lose if they convert to Christianity. The population of these regions is about 355 million, of which approximately 317 million are Muslims.
For starters, one message to glean from this article is that it is not discussing a brand of Islam such as that practiced by the Islamic State or al Qaeda, groups that the West typically view as anomalies of Islam. The article depicts the reality for Muslims, living under historic Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia law), that is, normative Islam.
Another point to consider in reading the report: in all other non-Muslim mainstream religions, when a believer converts to Christianity (or some other religion), there may be ostracism that takes place due to the fact that adherents of the abandoned religion are personally offended. This can be exacerbated by practicalities related to the new convert’s place of worship and proximity to fellow believers, but certainly not religiously sanctioned death sentences or threats to the personal safety of the person that converted.
As the article notes:
Any apostate from Islam is, in theory, punishable by death if they do not recant. This is based upon the prophet Muhammad’s saying, as quoted in the Hadith (Islamic tradition), “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”
Yet still there are those in the West who remain in steadfast denial of the truth. They cannot bear even to entertain the shattering prospect of Islamic literalists streaming into the West through massive, unchecked Muslim immigration; prominent imams boldly preaching about the ummah in mosques and advancing Sharia, while — when the media is present — outwardly condemning the not-so-pretty actions of the Islamic State in order to cover up their real intentions; calls by al Qaeda and the Islamic State to attack Westerners on their home soil; and a Muslim Brotherhood drive for conquest.
Deniers of truth (usually leftists) and outright liars (usually Islamic supremacists) are quick to level accusations of racism, Islamophobia and the like against others (including against sincerely peace-loving Muslims) who speak about the full range of global threats to infidels and apostates. Yet it is becoming increasingly obvious that leftists and Islamic supremacists have no comeback when asked in public forums what real evidence they have to present for their accusations of Islamophobia and racism. Such accusations have served as an effective ploy to beat down critics.
“5 common things Muslims lose by accepting Jesus”, Christian Today, September 10, 2016:
All over the Middle East and North Africa, Muslims who have converted to Christianity struggle with their new identity in Christ. Islam is not just a part of their lives, it is their entire life. From praying in a set direction 5 times a day, to setting aside an entire month to fast, the actions required to be a Muslim are all consuming. And society is not always kind to those who disagree.
Following Christ as a former Muslim might cost you these five things:
1. Your Family
Often, direct relatives are the first and heaviest persecutors of believers from a Muslim background. For many Muslim families, leaving Islam and converting to another religion brings “shame” to the family. In moderate families, a new Christian may be ignored or excluded. In stricter families; forced separation, divorce or the removal of children are all common.
In cultures with a strong sense of shame and honour, new believers face the most pressure. Family members in this situation can feel that killing the converted family member is the only way to remove the shame from their name.
2. Your Friends
Old friends quickly become the most vocal opposition. Entire communities pressure new believers to renounce their faith in Jesus. In Iran for example, Christians from a Muslim background are considered to be unclean. Particularly in rural areas, Muslims will not shake hands with Christians, touch them in any way, or eat food they prepare.
In many Muslim countries, it’s legally impossible for Christian men to marry women from Muslim families. In Yemen, if a Muslim finds out a woman has started following Christ, she will most likely be forced into marriage with a Muslim man or placed under house arrest. This causes most converts to keep their faith in Christ completely hidden.
3. Your Church
Almost nowhere in the Middle East and North Africa is it possible for former Muslims to meet at a church. In Saudi Arabia, there are no church buildings at all. Meetings of former Muslims who have accepted Christ can only take place in secret and in very small groups. Algeria is probably the most ‘relaxed’ country in this regard but believers still face a high degree of persecution.
In Iran, fear among believers is rising, as the government has recently increased surveillance of the house church movement. In 2015, several house churches were raided by the police. More than a hundred Christians were arrested, with many being sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths and the additional punishment of torture.
4. Your Country
All over the Muslim world, Christians who convert from Islam feel there is no option but to leave their home countries. This is especially true for Christians in Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Death threats, constant discrimination and assassination attempts all lead Christians to feel there can be no future for them in the country of their birth. It is believed that there are currently more Saudi believers living outside of the country than there are left within it due to this.
Migrant churches in Europe and North America have seen their attendance rise as refugees from the Middle East (former Muslims among them) worship with them in freedom.
5. Your Life
Finally, people who convert to Christianity from a Muslim background come to be known as ‘Apostates’ and may pay the highest price of all. Some Muslims are convinced that everyone who leaves Islam should be killed. In Saudi Arabia and Iran, this is enshrined in law. In other countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia the majority of supporters for Sharia law also support death sentences for apostates.[1]
Any apostate from Islam is, in theory, punishable by death if they do not recant. This is based upon the prophet Muhammad’s saying, as quoted in the Hadith (Islamic tradition), “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”
Is Christ Worth It?
According to our brothers and sisters who risk everything for His sake, the answer is a resounding, “yes.”

Richard Paulsen says
These countries may be as they find best. Easy to understand why they are as backward as they are.
Problems they are spreadng into other countries. Strange other countries allow them in not expelling them.
I do for example not think, there will be a right for women to vote left, once muslims form the majority in a country.
Defen0derofIsliam says
Hate to disappointed you women are allow allow to vote in election in moslim nation even in Saudi Arabia in local elections. Stop spreading false infro.
Richard Paulsen says
Neither men have. Please do not mix democracy with dictatorship.
Different sorts of rights and voting in democracies and dictatorships.
Women in Saudi Arabia can not vote for dressing themselves as non-Muslim women.
gravenimage says
Now the odious “Defen0derofIslia” is touting the rights of women *in Saudi Arabia*–where women cannot drive, where they can be beheaded for falling in love, and where they can be legally murdered by their fathers with no penalty.
As for the franchise, the very first time women were allowed to vote there in *any* form–and handful of local elections–was just last year. There is strong opposition from Muslim clerics. And since women cannot leave home unless accompanied by their “Mehram”–male ‘owner’–they are still incredibly restricted in whether they can vote or not.
Also, “Defen0derofIslia’s” implication that this means that women can vote in all Muslim nations is just absurd. When are we going to see women get the vote there? Don’t hold your breath…
And will “Defen0derofIslia” condemn the death penalty for those who dare leave Islam? Again, don’t hold your breath waiting for that…
Richard Paulsen says
No reason to leave islamic countries then, since they enjoy equal rights. Still some 40-45 muslim refugees in Europe and lots in other Western countries, however few or no single women and a few Christians.
Richard Paulsen says
Correction: Still some 40-45 millions of muslims in Europe -.
Veka Fitzfrancis says
It’s is stunning to me that our political masters do not understand the situation they are leaving for their children. They may think they are safe with their guards and guns, but one only needs to look back at history to know this does not last.
carpediadem says
Of course they understand it!! They just don’t care because they know from experience that it is unlikely they will be directly affected by any of the mess they’ve imposed on the lower classes whom they regard with absolute contempt.
Rob says
“…It’s is stunning to me that our political masters do not understand the situation they are leaving for their children…”
It’s worse than that.
These governments have a FIRST duty to the citizens of the country in which they were elected, yet they treat these refugees as their first priority, in many cases, telling their own citizens that if they don’t like what their governments are doing, “You’re free to leave”…
This is an astonishing position for a government to take – they’re telling their own citizens that they are now irrelevant; and that outsiders are more important than citizens…!
Their abrogation this duty should see them all impeached.
Why is THIS not happening?
Linde Barrera says
Excellent article, and thank you, Christine Williams. It should be sent to all Christian churches of every denomination for inclusion into church bulletins, all over the planet for “World Wide Communion Sunday”, usually held the first Sunday of October.
John M. Cooper says
Islam is not just a part of their lives, it is their complete identity involving everything from value systems to world view including self perception relating to the world around them…all must be “renewed”.
Kepha says
@Veka: Our own masters in the post-modern West feel, in their hearts of hearts, that if they had any 外卵 themselves, and if there wasn’t a chance that they might run up against a judge that still believes in the First Amendment, they treat serious Christians the way the Muslim world does. Note the encouragement of “lawfare” against Christians and Christian institutions that don’t buy into the LGBQT agenda and how nobody makes a test case out of a Muslim business or institution.
Many Evangelicals have long been aware of Muslim persecution of Christians, and also of a small but growing exodus from Islam that has been going on. Frankly, it’s caught our missions-minded groups flatfooted, but we are humbly grateful that God is at work on what we long thought was stony ground.
Mazo says
Puritans did not believe in a first amendement.
Puritan Massachusetts legalized parents killing their children, trying and executing people for witchcraft and forbade freedom of religion and speech for non Puritans. Rhode Island was founded because of the Puritans intolerance in Massachusetts.
The people who wrote the American Constitution and Bill of Rights were Deists and not Puritans. Puritan law in Massachusetts and Genevan style law directly violates the American Constitution and Bill of Rights.
gravenimage says
I’m not going to argue American history with an ignoramus like “Mazo”.
Notable that he has to go back *400 year* for a supposed example in the West, though, whereas his own creed is savage *today*.
Karen says
Your ideas are a bit mixed up. “Puritan Law” ended with the dissolving of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692, roughly a century before the U.S. Constitution took affect in federal government.
Regarding basic facts, of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, exactly 1 was a deist – Franklin. (Adherents.com) The drafters were all Christians, and James Madison, who usually gets the bulk of the authorship credit for the final version of the U.S. Constitution was Episcopalian.
Mazo says
I’m responding to a fan of the Puritans and Calvin who says he abides by the 1st Amendment.
Karen says
I see. So, even though Kepha made no mention of Puritans or Calvin, you just threw that in. Nice kitchen sink technique, which of course is necessary when you got nothin’ else.
Kepha says
To Mazo: The Abstract of the Laws of New England held that rebellious children who would never heed parental correction were subject to capital punishment. Considering traditions of English and other European law, this would be by the civil magistrate rather than the parents themselves. Samuel Rutherford, in his _Lex Rex_ (1644), notes that power of life and death is one area in which parental power differs from civil power (Rutherford was a political and theological spokesman for Covenanting Scotland). In this, there is a difference between pre-modern Christian law and the pagan Roman paterpotestas.
As for putting incorrigibly rebellious children to death,(which was done by civil authority across Christendom, not just Geneva, Scotland, and the New England Colonies) if this were the case, imagine how much easier it would be to get the other children in town to eat their broccoli. I suspect that even an hour in the pillory might be a sufficient deterrent (and this was very often done–and might be a good thing to re-institute). It is also noteworthy that crime rates were much lower in colonial Massachusetts than they are in present-day Boston, NY, or Chicago. I know of one instance of a rebellious son executed for striking his parents in 16th century Geneva, and a few more of those whipped and forced to public repentance (plus one banished wearing a halter). I would like to know of instances in New England of the execution of a rebellious son rather than simply having the laws on the books.
Moving to more serious crimes, I wonder how much more humane it is to make the law-abiding citizens of the state pay for the upkeep (even at a very low standard of living) of repeat violent offenders for decades. On this score, I will nod to China’s use of the 9mm. cerebral hemorrhage; at least for murderers and sex offenders who have been clearly convicted.
Now, I did not say that I accept everything that was done or said in Geneva in the mid-1500’s. I will still admit acceptance of the theological and soteriological loci of Calvin’s thought (and, as for his political thought, I freely admit I agree 150% when he writes that a mix of aristocracy and democracy is the best form of government). How applicable the civil laws of the Old Testament are (apart from their general equity) to the affairs of states since the coming of the Messiah has ever been a matter of dispute among Christian jurists in past centuries.
And I am not sure how often the execution of an incorrigible son happened under either Moses, the Judges, the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and Judah’s semi-autonomous state under the Persians, Macedonians, and Romans (or, if this was allowed to a Bet Din under the Sassanids of Mesopotamia). The book of Proverbs (written for Israelite youth) speaks of the stocks as the fitting punishment of the fool; which leads me to suspect that this may have been well-known in ancient Israel, and may have been the means whereby a number of rebellious sons proved correctable. It seems to have worked for the Israelites’ New England imitators of a later time.
gravenimage says
Kepha, whatever you thing of the “LGBTQ” community, they are *not* the ones slaughtering Muslims who become Christians. That would be pious Muslims themselves.
Kepha says
Of course you are right, Graven. But I cannot help but note that it is the LGBTQ community in the West that is a very great enabler of Islamic nastiness. That they make test cases for lawfare of Christian bakers and wedding caterers rather than Muslims shows that when push comes to shove, they’ll go back into their closets when Islamic rule is asserted. They are useless for the defense of the West–unless we get a large bunch of them together to clear a minefield by walking through it.
gravenimage says
I do know a few gay Anti-Jihadists, Kepha–and there is the brave Andrew Bostom. But you are right–all too many of them are in deep denial over the Jihad threat.
Mazo says
I don’t buy this at all.
Most ex Muslims are atheists or agnostics.
Arabs had atheists like Al-Ma’ari 1,000 years ago and many other famous sceptics and its not something introduced by the west.
There are atheist ex Muslim Arabs criticizing religion and making fun of it. They still have their own opinions and views. Some atheist Saudis may support the Saidi monarchy because they are Saudi nationalists and hate Iran and Assad and they stay with their families who are Muslim. There are ex-Sunni atheist Syrians who support Islamists against Assad because their families are pro opposition and their relatives were killed in the war. They don’t become pro west. They just reject religion.
An atheist Syrian man in Germany has picked up a blonde German girlfriend and has now impregnated her. There is going to be a lot more of this.
http://www.vice.com/read/seeking-asylum-and-finding-love
Mazo says
Most of the converts in Germany are Shia Iranians and Shia Afghans who convert to get asylum and they don’t believe in anything else. It’s a popular way among them to game the system and westernize.
There hasn’t been a death penalty passed for apostasy or homosexuality in Saudi Arabia. Name one homo or apostate who was sentenced for those crimes (and not something else they did like gay rape or blasphemy).
gravenimage says
The meretricious Mazo wrote:
There hasn’t been a death penalty passed for apostasy or homosexuality in Saudi Arabia.
……………………..
Actually, this is a lie.
Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen all have the death penalty for apostasy.
As for the idea that the real reason apostates are murdered is because of “Blasphemy”, note that *any* acknowledgement that a Muslim has left Islam–for another faith or none–is deemed “blasphemy”, so this is a distinction without a difference:
“Sharia Saudi Arabia sentences poet to death for apostasy and blasphemy”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/11/sharia-saudi-arabia-sentences-poet-to-death-for-apostasy-and-blasphemy
And why is Mazo just talking about Saudi Arabia here? The Muslim hell hole is indeed a brutal Shari’ah state, but it is *hardly* the only one.
As for the idea that Saudi Arabia only holds homosexual rape illegal, this is also untrue:
“Saudis to execute gays who show their sexuality in public and online”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/03/saudis-to-execute-gays-who-show-their-sexuality-in-public-and-online
Why does Mazo continue to lie about his foul creed?
Mazo says
Can you show an actual case where Saudi Arabia USED the anti gay law to execute a gay or the anti apostasy law to execute an atheist who DID NOT also blaspheme? There is not a single case on the record.
There are Saudi atheists who live in Saudi Arabia and are known to be atheists to their families. They don’t curse Islam, desecrate the Quran or insult prophets which is why they are alive and the law is not used against them. Same with gays.
gravenimage says
What the vile Mazo means is that if a gay person or apostate dares to indicate in any way that they are gay or have left Islam, that they are fair game for any oppression, including judicial murder.
Two years ago, a victim was sentenced to three years in prison and 450 lashes because he had used Twitter to arrange same-sex dates.
But even keeping quite does not necessarily ensure the victims’ safety.
Students can be expelled from school for just “seeming” to be gay.
And why mot? Mazo’s coreligionists in Iraq stoned school kids to death for wearing jeans or liking “Emo” music.
If Mazo and his fellow Muslims can, this is exactly what they will impose in the free West, as well.
Mazo says
Cravenmirage.
Show a case where the state exected emos and gays, and not crowds of vigilante cicilians lynchers.
There are Saudi families and social circles who tolerate atheist family members and friends who just say they don’t believe in any god. They don’t curse religious figures and don’t insult Islam with curse words and mockery.
Most people don’t have a compulsive, uncontrollable desire to blurt out insults in public.
Linde Barrera says
To Mazo- Back in the 1960’s, there was a very popular show on television called “The Twilight Zone”. If you are not familiar with it, you could Google it. It began with the show’s creator, Rod Serving, saying a few words about that episode. It was a very inventive series about occurrences that were considered “far out” and how real they were made to appear. As far as Islam goes, I hate Islam because it is an evil ideology. I often equate the dreadful vile acts of Muslims done in the name of their so-called religion as from “The Twilight Zone”. Yet, I do not hate Muslims because they are humans like me. And I pray everyday for their conversion to the Triune, Almighty God. That includes Muslim trolls here at JihadWatch.org.
Linde Barrera says
To Mazo- Should read “ROD SERLING”.
gravenimage says
More from the disgusting Mazo:
Cravenmirage (sic).
Show a case where the state exected (sic) emos and gays, and not crowds of vigilante cicilians (sic) lynchers.
…………………………
In the case in Iraq, these were *hardly* just “cicilians” lynchers:
“Activists told the Cairo-based al-Akhbar daily that at least 90 Iraqi teenagers with “emo” appearances have been stoned to death by the Moral Police in the country in the past month…
“The “˜Emo phenomenon” or devil worshiping is being probed by the Moral Police who have the approval to eliminate it as soon as possible since it’s detrimentally affecting the society and becoming a danger,” according to a statement by the interior ministry…
“The statement said that Iraq’s Moral Police was granted approval by the Ministry of Education to enter Baghdad schools and pinpoint students with Western appearances.”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/03/iraq-morality-police-stone-to-death-at-least-90-young-men-for-emo-appearance
These murderers had approval from the highest levels of government.
More:
There are Saudi families and social circles who tolerate atheist family members and friends who just say they don’t believe in any god. They don’t curse religious figures and don’t insult Islam with curse words and mockery.
…………………………
Again, merely publicly acknowledging that they are apostates is deemed “blasphemy”. And why is Mazo still hammering away on Saudi Arabia? This is not the only thuggish state murdering apostates.
“Iranian court upholds apostasy conviction and death sentence for convert from Islam to Christianity”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/iranian-court-upholds-apostasy-conviction-and-death-sentence-for-convert-from-islam-to-christianity
More:
Most people don’t have a compulsive, uncontrollable desire to blurt out insults in public.
…………………………
“Insults”. As noted, merely acknowledging they are apostates is usually enough. There is no freedom of speech in Islam.
Mazo says
Cravenmirage. No one has been executed by any of the OIC states for apostasy. Show the date of execution and name of the executed.
There is no government run morality police in Iraq. There is heresay being spouted by unknown sources to an Egutian newspaper and re-reported by Saudi news agency Al Arabiya on sonething they heard that soneone told them allegedly happened in Iraq about someone allegedly allowing vigilante killings.
There have been no executions by any OIC state over apostates or emos.
Self declared Saudi atheists who don’t curse Islam live in Saudi Arabia with their families and friends. Show us a single example of an atheist who was executed for saying he did not believe in God.
Angemon says
Mazo posted:
“Most of the converts in Germany are Shia Iranians and Shia Afghans who convert to get asylum and they don’t believe in anything else. It’s a popular way among them to game the system and westernize.”
Citations needed. That statement is even more egregious when news reports from Germany show that converts from islam to Christianity are prone to suffer abuse from their former coreligionists while getting no support from the local authorities. Converting from islam to Christianity makes things *worse* for them, not better.
Westman says
Mazo,
Executing for blasphemy puts Saudi Arabia on a level of primitives wirh no respect for human life. And didn’t SA recently execute a Shia Cleric?
Islam has no respect for anyone and locks humans into the meaningless ritual that turned a center of progressive culture into an eventual quagmire of hopelessness.
Its over Mazo. You just haven’t looked carefully at what is happening to majority Muslim countries as they slide into insignificance and Muslims war with each other over which is the best Muslim sect. Islam cannot compete with the West because it has thrown away much of its energy in observances and almost all of the women’s intellectual productivity. The West allows the full intellect of its women to contribute and they even shoot Muslim Radicals.
Where is that stream of Westerners desperately flocking to Muslim countries, Mazo? Few want the unfulfilling ritualistic life that Islam offers. Keep it.
Angemon says
Mazo posted:
“I don’t buy this at all.”
Of course you don’t. It goes against your religion.
“Most ex Muslims are atheists or agnostics.”
Citation needed.
Rob says
“Most ex Muslims are atheists or agnostics.” where all other religions are concerned…
So are Christians, Jews, Hindus, about each others’ gods and all the gods in whom no-one believes any longer.
This Mazo is just a common creep, trolling the networks to obfuscate the truth. One slap, then ignore him; and he’ll eventually go away, like all other dead trolls
gravenimage says
More from the vile Mazo:
I don’t buy this at all.
Most ex Muslims are atheists or agnostics.
………………………..
What doesn’t Mazo “buy”? Pious Muslims target *all* Muslim apostates, whether they convert to Christianity or some other faith, or become Agnostics or Atheists.
Here’s a case of a Muslim murdering a Muslim convert to Christianity:
“Uganda: Muslim kills Christian wife for leaving Islam”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/05/uganda-muslim-kills-christian-wife-for-leaving-islam
Others have been killed for becoming Agnostics or Atheists, as well. Muslim murderers make no distinctions.
Of famous apostate Anti-Jihadists, one finds both. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an Atheist; Nonie Darwish is now Christian. Both of these brave ladies have faced death threats from Mazo’s violent coreligionists.
More:
An atheist Syrian man in Germany has picked up a blonde German girlfriend and has now impregnated her. There is going to be a lot more of this…
………………………..
If you read the story, you find that this pair *fell in love*. And yet Mazo is–no surprise–unable to conceive of such a thing. No Westerner has any problem with this.
The free West values love–would that this were true of Islam.
Mazo says
All those killings for apostasy were done by private individuals and not recognized governments. Saudi Arabia has not executed homos or atheists for being homos or atheists. The law is not used against them. Saudi Arabia has sentenced blasphemers.
Karen says
A near-meaningless distinction, when uttering ‘I don’t believe in God’ could easily be interpreted as blasphemy. In KSA, one could have blasphemy without apostasy, but the reverse would be doubtful; charges of blasphemy seem to be a pile-on technique to seal the deal. Why not take KSA at its own word? It clearly issues charges of apostasy as any simple Internet search will show, and allows for the death penalty as punishment. Do you expect them to issue a spreadsheet explaining execution statistics?
gravenimage says
More crap from Mazo:
All those killings for apostasy were done by private individuals and not recognized governments. Saudi Arabia has not executed homos or atheists for being homos or atheists. The law is not used against them. Saudi Arabia has sentenced blasphemers.
……………………..
Where to start? Firstly, all pious Muslims are empowered by their vile creed to murder victims who run afoul of Islam if their governments are not doing so. Their victims are just as dead.
Then re Saudi Arabia this is a distinction without a difference, since every apostate who makes their having left Islam known is deemed guilty of “blasphemy”. Mazo is asserting that any apostate is safe as long as he pretends he has not left Islam.
This is what pious Muslims like Mazo consider “freedom of religion”. *Ugh*.
And why the focus on Saudi Arabia? It is a hideous Shari’ah state, but hardly the only one. With a population of about 28 million, only about .02% of the world’s Muslims live in the kingdom.
Other stretches of Dar-al-Islam with laws against apostasy–some with the death penalty–include Afghanistan, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The Islamic State, of course, also murders those accused of apostasy or homosexuality.
Mazo says
Cravenmirage, name one case of a death penalty that was carried out by the states you listed for apostasy. They are on the books but never used for cases just involving apostates. No one has been executed by a state in modern times just for being an apostate.
gravenimage says
The Islamic State is properly pious on the matter of slaughtering apostates:
“Islamic State executes six people for leaving Islam”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/islamic-state-executes-six-people-for-leaving-islam
“Islamic State crucifies 17-year-old boy for apostasy”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/10/islamic-state-crucifies-17-year-old-boy-for-apostasy
Isn’t Islam grand? sarc/off
Mazo says
Cravenmirage must have some kind of mental handicap.
Afghanistan, Brunei, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
I haven’t seen a single execution from the states listed above which is what I was referring to.
Mathias Worcke says
Today many educated Muslims want to leave Islam but are afraid that they will be killed by their fellow religionists. Hence the Muslims must be first shown a safe path so that they renounce Islam but does not arouse suspicion among their fellow Muslims. See http://ilovesanatanadharma.blogspot.in/
Johan elzinga says
Great article, as most people I know are completely unaware of those facts. There is one little request that I have: I’ m not from a country with the English language as a native language, and I found the article a bit hard to read. Although the Dutch do their best to learn and to speak English, it is a bit hard for them to read. Would it be possible to have a small section of this excellent blog dedicated to Europe and to non-native speakers, dumbing the English words down a bit? I like to send around links to this website to friends. Thank you very much in advance!
Baucent says
All true. I’ve met former muslims in Indonesia who converted to Christianity. They calmly tell you they can never return to their family or village because they will be killed. No question at all.
Angemon says
Yes – an important point to stress, since even people who should know better like to talk about salafis or wahabis as being the “bad” muslims and juxtapose other sects like shias. I like to ask them “what does shia islam teaches, for example, about the rights of religious minorities, women and homosexuals? What’s the penalty for homosexuality in shia Iran? Can Christians and Zoroastrians practice their religion freely in shia Iran?”
Praeceptor Maximus says
Islam is an insult to rational mind. In Islam there is no truth; only falsehood. For only falsehood is in need of violence and threats, since it cannot impress its will by means of reason. To be born a Muslim is to be born with a prison sentence for a crime that you have not committed.
Rob says
“…To be born a Muslim is to be born with a prison sentence for a crime that you have not committed…”
I agree, but some will argue – quite reasonably – that in THIS respect, Christianity is inherently even worse than Islam – you’re guilty of a crime that you are accused of committing before you were born. How’s that for logic; and proof of a “loving” god..?
Remember that Christianity went through this madness a few hundred years ago – 500 years of it.
During this time, men and women were slaughtered, burned alive, crucified, beheaded; and tortured for their “unbelief”; and for refusing to join the correct “Religion”.
‘See a certain similarity here…?
So while we’re being righteous, let’s not be too proud of Christianity’s past – of it’s new, kind, smiley, all-loving and all-forgiving, ingratiating face. We must not forget, as Hitchens puts it so well, how the church behaved when it was strong…
There are “Christians” even today, who are hypocritical; acting contrary to their Sunday preaching or spreading hatred and misogyny; and those who do horrible things to children and adults – even people who are WITHIN the church (do you need citations…? Falwell, Farrakhan, Haggard, Swaggart; and the many Catholic priests )
The Inquisition horror was eventually stopped – not by the church’s inner circle – but by intelligent, courageous outsiders. As Sam Harris puts it: “the exit door to the church doesn’t open from the inside”.
Now we see it all starting up again – the mad preachments, the certainty of paradise and the killings; and exhortations to violence and murder… and who is it that’s telling us not to panic – who is claiming that “This is not due to Islam”, “This is a perversion of Islam”, and “Islam means peace”? – It’s Christians like Bush, Cameron and even Obama, who claims to be a Christian, but who is almost certainly practicing Taqiyya.
It’s also the many, many cowards in governments everywhere, who fear religious reprisals so much, that they have caved in to Islam’s threats and bowed to violence, exhorting us to tolerate the intolerant hoards who are invading us as they stand by and watch.
These are the idiots who either fail to recognise the problem, or who fail to act against it while they refuse even to NAME it; and they are the stumbling block to a new Era of “Crusaders-From=Within”.
Before we can free the world of this madness, of this despicable movement of Caliphate and Shariah Domination, we HAVE TO start at home; and get rid of this scourge once and for all.
Close ALL the Madrassas and send the children to PROPER schools. If parents refuse – boot the whole family out permanently.
Monitor ALL the mosques, closing them permanently for the smallest hate-speech or suspicious infraction. Boot out ALL imams who show the slightest religious arrogance and never let them back. Also, don’t allow any more to be built on Western Soil – get rid of them. Treat Islam as Islamic nations treat Christianity – No Churches in Islam – Great! – No mosques in the West… Take them all down.
Unless this type of action is taken now, it’s going to get tougher; and require ever-more violence to do it later. Use your logic; and see the truth in this – the evidence of only a few years’ tolerance on Western Nations’ part, has led us to this pass.
Pressure your representatives in Congress and the Senate to put the correct legislation in place; and insist that the president is held accountable when his Iran Deal backfires – even after he’s left office. Far too often, powerful people like the Clintons and Bush and Kissinger are given a pass for their despicable, deliberately-murderous actions; and corrupt engagement with the Corporate- and Banking world. This must stop NOW; and WE are the only people who can make it happen.
Start with the most urgent matter – getting rid of everything Islam; and move forward from there without the distraction of its murderous creed.
Call me if you need help
gravenimage says
What rot. Christians are not slaughtering people who leave the faith. I know a number of Christian apostates; they all live quite openly and in perfect safety. Devout Christians would not have it any other way.
Would that this were true of Islam.
Rob says
Apparently, you don’t bother to read before commenting… Try doing this now.
My reference is to Christianity’s PAST. A reminder that the church behaved then – when it had the upper hand – as some similarly-indoctrinated followers of Islam are behaving now.
If you deny history, there’s no hope that any argument could convince you.
bernie says
It’s true that certain Christians sometimes shun and disown people who leave their particular sect: for example, ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses often get shunned by family members, friends and acquaintances who remain JW’s. Also, people such as Lauren Drain (a woman whose family joined the Westboro Baptist Church, as racounted in her book “Banished”) has been shunned by all her family members and former friends who remain in the WBC church.
Nonetheless, it is also true that such people (that is apostates from certain Christian sects or cults) very rarely get murdered in so-called “honor killings” or other assassinations, for the alleged crime of apostasy. As Richard Dawkins has pointed out, “The Anglican Church says, ‘If you want to go your own way after you’ve become an adult, that’s fine. We won’t prevent you from doing so. As such, Anglicanism and similar Christian churches are relatively benign, and should be respected as such.'”
Jay Boo says
Rob may call me paranoid, but:
This all started with ……………
A bit way too convenient of a segue for (rational minded) Rob
Praeceptor Maximus said
“Islam is an insult to rational mind.”
and
“…To be born a Muslim is to be born with a prison sentence for a crime that you have not committed…”
———————————————————–
This makes the Mazo interlude appear almost as a Good Cop – Bad Cop smokescreen.
gravenimage says
I’ve never denied history.
But nattering on about what occurred hundreds of years ago while ignoring what Islam is doing today is about false moral equivalence, not about the lessons of history.
Linde Barrera says
To Rob- As per your 8:52 am post of Sep. 11, 2016, I respectfully wish to call you out on your comments regarding Christianity. What you stated about so called “Christian leaders” during the Middle Ages and the Reformation is true, but their behavior and evil actions toward other Christians or individuals of other faiths is not doctrinal to the New Testament. These evil so called “Christian leaders” did what they did based on their love for personal power and narcissism. Please do not forget that! “Only God alone is good” said Jesus Christ.
Rob says
Hi Linda, you wrote: “…but their behaviour and evil actions toward other Christians or individuals of other faiths is not doctrinal to the New Testament…”
No?
Is it not ‘reported’ in Luke 19:27, that Jesus said: “But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.”
Just as in the Quran, those committing atrocities can find “useful” passages within the pages of the Old- and New Testaments; but the purpose of my post was not to bash Christianity (although it deserves it on many counts)
My comment was intended merely to caution us not to be too smug about the “stupidity” of the scriptural justifications used by those attempting to force a religion-based political system on an unwilling world.
I tried to highlight these facts: The reasons given by Jihadists are *exactly* the same – almost to a word – as those used by the Inquisitors; and enjoined by Aquinas, who also said that heretics should be killed; and by Augustine, who wanted them tortured first…
What’s happening now, is an attempt by those who take Islam’s more horrid injunctions seriously, to plunge us back into the Dark Ages, from which we’ve almost literally just emerged; and in our righteous indignation, many are saying that this is not the “Christian Way”.
I just point out that while it no longer is so, when the church was strong, it WAS the way.
Only when we’re open to honest debate, can our motivations survive the charge of bigotry.
Linde Barrera says
To Rob- As per your comment of 2:09 am, Sep. 12, 2016 to me, thank you. I love it when people quote the Bible but do not get it correct, because this gives me the chance to correct them and give them new insight. So please do not be mad at me for trying to enlighten you. You do not have to believe what I am stating, but you must be able to understand my point! The Biblical passage you quote from Luke 19: 27 is the last sentence of a parable that Jesus was teaching. He did NOT state to His friends that they should bring His enemies before Him and that He (Jesus) would slay them. A parable is a simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson. Jesus made this statement to show how a ruler or king would act if his servants did not do the right thing by him. The parable was about “reaping as you sow”, or, giving to God what is God’s, as in an offering, or with your personal behavior, if you act decently, people will act decently to you, or should. But the third servant hid the money when he should have put it in the bank. So the ruler or king had the third servant’s coin given to the first servant. And then the ruler spoke about having his enemies executed to show that he wouldn’t take any nonsense or subterfuge from his enemies. I interpret the ruler or king in the parable as God Almighty and what He will do to His enemies on The Last Day. I do not interpret the ruler or king to be any mortal man. And Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, would never tell or advise any human to kill another human. That is why the books of the New Testament is different doctrinally from the Old Testament and from other so called “spiritual” books. I hope you will go back to Luke 19 and read verses 11-27. You will see, I hope, that you wrongly interpreted Jesus’ words. Thank you Rob.
Jay Boo says
Sam Harris
Luke 19: 27
Jay Boo says
Rob
You referenced Sam Harris
Sam Harris not an idiot but he is shamelessly disingenuous at times which is worse.
More Sam Harris bloopers
Kay says
I think you need to learn more facts about the Inquisition.
In any case, justifying Mohammedism by errors in Christian past — or even the fact that Christians are human and sin– makes no sense. Those things are not justified by the teachings, written or historical, of the Church. Jesus admonished his own defenders as He was arrested to put away the sword.
The case is different with Muhammedism. If you don’t yet know that, many commenters here can direct you to informative readings and videos.
billybob says
If we had rational leadership, governments would not pander to Muslims. Yes – we would still have laws protecting religious freedom, but there would be no special accommodations. Government policy would be, at a minimum, mute on the validity of a religion. Because of separation of church and state, the government should have, at least, no opinion on any given religion. For example, no official of the government should ever say “Islam is a religion of peace”, because of that. On the other hand, the government does have a business to prevent the spread of dangerous ideologies, and should monitor mosques to ensure there is no sedition.
So far, what I have written above is plain common sense, though I would suggest we go even further and adopt proactive measures such as Donald Trump has advocated.
Then I would go one step further. I would encourage “Islamic refugees” to immigrate to North America. By the term “Islamic refugees” I mean exactly what it says – refugees fleeing Islam, from all over the world. These people have tremendous potential to become good citizens. I would hope they arrive by the thousands and tens of thousands over time, as we require immigration to maintain our populations. Then our nations would be known for being a champion of those fleeing Islam.
At the same time, I would suggest a restructuring of international relations, in such a manner that we simply would refuse to deal with any country who doesn’t promote human rights as enshrined in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or at least work actively to condemn violators, among which of course are found some 53 Islamic nations around the world.
Then North America would become a bastion of freedom from Islam. Of course, all the Muslims that are currently here would still be here. The difference will be like day and night, however. Instead of organizations like CAIR blocking efforts to maintain religious neutrality, other organizations will spring up helping people to leave Islam, They will become prominent. Imagine even students associations forming on every campus where the evils of Islam will be discussed and where caring volunteers will work with Muslims to encourage them to leave Islam and support them as they do.
I don’t know how many of you were around in the ’60s, when we were dealing with religious cults like the Hari Krishna and the Moonies who formed communes and kidnapped our children and brainwashed them. It was quite a concern. Newspapers ran articles on “deprogramming” your children. Experts on techniques of deprogramming made their services available. Families would seek out the help of these deprogrammers and kidnap their children back from the communes where they were being imprisoned, lock them up in a hotel room, and subject them to a couple of weeks of intense deprogramming before finally triumphantly returning with them to their communities. We should be taking the same attitude with Muslims. Of course we cannot interfere if they are not in our family, but we should be seeing articles in newspapers on the subject of deprogramming Muslims just as we saw such articles back in the ’60’s.
All I have written above is just common sense and we should work towards implementation of this vision.
Praeceptor Maximus says
I totally agree with everything that you just said, but for those measures to be implemented we need Trump. If Hillary is elected, then all is lost for both the west and the east. God help us!
Westman says
Hillary just turned the election into a class war with her “basket of deplorables” comment. It was much like Romney’s 47% comment and could well cost her the election.
She actually thinks all of us who are university educated buy into her elitist ideas, and like her, have no respect for the farmers, laborers, builders, fishermen, firemen, police, and the other honorable service people upon which the society is dependent. She definitely made up my mind.
No matter what kind of mess Trump might step in, at least we would never go back to an elitist government of professional parasites who think their education and privilege grants them infallible wisdom. We need a Lech Wałęsa or a Boris Yeltsin to shake out the bureaucratic deadwood and get the nation back on track. We also need term limits on congress.
Kepha says
Much as I utterly despise the teachings of the Hare Krishna and Moonie movement, I will not accuse them of kidnapping children. They attracted adolescents of the high school and college years rather than the very young and twenty-somethings,who were searching for something better than the fatherhood of God-brotherhood of man-neighborhood of the suburbs kind of liberal/Unitarian/pablum religiosity that dominated American life in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. They were seekers and already possessed of a fair amount of rationality, and even if I disagree with their choices, I will not call them “brainwashed”.
And keep in mind that American law arbitrarily ends childhood at age 18, and age at which my father, father-in-law, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers were essentially functioning, working adults.
As someone who has spent a good many years teaching teens and twenties, and having been called an intelligent one by my elders and betters decades ago, I have a lot of respect for young people’s ability to think about things and explore real knowledge and/or skills. I will also air my complaint about the factory model of schooling in which I am required to work: it is too often a factory of immaturity and boredom that destroys real community by isolating the young with their peers and a very narrow selection of adults, and by cramming large numbers of bored adolescents together, it gives little play to students’ natural curiosity by forcing teachers to spend too much time in “management”.
As for the “deprogramming” done to Moonies and Hairless Krishnas back in the 1970’s as a solution to Muslims’ problems, I do not think it will work at all. For one thing, the “deprogrammed” Moonies, Hairless Krishnas, and Children of God-types were generally raised in either liberal or conventional Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish milieux and soaked in the liberally-oriented schooling of that era in America. These all continued to accept certain aspects of their past lives, which the “deprogrammers” could use. And, further, there is an Evangelical pastor I know who was raised in a respectabilty’s-sake Unitarian family, became an Evangelical in his late teens, and got sent to the nuthouse by his panicked family–where the doctors politely informed the family they had an ordinary, harmless, and slightly more intelligent than usual youngster on their hands.
I do not think this deprogramming will work on some young man who was raised since birth to accept Islam, and may know a modern, liberal culture only very superficially. I think Dr. Sennels has noted the effect of culture on the psychological formation of people.
carol says
I think you’re projecting an inclination toward humble Christian virtue. They find proud supremacy far more enjoyable than that bland fare.
duh swami says
All religions are corrupt…but some are more corrupt than others…
The big guy in the sky demands obedience…or else…
Any religion that promises fire and brimstone punishment for violations is a scam…No one was ever dragged kicking and screaming into the ‘Kingdom of Heaven, if there really is one…In one place, the Bible says ‘ In all your getting, get understanding’…When a Muslim gets ‘understanding, apostasy happens…for other religious types, understanding creates atheism…
The holier than thou priestly class of all religions shun understanding like they avoid the plague, it directly threatens their cushy jobs…
What saves Christianity from demise is the ‘Supreme Commandment’, anf you don’t need to be religious to practice that…
Musalmaanmasala says
duh swami could you please enlighten me as to what the “Supreme Commandment” is. I am an ex-muslim convert to Christianity and have never come across this “Supreme Commandment” in all of my 4 years of leaving Islam.
Laura says
He’s probably referring to Yeshua’s command to “Love one another, as I have loved you”.
Thomaspj Poovathinkal SSP says
ALL evils and problems in the world of today will be SOLVED if only Christians FOLLOW Jesus the Lord and OBEY him. Pointing finger at THE OTHERS, be it ISLAM or any OTHER is only SELF DECEPTION and ignorance of GOD the one and only who presents himself in Jesus the Lord.
Rich says
As a Christians we know that God is a God of love. He came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ and gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins, that we might have eternal life with Him in heaven. The Muslim god requires his followers to die for him in order to receive his salvation. That is not love, rather forced servitude. There will never be a reformation in Islam because it is not of God. It is a cult of murder and sexual perversion.
Aaron Anderson says
You say Muslims fast for an entire month, this is not true. They only ‘fast’ in the daylight hours the other night hours when they are allowed to eat they gorge themselves on food. This whole ‘religion’ ? is nearly all a farce. For instance the female is supposed to remain virgin before marriage. Yet I met a man who lived in a Muslim country and he told me from personal experience, the woman have anal sex to remain ‘virgin. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the light nobody goes to the Father but by Me. Of course God decides who goes to Heaven, but it would appear any Muslim going to Heaven would be an exception not a norm. That is not going to Paradise where so many virgins await him. What a joke !
Rob says
Hey, Aaron…
(Perhaps you should check before quoting what Jesus is reported to have said…)
But you do point out one of the many inconsistent injunctions in Islam.
Is it fair to require that women refrain from sex, and have to submit to inspection to prove their virginity, where there’s no such requirement for men; and even if there were, there’s no physical check which could prove compliance?
Of course it’s ridiculous, but since the woman CAN be checked and the man cannot, it’s another of the misogynistic principles under which Muslim women suffer – even if some of them feel compelled to claim to a disbelieving world, that that’s how they want it – that they’re happy to be held to a different standard and that their clitoris was removed; and that they have no freedoms of dress, voting, praying, or going out, whereas men are free to do as they please, including dishonouring women and believing that they are worth double in all cases.
Just like many religions, Islam is obsessed with sex. In Islam’s case, it’s both the history of their spouse-to-be (irrespective of their own conduct); and their own skewed view that Western girls are ‘fair game’ because they’re kafirs.
There’s no way that assimilation of indoctrinated Muslims is possible in Western Society. Other religions are less of a problem, because they’ve been tamed over the years; and no longer take biblical orders seriously. Muslims apparently don’t have this choice. Even fourth-generation immigrants can suddenly switch from being law-abiding citizens, to raving, fanatical Jihadists, intent on getting at their 72 virgins, which they actually believe is their reward for killing kafirs and being killed themselves for doing so.
Western Liberals don’t believe the testimony of these people, despite daily evidence that they mean what they say. What these liberals cannot comprehend themselves (dying for a crazy cause) says much about their own beliefs; but it also shows the level of disconnect when faced with the reality of serious indoctrination.
And because they don’t “get it”, many more innocent, naïve people will be killed because the government, the state security and the police don’t believe that it’s possible to believe such nonsense so fervently; and to die willingly (even as a preferred option) because it “paves the way to paradise” for everyone in one’s family.
Mad? Certainly – but madness can kill; and it does, and it will continue to do so, until enough murder and mayhem pulls the blinkers off.
Why is an Iran With Nukes a problem? Because, unlike Russia, or Korea, or even Pakistan at the moment, where the threat of mutual destruction has always been an effective deterrent, The Iranian Theocracy has no such fears – they WANT to die… This is Obama’s error, or his intention. If he is like most people, he believes – stupidly – that M.A.D. (look it up) will deter Iran’s use of such a weapon.
If it’s his intention to spread Islamic Jihad (as many really believe), he’s OK with a few nations being nuked by the Ayatollah.
Whichever case is true, his concession to Iran’s nuclear ambitions is a mistake we will all come to regret.
Rob says
Linda ends: “…You will see, I hope, that you wrongly interpreted Jesus’ words. Thank you Rob….”
Thanks, Linda… I’ll look it up
Rob
faris says
hello
i saw this article now and i like it so much
i am an ex-Muslim convert to Christianity but i can’t talk in my country ( Jordan ) i am not afraid of death, I am scared of taking my wife and my child from me and all my civil rights
by the way Jordan sign to the international conventions, including the freedom of belief
But in the Jordanian Constitution, religion changed from Islam to Christianity is considered messes in the public order of the State and put you in prison and divorce from your wife and take my son based rule in the Islamic law, not the tutelage of the non-Muslim over a Muslim
thanks
Linde Barrera says
To faris- Praying for you and your family. I know 2 men who were touched by Jesus Christ, 1 from Libya and 1 from Pakistan. Both had to flee their home country, but are not happy where they are. They both want to come to Canada, US or Australia. Pray that they make it. Also I know a pretty religious Muslim man in Pakistan who puts propaganda about Jews on his Facebook page. So I find an article to refute what he posts and post it on my page, notifying him of it! Take good care faris. ???
faris says
thanks for praying for me and my family .
🙂