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74-535: Joseph D'souza is an Indian bishop, missionary, and Christian and Dalit rights activist. As of 2018, he was International President of the Dignity Freedom Network (DFN) (previously known as Dalit Freedom Network), President of the All India Christian Council (AICC), and CEO of Operation Mobilisation - India with is not affiliated with Operation Mobilisation, International. On 30 August 2014, he

148-514: A brutal backlash from higher caste groups. In fact, incidents such as these, where witnesses, or those that seek judicial remedy, are brutally savaged, have become depressingly common". As chair of the All India Christian Council, D'souza has asked Christian leaders to stop publishing incendiary rhetoric, which was being used as fuel for anti-Christian propaganda. He asked them to refrain from "bombastic slogans, militant language and

222-503: A complete turning from an old to a totally new life. While it entailed the acceptance of new religious beliefs and membership in a new religious community, most converts retained a deep attachment to the cultures and communities from which they came. Muslim scholars like Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf stated that the jizya tax should be paid by Non-Muslims ( Kuffar ) regardless of their religion, some later and also earlier Muslim jurists did not permit Non-Muslims who are not People of

296-664: A general demeaning of Indian culture". Writing in 2002, D'souza said "If the Christian Church in India does not abolish caste within the Church and closes its doors to the Dalits because of the pressure of the Brahminical dominated RSS and its fundamentalist affiliates, the Dalits will turn to whoever offers them human dignity, equality and the right to spiritual salvation... The time has come for

370-583: A handful of them were allowed to leave and the rest of them were forced to convert. Muslims were expelled from Portugal in 1497, and they were gradually forced to convert in the constituent kingdoms of Spain. The forced conversion of Muslims was implemented in the Crown of Castile from 1500 to 1502 and it was implemented in the Crown of Aragon in the 1520s. After the conversions, the so-called " New Christians " were those inhabitants ( Sephardic Jews or Mudéjar Muslims) who were baptized under coercion as well as in

444-472: A lecture given by Max Müller in 1873, and is based on whether or not a religion seeks to gain new converts. The three main religions classified as missionary religions are Christianity , Islam , and Buddhism , while the non-missionary religions include Judaism , Hinduism , and Zoroastrianism . Other religions, such as Primal Religions, Confucianism , and Taoism , may also be considered non-missionary religions. In general, anthropologists have shown that

518-403: A place where they had no liberty, and were liable to imprisonment, torture and death if they worshiped after their own fashion the gods of their fathers", wrote Filippo Sassetti , who was in India from 1578 to 1588. In 1858, Edgardo Mortara was taken from his Jewish parents and raised as a Catholic, because he had been baptized by a maid without his parents' consent or knowledge. This incident

592-548: A significant proportion of income to the Islamic states while conversely reducing many Christians to poverty, and these financial and social hardships forced many Christians to convert to Islam. Christians unable to pay these taxes were forced to surrender their children to the Muslim rulers as payment who would sell them as slaves to Muslim households where they were forced to convert to Islam . Many Christian martyrs were executed under

666-417: A wide range of driving values, from compassion , which is aimed at alleviating current suffering, to brutal change, which is aimed at achieving long-term goals, for the benefit of groups which have ranged from small cliques to all of humanity. The relationship is far from simple. But religion has frequently been used in a coercive manner, and it has also used coercion. People may express their faith through

740-419: Is a nationwide alliance of Christian denominations, mission agencies, institutions, federations and Christian lay leaders. AICC was formed in 1998 with the declared purpose of providing a united voice to protect and serve the interests of Indian Christians. The AICC claims to cut across denominational barriers to act against the alleged growing violence and blatant violations of religious freedom in India amongst

814-595: Is not the homeland of Muslims and Christians. Hindu extremist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha , have gone so far as to call for massacres and forced sterilisations , of religious minorities, particularly the Muslims, that have not done ghar wapsi ("returned home") to Hinduism. After the Arab conquests, a number of Christian Arab tribes suffered enslavement and forced conversion. The Teaching of Jacob (written soon after

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888-637: Is one of misery and suffering". Talking of a mass conversion ceremony in October 2006, D'souza was reported by the BBC as saying "I think it's important to understand that this is a cry for human dignity, it's a cry for human worth". On 4 November 2001 thousands of Dalits left Hinduism en masse, and chose to become Buddhist . D'souza has given many examples of cases where Dalits have been attacked when they resisted oppression. He has written that "Efforts by Dalits such as Surekha Bhotmange to demand their rights have provoked

962-569: Is that society continues the practice of the caste system, with the rule of law not being applied when Dalits are being discriminated against, even though the practice of untouchability stands abolished by the Constitution." He also noted that "Christian Dalits continue to suffer for their allegiance to the Christian faith. They are discriminated against both within the Church and outside of the Church. Their rights are trampled upon. Their very existence

1036-593: The Baltic Sea forced conversions were a widely used tactic, which received papal sanction. These tactics were first adopted during the Wendish Crusade and became more widespread during the Livonian Crusade and Prussian Crusade , in which tactics included killing hostages, massacre, and devastation of the lands of tribes that had not yet submitted. Most of the populations of these regions were converted only after

1110-511: The Massacre of Verden in 782, when Charlemagne reportedly had 4,500 captive Saxons massacred for rebelling, and the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae , a law imposed on conquered Saxons in 785, after another rebellion and destruction of churches and killing of missionary priests and monks, that prescribed death to those who refused to convert to Christianity. Forced conversion that occurred after

1184-651: The Vandals attempted to force all Spanish Catholics to become Arian Christians during their rule in Spain. Gregory also recounted episodes of forced conversion of Jews by Chilperic I and Avitus of Clermont . During the Saxon Wars , Charlemagne , King of the Franks , forcibly converted the Saxons from their native Germanic paganism by way of warfare, and law upon conquest. Examples are

1258-462: The dhimmi category. Wael Hallaq states that in theory, Islamic religious tolerance only applied to those religious groups that Islamic jurisprudence considered to be monotheistic "People of the Book", i.e. Christians, Jews, and Sabians if they paid the jizya tax, while to those excluded from the "People of the Book" were only offered two choices: convert to Islam or fight to the death. In practice,

1332-534: The "Old Christians". The Spanish Inquisition generated much wealth and income for the church and individual inquisitors by confiscating the property of the persecuted. The end of Al-Andalus and the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula went hand in hand with the increasing amount of Spanish and Portuguese influence in the world, influence which was exemplified by the Christian conquest of

1406-477: The "People of the Book" designation and dhimmi status were even extended to the non-monotheistic religions of the conquered peoples, such as Hindus , Jains , Buddhists , and other non-monotheists. The Druze have frequently experienced persecution by different Muslim regimes such as the Shia Ismaili Fatimid State , Mamluk , Sunni Ottoman Empire , and Egypt Eyalet . The persecution of

1480-749: The 10th century, Vladimir the Great , the ruler of Kievan Rus' , ordered Kiev's citizens to undergo a mass baptism in the Dnieper river. In the 13th century the pagan populations of the Baltics faced campaigns of forcible conversion by crusading knight corps such as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the Teutonic Order , which often meant simply dispossessing these populations of their lands and property. After Ivan

1554-433: The 500 districts (the official 625 districts of India put into 500 major districts). The audiences include leaders from various religious communities, local ethnic group leaders, officials, and media. Forced conversion The religions of the world are divided into two groups: those that actively seek new followers (missionary religions) and those that do not (non-missionary religions). This classification dates back to

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1628-546: The All India Christian Council (AICC). The AICC is one of the largest interdenominational Christian alliances, formed to deal with human rights issues and national concerns common to Christians in India. In 2002, D'souza co-founded the Dignity Freedom Network (DFN), formerly known as the Dalit Freedom Network, first in the United States and, later, expanded to other countries. D'souza travels widely in campaigning for

1702-633: The Almohad persecution, the medieval Jewish philosopher and rabbi Moses Maimonides (1135–1204), one of the leading exponents of the Golden Age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula , wrote his Epistle on Apostasy , in which he permitted Jews to feign apostasy under duress, though strongly recommending leaving the country instead. There is dispute amongst scholars as to whether Maimonides himself converted to Islam in order to freely escape from Almohad territory, and then reconverted back to Judaism in either

1776-432: The Book , Christians under Muslim rule were subjected to dhimmi status (along with Jews , Samaritans , Gnostics , Mandeans , and Zoroastrians ), which was inferior to the status of Muslims. Christians and other religious minorities thus faced religious discrimination and religious persecution in that they were banned from proselytising (for Christians, it was forbidden to evangelize or spread Christianity ) in

1850-556: The Book or Ahle-Kitab (Jews, Christians, Sabians) pay the jizya . Instead, they only allowed them (non- Ahle-Kitab ) to avoid death by choosing to convert to Islam. Of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence , the Hanafi and Maliki schools allow polytheists to be granted dhimmi status, except Arab polytheists . However, the Shafi'i , Hanbali and Zahiri schools only consider Christians , Jews , and Sabians to be eligible to belong to

1924-575: The Christian community, minorities and other oppressed castes in India. The Council monitors, documents, advocates and intervenes with the government of India, the national justice system, civil society organizations, and human rights groups. It has relationships with global human rights organizations involved with international advocacy for Dalit human rights and freedom of faith in South Asia. The Council’s national and international network has conducted disaster relief during several natural calamities like

1998-848: The Crusaders in Lorraine, on the Lower Rhine, in Bavaria and Bohemia, in Mainz and in Worms (see Rhineland massacres , Worms massacre (1096) ). Though he strongly condemned and prohibited forced conversion and baptism by decree, Pope Innocent III suggested in a private letter to a bishop in 1201 that those who agreed to be baptized to avoid torture and intimidation might be compelled to outwardly observe Christianity: [T]hose who are immersed even though reluctant, do belong to ecclesiastical jurisdiction at least by reason of

2072-759: The Druze included massacres , demolishing Druze prayer houses and holy places and forced conversion to Islam. Those were no ordinary killings and massacres in the Druze's narrative, they were meant to eradicate the whole community according to the Druze narrative. The wars of the Ridda (lit. apostasy ) undertaken by Abu Bakr , the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate , against Arab tribes who had accepted Islam but refused to pay Zakat and Jizya Tax, have been described by some historians as an instance of forced conversion or "reconversion". The rebellion of these Arab tribes

2146-448: The Gospel for Asia Biblical Seminary, an affiliate of Serampore University . He married Mariam, who came from an Adivasi tribal group, despite the opposition of some of his family and friends. D'souza's daughter Beryl is the medical and anti- human trafficking director of the Dignity Freedom Network. One of the factors in D'souza's decision to take up the cause of Christians and Dalits was

2220-474: The Gospel rejects all forms of discrimination and deals with issues of the heart, soul, body and human relationships". D'souza has disputed that Christians are involved in forced , fraudulent and manipulated conversions. He has stated that conversion by force is against the teachings of Jesus. In January 2002, the AICC issued a statement signed by Joseph D'souza as President and John Dayal as Secretary General, asking

2294-585: The Indian Church to clean its own house and to openly offer and give the Dalits their God given dignity as the children of God in Jesus Christ. The time has come for the Dalits to appropriate the full spiritual rights available in Jesus Christ. The time has come to turn away from the Brahminical Social Order and to create a new humanity. The Gospel of Jesus has the solution to the caste problem because

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2368-477: The Islamic death penalty for defending their Christian faith through dramatic acts of resistance such as refusing to convert to Islam, repudiation of the Islamic religion and subsequent reconversion to Christianity , and blasphemy towards Muslim beliefs . After the Arab conquests a number of Christian Arab tribes suffered enslavement and forced conversion. During the rise of the Islamic Caliphates, it

2442-754: The Jewish dhimmi s living under the Caliphate, while allowed fewer rights than Muslims, were still better off than in Christian Europe . Many Jews migrated to al-Andalus , where they were not just tolerated but allowed to practice their faith openly. Christians had also practiced their religion openly in Córdoba, and both Jews and Christians lived openly in Morocco as well. The first Almohad ruler, Abd al-Mumin, allowed an initial seven-month grace period . Then he forced most of

2516-665: The Orissa supercyclone and the Gujarat earthquake. The council also hosted five meetings for the United Nations Special Rappertour on Religious Freedom, Asma Jehangir , during her last official visit to India. Another major activity of the council is to constitute fact finding teams for various issues and also conducting human rights awareness seminars across the country. To date, the leadership has completed such seminars in over 55 districts of India and hope to make them in all

2590-527: The Portuguese army after the majority of the native villagers there had also converted to Christianity. "The fathers of the Church forbade the Hindus under terrible penalties the use of their own sacred books, and prevented them from all exercise of their religion. They destroyed their temples, and so harassed and interfered with the people that they abandoned the city in large numbers, refusing to remain any longer in

2664-578: The Terrible 's conquest of the Khanate of Kazan , the Muslim population faced slaughter, expulsion, forced resettlement and conversion to Christianity. In the 18th century, Elizabeth of Russia launched a campaign of forced conversion of Russia's non-Orthodox subjects, including Muslims and Jews. The Portuguese carried out the Christianisation of Goa in India in the 16th and 17th centuries. The majority of

2738-575: The aboriginal Indian populations of the Americas. The Ottoman Empire and Morocco absorbed most of the Jewish and Muslim refugees, but a large majority of them remained in Spain and Portugal by choosing to be Conversos. During the European colonization of the Americas , forced conversion of the continents' indigenous, non-Christian population was common, especially in South America and Mesoamerica , where

2812-637: The act of taking refuge , and conversions usually require people to recite their acceptance of the Triple Gems of Buddhism . However, they may always practice Buddhism without fully abandoning their own religion. According to Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), Christians from the Chin ethnic minority group in Myanmar are facing coercion to convert to Buddhism by state actors and programme. Christianity

2886-504: The choice between conversion, exile, and being executed. The treatment and persecution of Jews under Almohad rule was a drastic change. Prior to Almohad rule during the Caliphate of Córdoba , Jewish culture experienced a Golden Age . María Rosa Menocal , a specialist in Iberian literature at Yale University , has argued that "tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society", and that

2960-567: The compilation was published by a constitution of 15 February 438. It went into force in the eastern and western parts of the empire on 1 January 439. 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

3034-576: The conquest of large indigenous polities like the Inca and Aztec Empires placed colonizers in control of large non-Christian populations. According to some South American leaders and indigenous groups, there were cases among native populations of conversion under the threat of violence, often because they were compelled to after being conquered, and that the Catholic Church cooperated with civil authority to achieve this end. Upon converting to Christianity in

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3108-452: The conversions were superficial. Maimonides urged Jews to choose the superficial conversion over martyrdom and argued, "Muslims know very well that we do not mean what we say, and that what we say is only to escape the ruler's punishment and to satisfy him with this simple confession." Abraham Ibn Ezra (1089–1164), who himself fled the persecutions of the Almohads, composed an elegy mourning

3182-449: The death of Muhammad), is one of the earliest records on Islam and "implies that Muslims tried, on threat of death to make Christians abjure Christianity and accept Islam.” Non-Muslims were required to pay the jizya while pagans were either required to accept Islam, pay the jizya, be exiled, or be killed, depending on which of the four main schools of Islamic law their conqueror followed. Some historians believe that forced conversion

3256-505: The destruction of many Jewish communities throughout Spain and the Maghreb under the Almohads. Many Jews fled from territories ruled by the Almohads to Christian lands, and others, like the family of Maimonides, fled east to more tolerant Muslim lands. However, a few Jewish traders still working in North Africa are recorded. The treatment and persecution of Christians under Almohad rule

3330-702: The face of execution, becoming forced converts from Islam ( Moriscos , Conversos and "secret Moors") or converts from Judaism ( Conversos , Crypto-Jews and Marranos ). After the forced conversions, when all former Muslims and Jews had ostensibly become Catholic, the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions primarily targeted forced converts from Judaism and Islam, who came under suspicion, because they were either accused of continuing to adhere to their old religion, or they were accused of falling back into it. Jewish conversos who still resided in Spain and frequently practiced Judaism in secret were suspected of being Crypto-Jews by

3404-495: The fundamental rights of the poor, the marginalized and outcastes of society in South Asia and other nations of the world. D'souza has discussed human rights issues with civil society leaders and politicians in India, Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and the United States, and at human rights commission meetings. Speaking in October 2005 before a US Congressional hearing, D'souza said that "India's tragedy

3478-573: The hands of the rebel leader ibn Firāsa, against whom they were defended by Abbasid caliphal troops. Historians recognize that during the Early Middle Ages , the Christian populations living in the lands invaded by the Arab Muslim armies between the 7th and 10th centuries suffered religious discrimination , religious persecution , religious violence , and martyrdom multiple times at the hands of Arab Muslim officials and rulers. As People of

3552-443: The hearing was "deliberately biased and misrepresentative of India and Hinduism" with witnesses including D'souza who held "virulent Hinduphobic perspectives that lack any credibility in India or abroad." Specifically, the organisation criticized D'souza for terming the conversion of Hindus to Christianity as "the process of breaking this spiritual darkness." All India Christian Council The All India Christian Council (AICC)

3626-545: The incidents in Chhattisgarh, there are other reports of forced conversions of Christians and Muslims in India to Hinduism . Some of them were converted under duress or against their will, specifically through the ghar wapsi scheme by Hindu extremists , such as Shiv Sena , the VHP & also by the political party of the BJP . The Shiv Sena has said that India or Hindustan

3700-504: The lands invaded by the Arab Muslims on pain of death, they were banned from bearing arms, undertaking certain professions, and were obligated to dress differently in order to distinguish themselves from Arabs. Under sharia , Non-Muslims were obligated to pay jizya and kharaj taxes, together with periodic heavy ransom levied upon Christian communities by Muslim rulers in order to fund military campaigns, all of which contributed

3774-524: The lifetime of Muhammad. Their exclusion therefore had little practical significance after his death in 632. Arab historian Al-Baladhuri says that Caliph Umar deported Christians who refused to apostatize and convert to Islam, and that he obeyed the order of the prophet who advised: “there shall not remain two religions in the land of Arabia.” In the 9th century, the Samaritan population of Palestine faced persecution and attempts at forced conversion at

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3848-556: 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.). Forced conversions of Jews were carried out with the support of rulers during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in Gaul , the Iberian peninsula and in the Byzantine Empire . In Gregory of Tours ' writing, he claimed that

3922-539: The national and state governments to prevent efforts by the Sangh Parivar to stir up communal violence in the Adivasi tribal belt in Northern India. It talked of "vicious Hindutva communal rhetoric .. targeting Christians in the region". It said RSS cadres were running schools that "follow a curricula and textual material, which is outside the pale of any academic and public scrutiny, blatantly rewrites history, and poisons young minds". The Hindu American Foundation criticized D'souza's 2005 congressional testimony stating

3996-451: The native villagers to Christianity allowed the Portuguese to destroy temples in Bardez , with 300 Hindu temples destroyed. Prohibitions were then declared from December 4, 1567, on public performances of Hindu marriages, sacred thread wearing and cremation. All persons above 15 years of age were compelled to listen to Christian preaching, failing which they were punished. In 1583, Hindu temples at Assolna and Cuncolim were also destroyed by

4070-406: The natives of Goa had converted to Christianity by the end of the 16th century. The Portuguese rulers had implemented state policies encouraging and even rewarding conversions among Hindu subjects. The rapid rise of converts in Goa was mostly the result of Portuguese economic and political control over the Hindus, who were vassals of the Portuguese crown. In 1567, the conversion of the majority of

4144-493: The only legitimate imperial religion and the only one entitled to call itself Catholic . Other Christians he described as "foolish madmen". He also ended official state support for the traditional polytheist religions and customs. The Codex Theodosianus (Eng. Theodosian Code) was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 and

4218-419: The order was carried out: Walid's servants "cut off a slice from Shamala's thigh and roasted it in the fire, and they thrust it into his mouth" and he was blinded during this as well. This event is confirmed by the Muslim historian Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani In the early eighth century under the Umayyads, 63 out of a group of 70 Christian pilgrims from Iconium were captured, tortured, and executed under

4292-414: The orders of the Arab Governor of Ceaserea for refusing to convert to Islam (seven were forcibly converted to Islam under torture). Soon afterwards, sixty more Christian pilgrims from Amorium were crucified in Jerusalem. There were forced conversions in the 12th century under the Almohad dynasty of North Africa and al-Andalus , who suppressed the dhimmi status of Jews and Christians and gave them

4366-455: The point of the sword, and that conquered peoples were given the choice of conversion or death. It is now apparent that conversion by force, while not unknown in Muslim countries, was, in fact, rare. Muslim conquerors ordinarily wished to dominate rather than convert, and most conversions to Islam were voluntary. (...) In most cases, worldly and spiritual motives for conversion blended together. Moreover, conversion to Islam did not necessarily imply

4440-521: The relationship between religion and politics is complex, especially when it is viewed over the expanse of human history . While religious leaders and the state generally have different aims, both are concerned about power and order; both use reason and emotion to motivate behavior. Throughout history, leaders of religious and political institutions have cooperated, opposed one another, and/or attempted to co-opt each other, for purposes which are both noble and base, and they have implemented programs with

4514-487: The repeated rebellion of native populations that did not want to accept Christianity even after initial forced conversion; in Old Prussia, the tactics employed in the initial conquest and subsequent conversion of the territory resulted in the death of most of the native population, whose language consequently became extinct. After the end of Islamic control of Spain , Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. In Portugal , following an order for their expulsion in 1496, only

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4588-409: The sacrament of Baptism in order to avoid loss, he (like one who comes to Baptism in dissimulation) 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 ... During the 12th–13th century Northern Crusades against the pagan Finnic , Baltic , and West Slavic peoples around

4662-474: The sacrament, and might therefore be reasonably compelled to observe the rules of the Christian Faith. It is, to be sure, contrary to the Christian Faith that anyone who is unwilling and wholly opposed to it should be compelled to adopt and observe Christianity. For this reason a valid distinction is made by some between kinds of unwilling ones and kinds of compelled ones. Thus one who is drawn to Christianity by violence, through fear and through torture, and receives

4736-480: The seventh century generally took place during riots and massacres carried out by mobs and clergy without support of the rulers. In contrast, royal persecutions of Jews from the late eleventh century onward generally took the form of expulsions, with some exceptions, such as conversions of Jews in southern Italy of the 13th century, which were carried out by Dominican Inquisitors but instigated by King Charles II of Naples . Jews were forced to convert to Christianity by

4810-595: The start of attacks on Christians in the mid-1990s, including the burning to death of the missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons in Orissa in 1999. D'souza joined the Indian branch of evangelist George Verwer 's Operation Mobilisation as an international vice president, and was 2012 promoted to CEO of the India branch, which has left the movement of OM in 2014. He no longer has a role within Operation Mobilisation. He has set up 107 English Medium Education Centers educating nearly 25,000 Dalit children working with Operation Mercy India Foundation. In 1998, he founded

4884-573: The urban dhimmi population in Morocco, both Jewish and Christian, to convert to Islam. In 1198, the Almohad emir Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur decreed that Jews must wear a dark blue garb, with very large sleeves and a grotesquely oversized hat; his son altered the colour to yellow , a change that may have influenced Catholic ordinances some time later. Those who converted had to wear clothing that identified them as Jews since they were not regarded as sincere Muslims. Cases of mass martyrdom of Jews who refused to convert to Islam are recorded. Many of

4958-448: The view of many historians, the Constantinian shift turned Christianity from a persecuted religion into a religion which was capable of persecuting and sometimes eager to persecute. On 27 February 380, together with Gratian and Valentinian II , Theodosius I issued the decree Cunctos populos , the so-called Edict of Thessalonica , recorded in the Codex Theodosianus xvi.1.2 . This declared Trinitarian Nicene Christianity to be

5032-443: Was a minority religion during much of the middle Roman Classical Period , and the early Christians were persecuted during that time . When Constantine I converted to Christianity , it had already grown to be the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Already under the reign of Constantine I, Christian heretics were being persecuted; beginning in the late 4th century, the ancient pagan religions were also actively suppressed . In

5106-565: Was a drastic change as well. Many Christians were killed, forced to convert, or forced to flee. Some Christians fled to the Christian kingdoms in the north and west and helped fuel the Reconquista . Christians under the Almohad rule generally chose to relocate to the Christian principalities (most notably the Kingdom of Asturias ) in the north of the Iberian Peninsula , whereas Jews decided to stay in order to keep their properties, and many of them feigned conversion to Islam, while continuing to believe and practice Judaism in secrecy . During

5180-634: Was called the Mortara case . During World War II in Yugoslavia , Orthodox Serbs were forcibly converted to Catholicism by the Ustashe . Indian Christians have alleged that Hindu groups in southern Chhattisgarh have forced Christian converts from Hinduism to revert to Hinduism. In the aftermath of the violence, American Christian evangelical groups have claimed that Hindu groups are forcibly reverting Christian converts from Hinduism back to Hinduism. It has also been alleged that these same Hindu groups have used allurements to convert poor Muslims and Christians to Hinduism against their will. Apart from

5254-434: Was consecrated as Archbishop of the Good Shepherd Church of India, and associated ministries. Joseph D'souza was born into an upper caste Christian family, living in what he calls "Christian ghettos" surrounded by low caste and Dalit people. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Karnataka University , a M.A. in Communications from the Asian Theological Seminary in the Philippines , and an honorary Doctor in Divinity degree from

5328-803: Was increasingly expected for all Arabs to be Muslims and pressure was put on many to convert. The Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I said to Shamala, the Christian Arab leader of the Banu Taghlib : "As you are a chief of the Arabs you shame them all by worshipping the cross; obey my wish and turn Muslim." He replied, 'How so? I am chief of Taghlib, and I fear lest I become a cause of destruction to them all if I and they cease to believe in christ" Enraged Al-Walid had him dragged away on his face and tortured; afterward he commanded him again to convert to Islam or else prepare to "eat his own flesh." The Christian Arab again refused, and

5402-638: Was less a relapse to the pre-Islamic Arabian religion than termination of a political contract they had made with Muhammad . Some of these tribal leaders claimed prophethood, bringing themselves in direct conflict with the Muslim Caliphate. Two out of the four schools of Islamic law, i.e. Hanafi and Maliki schools, accepted non-Arab polytheists to be eligible for the dhimmi status. Under this doctrine, Arab polytheists were forced to choose between conversion and death. However, according to perception of most Muslim jurists, all Arabs had embraced Islam during

5476-502: Was rare in early Islamic history, and most conversions to Islam were voluntary. Muslim rulers were often more interested in conquest than conversion. Ira Lapidus points towards "interwoven terms of political and economic benefits and of a sophisticated culture and religion" as appealing to the masses. He writes that: The question of why people convert to Islam has always generated the intense feeling. Earlier generations of European scholars believed that conversions to Islam were made at

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