Religious freedom

 In an ideal world all people would be free to practice the religion of their choice and conviction, but of course this is not an ideal world. In the West there is a general tolerance to all and no faiths, but that is unfortunately not the case in strict  Islamic states. The following comes from the Barnabasfund website.

You can convert to Islam but you are not allowed to convert from Islam. All schools of Islamic law, shari‘a, agree on this rule and specify the death sentence for an adult male Muslim who chooses to leave his Islamic faith. Most also impose the death penalty on women apostates. The rule was established many centuries ago by Islamic scholars, but even today most Islamic religious leaders and many ordinary Muslim people agree with it.


The death penalty is rarely put into practice, but the existence of this “apostasy law” is so well known amongst Muslims that it generates strong hostility towards apostates, whether from family or community, from religious or secular leaders, from police or judiciary. So it is normal for converts from Islam to face persecution and violence. They may be arrested, either for apostasy or on a pretext. They may be attacked, beaten or even murdered by their own relatives. And those who commit the violence will probably not be punished for it.

As a Christian I obviously would like to feel that all are free to belong to the Christian family, whilst respecting the right of a Moslim to practice his or her own faith. I only wish it were so in all countries!