An Essay On Forced Conversions

The Anchoress has an essay posted on forced conversions and provides some very interesting things to think about.

The demand to “convert or die” is not a thinking demand, it is not born of reason. It is culled forth from a dark heart given over to something larger than a human sense or sensibility. It is an unnatural requirement; it is Supernatural. As such, it can only be properly answered through Supernatural means, through a heart that is not dark but which is equally given over to something larger than our rational and reductive imaginings. Can you reduce the response to a forced conversion into whether one “meant it” or not? Yes, you can, but in doing so you have taken your eyes off of something hugely in play but easy to miss - that the greatest feats of heroism written in the annals of human history have come about through a combination of faith and reason, but with reason bringing up the rear.

Firefighters on 9/11 asked a blessing from Fr. Mychal Judge before they headed into the burning towers of the World Trade Center. Reason cautioned that running into such a hellish conflagration was foolhardy - faith whispered something else, and it won.

A very thought-provoking post, well worth the read. I've mentioned before that my ancestors had the intelligence and good sense to get thrown out of France. They were given a choice of converting, leaving or getting killed. They chose to leave.