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Why converting to Islam didn't save Peter Kassig
American Thinker ^ | 11/17/2014 | Rick Moran

Posted on 11/17/2014 7:42:35 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Over the last few years, we've seen a dozen Western hostages convert to Islam in order to appease their captors, or in the hopes of getting better treatment.

It never works, of course.  The hostages are still beaten, or killed, regardless of their profession of faith.

It would seem intuitive for Islamic State hostages to convert to Islam in order to win some modicum of mercy from captives who proclaim profound religiosity. But it clearly doesn’t work, according to accounts and stories from Somalia to Syria. And why should it, since the Islamic State has proven itself willing to execute people of all faiths by the thousand? The only out for a hostage seems to be ransom or escape.

Conversion to Islam appears fairly common among jihadists’ hostages. Executed journalist James Foley, who until his capture was a devout Christian and spent a prior captivity stint in prayer, converted to Islam and took the name Abu Hamza, according to a harrowing New York Times report. “I recited the Quran with him,” fellow hostage Jejoen Bontinick, 19, told the Times. “Most people would say, ‘Let’s convert so that we can get better treatment.’ But in his case I think it was sincere.” Fellow hostages Kassig and reportedly John Cantlie also converted, as well as a “majority of Western prisoners,” the Times said.

It’s impossible to determine whether someone in captivity and threatened with death converts willingly or is capable of doing so. Sometimes, such conversions are clearly forced, as was the case for Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Ola Wiig, who were captured in Gaza. (In a video declaring fealty to Islam, both men stumbled on their recitations.)

For Foley, it might have been different. “Mr. Foley had been captivated by Islam,”


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: abdulrahmankassig; beheading; conversion; isis; islam; kassig; peterkassig
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1 posted on 11/17/2014 7:42:35 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Coercion is assumed in these cases, but there will be coercion. Christians are coerced every day by the forces of darkness, and it’s only going to get worse. We will all have to choose.


2 posted on 11/17/2014 7:45:42 AM PST by Genoa (Starve the beast.)
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To: SeekAndFind
It's called Convert or die...and sometimes that doesn't even work.

But it worked for Bowie...and his family. I'm betting Bowie's dad was sending him and his muzzie buddies stuff via another still unknown source.

3 posted on 11/17/2014 7:46:23 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: SeekAndFind

Seems that people haven’t learned from medieval times, especially from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.


4 posted on 11/17/2014 7:46:31 AM PST by Morpheus2009
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To: SeekAndFind
This is a place where Satan has been unleashed. The unparalleled blood-lust is a mere outward expression of demonic possession.
5 posted on 11/17/2014 7:46:51 AM PST by Obadiah (I'm supporting Martha Coakley for the Democratic nomination in 2016.)
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To: SeekAndFind

When will we hear about Bowie? Or will we ever?


6 posted on 11/17/2014 7:47:29 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Sacajaweau

We won’t.


7 posted on 11/17/2014 7:49:59 AM PST by fatnotlazy
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To: SeekAndFind

this is yet another support in the case that islam only appeals to people with nothing to lose. people threatened with death are at the top of that totem pole.


8 posted on 11/17/2014 7:51:57 AM PST by JohnBrowdie (http://forum.stink-eye.net)
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To: SeekAndFind

When these savages are not fighting “infidels” they fight each other. They have never been at peace.


9 posted on 11/17/2014 7:52:59 AM PST by CodeToad (Islam should be outlawed and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Converting to a subhuman savage barbarian value system doesn’t save you from the wrath of the subhuman savage barbarians who practice it. After all, they are subhuman savage barbarians. What do you expect from them?


10 posted on 11/17/2014 7:55:38 AM PST by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Converted infidel is still dhimmie.....

KYPD


11 posted on 11/17/2014 7:58:36 AM PST by petro45acp (Repeal! Recall! Defund! Scrap regulatory agencies!...If it is not the government's job...)
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To: SeekAndFind

They clearly just do it to humiliate their captives. Even they don’t believe it is genuine. It becomes impossible to have a real conversion under those circumstances, even if the “converted” believes it to be real. Psychologically it is impossible to count that as a real conversion.


12 posted on 11/17/2014 8:00:57 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: SeekAndFind

“When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us: so long as he resists us we never destroy him. We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We burn all evil and all illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul. We make him one of ourselves before we kill him. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation. In the old days the heretic walked to the stake still a heretic, proclaiming his heresy, exulting in it. Even the victim of the Russian purges could carry rebellion locked up in his skull as he walked down the passage waiting for the bullet. But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.” - Orwell, _1984_


13 posted on 11/17/2014 8:05:20 AM PST by ctdonath2 (You know what, just do it.)
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To: Sacajaweau

The President tells the Pentagon to cover it up and they comply.

It puts the lie to the West Point Honor Code: “We will not lie, cheat nor steal, nor tolerate those among us who do.”

What a crock!


14 posted on 11/17/2014 8:06:17 AM PST by onedoug
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To: SeekAndFind

Click the pic to link to the full-text Free Republic thread.

15 posted on 11/17/2014 8:07:49 AM PST by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Obadiah

Demonic. Exactly. In almost every exorcism the demon bargains to get other souls. The holier the better. Sooner or later, Islam must be recognized as a demonic endeavor innately opposed to human freedom, both on earth and in the spiritual realm.


16 posted on 11/17/2014 8:10:26 AM PST by Missouri gal
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To: SeekAndFind

17 posted on 11/17/2014 8:17:27 AM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Good Muslims, like good Nazis or good Communists, are terrible human beings.)
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To: CodeToad

It’s kill or be killed, now. As if anything’s really changed between muzzies & “infidels”.

It’s them or us. Don’t look at a Muslim & see a normal human, because they’re not. They hate you and they want you dead.

No peace with these savages, ever.


18 posted on 11/17/2014 8:19:22 AM PST by elcid1970 ("I am a radicalized infidel.")
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To: SeekAndFind

Yevgeny Rodionov was murdered by the Chechyn animals.
Was a 19 year old Russian soldier who was captured. On his 19th birthday, Rodionov was beheaded on the outskirts of the Chechen village Bamut. According to his killers, who later extorted money from his mother in exchange for knowledge of the location of his corpse, they beheaded him after he refused to renounce his Christian faith or remove the silver cross he wore around his neck. Ruslan Khaikhoroev later admitted the murder. In the presence of foreign representatives of OSCE he confessed: “Your [Yevgeny’s mother] son had a choice to stay alive. He could have converted to Islam, but he did not agree to take the cross off. He tried to escape”. On 23 May, after 100 days of imprisonment and tortures, Rodionov was again ordered to remove the cross he was wearing and accept Islam. After his final refusal, Rodionov was beheaded while still alive”

And then there was Fabrizio Quattrocchi. His kidnappers forced him to dig his own grave and kneel beside it wearing a hood as they prepared to film his death, but he defied them by trying to pull off the hood and shouting “Vi faccio vedere come muore un Italiano!” - “I’ll show you how an Italian dies!” He was then shot in the back of the neck.

Stories from the Hanoi Hilton are also well known.

No, accepting the faith of the animals is still wrong. Not everyone is as strong as Fabrizio or Yevgeny, but that’s what we should see people strive for.


19 posted on 11/17/2014 8:21:00 AM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I was watching my local news the other night (an ABC affiliate), and it showed a clip of Kassig’s parents begging ISIS for their son’s release. I’m having computer issues that won’t let me post a picture or the clip itself, but it’s easily searchable.

The mother had her head wrapped up in a rag like a Muslim. Is she a convert as well? Or did she think that bit of kowtowing would make any difference to a bunch of demon-possessed savages?

I do sympathize with the woman, but truly...the mind boggles at the naivete of these liberals.


20 posted on 11/17/2014 8:32:40 AM PST by CatherineofAragon ((Support Christian white males---the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization.))
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