Is religious conversion moral?

[RationalThought]

I find be proselytized to similar to being propositioned by someone of the same sex (I am heterosexual). I have no problem when they do it the first time, but if they continue after a polite "No thank you, I am not interested", then they are out of line. If you continue after being asked to stop, while you are within your rights, you are rude, inconsiderate and harassing.


RationalThought

 

[Eve_Sundancer]

I find be proselytized to similar to being propositioned by someone of the same sex (I am heterosexual). I have no problem when they do it the first time, but if they continue after a polite "No thank you, I am not interested", then they are out of line. If you continue after being asked to stop, while you are within your rights, you are rude, inconsiderate and harassing.

I agree. It's perfectly within a person's rights to talk to me about their faith. I think the original intent of this thread was to discuss matters such as this, and not a general conversion. To me, converting a person is one thing, if it's within that person's rights and they don't feel as if they were forced into it or did it only to feel less guilty. It's another thing completely to have a person forced into a faith, or even to have someone attempt such a forcing. That's not right, and it's not fair. You may preach to me as long as you respect me as a person while respecting yourself. If I'm not interested, please don't degrade yourself into looking silly and ignoring my request to leave me be. (I'm not talking to anyone specifically, just a general hypothetical situation here)

 

[mepalmer3]

I agree. It's perfectly within a person's rights to talk to me about their faith. I think the original intent of this thread was to discuss matters such as this, and not a general conversion. To me, converting a person is one thing, if it's within that person's rights and they don't feel as if they were forced into it or did it only to feel less guilty. It's another thing completely to have a person forced into a faith, or even to have someone attempt such a forcing. That's not right, and it's not fair. You may preach to me as long as you respect me as a person while respecting yourself. If I'm not interested, please don't degrade yourself into looking silly and ignoring my request to leave me be. (I'm not talking to anyone specifically, just a general hypothetical situation here)

I somewhat agree. Clearly being rude or harassing someone is wrong or in itself bad. But we do seem to make exceptions in some cases. A parent is thought to be a rather bad parent if he doesn't in fact try to really persuade his kid to do his studies. Also, schools don't merely suggest that you ought to know certain things, they will flat out flunk you (hopefully) if you refuse to acknowledge what they teach you. Companies will do the same thing for their employees. We're almost all in agreement that this is acceptable.

Certainly the relationships between an employer/employee and parent/child are quite a bit different from random guy #1 and random guy #2. But there does seem to be quite a bit of precedence in warning people of danger/harm. If you happen to be walking through the woods and get stuck in a hunter's trap, then you would likely be pretty angry that someone only casually mentioned it in passing. You would rightly argue that if someone cared about you, they would have posted a lot of signs and that people would have told you many times of the dangers.

If christianity is true, then there does seem to be a very serious moral obligation to tell people about it. If it were true and somebody stayed quiet on the matter while believing it to be true, I would think that person a very wicked and evil person. And on the more practical side, again if christianity is true and God is the one true source for love, then to push people away from that source is to in effect spread hatred, death, and destruction. The more I try to stifle God and love, the more I create what we think of as a hell.

 

[Eve_Sundancer]

That's an interesting point, and I can see that. The opposite is true as well though. If Christianity is in fact not true... I would still say that the just and good people that tried to convert (in a good way) others into their religion weren't bad. They were trying their best for what they believed in. I wouldn't have anything against those people. They were good people and tried to spread their values that made them good in the first place.

Of course, staying quiet on what a person believes isn't something we should be advocating. That's not fair, people do have the right to say what they want. I would have to say that there are times to speak and times to wait to speak until a more opportune time. By speaking at only the appropriate times, your message becomes more clear and solid. I would say that conversion is good at the appropriate times only. When it's being asked for, when a person is at a point in their life to be needing it, etc.

 

[mepalmer3]

That's an interesting point, and I can see that. The opposite is true as well though. If Christianity is in fact not true... I would still say that the just and good people that tried to convert (in a good way) others into their religion weren't bad. They were trying their best for what they believed in. I wouldn't have anything against those people. They were good people and tried to spread their values that made them good in the first place.

Of course, staying quiet on what a person believes isn't something we should be advocating. That's not fair, people do have the right to say what they want. I would have to say that there are times to speak and times to wait to speak until a more opportune time. By speaking at only the appropriate times, your message becomes more clear and solid. I would say that conversion is good at the appropriate times only. When it's being asked for, when a person is at a point in their life to be needing it, etc.

Yes. I think I agree with all of this. And of course the opposite is true. If X is true, then the more important a fact X is, the more it ought to be told. And overall I agree that people ought to have some sort of freedom in saying what they believe.

From a practical standpoint for christians or people of any worldview/belief, the rude in your face "you need to believe this now" tactic doesn't seem to be very effective. And if part of your belief is "you should not force people to do things against their will" then it seems highly suspect to force people to try to believe in your belief. Clearly in that case someone is not practicing what they purport to believe in.

I get pretty offended when people come on real strong like that. But I will say, part of the offense I feel at those times is a flaw within me. If my own wife sees something wrong that I did or with my behavior and calls me on it, I feel offended. It seems a natural reaction that I get angry and think how dare someone think to know better than me and how dare someone tell me that I'm doing or thinking something wrong. It feels like some attack has just been launched on my pride, so feeling offended, being angry, and getting defensive are all pretty instinctual reactions for me personally. For a person spreading a religious message, I think inherently we can probably all agree that some part of the message implicitly is saying, "You're not doing something correctly or you're not believing something correctly." Otherwise there's no point in saying the message in the first place. So anytime a new worldview is shared, I think we naturally feel as if we're being attacked. THe more persistent someone is, the more we feel attacked. But from my own experiences with my wife, I'm beginning to see it's important for me to fight those instincts of anger, feeling offended, and getting defensive and to listen what she has to say. I'm finding out quite a bit that she is right in what she's saying and things I used to think aren't quite as right as I once thought them to be.

 

[Blackmarch]

I don't think it is -- I see it as religious bigotry.

I don't even really think it's a part of Christian doctrine...isn't Christianity about personal salvation through Christ?

Personal salvation is definitely a big part of it, but if it was only to accept Christ by telling him you accept him and get baptised, then the Bible would be an awfully skinny book...

Yes it is Moral, if you are honestly seeking God and Truth;

As a person honestly seeks God (or even just truth), they will learn things that they need to do to be more like him, and learn new things which may be hampered by or goes against the religion that they are currently in. Once someone knows a truth they are under the responsibility to act upon that truth.

 

[TheArthritisFoundationRox]

I agree. It's perfectly within a person's rights to talk to me about their faith. I think the original intent of this thread was to discuss matters such as this, and not a general conversion. To me, converting a person is one thing, if it's within that person's rights and they don't feel as if they were forced into it or did it only to feel less guilty. It's another thing completely to have a person forced into a faith, or even to have someone attempt such a forcing. That's not right, and it's not fair. You may preach to me as long as you respect me as a person while respecting yourself. If I'm not interested, please don't degrade yourself into looking silly and ignoring my request to leave me be. (I'm not talking to anyone specifically, just a general hypothetical situation here)

Well said.