Would you lie about your religion to save your life?

To lie would be the only logical decision in my opinion.

I sure would.

Absolutely. I’d then spend my time doing everything I could to make my captor’s life miserable.

Sure. I mean, unless you believe lying about your religion is a sin (which I don’t), what useful purpose would it serve to tell the truth?

Hell yeah. I would lie about my religion to keep a job, even lol.

Hell yeah, but if they asked me any follow-up questions I’d be screwed.

No.

I’m willing to die for my faith

[ won’t bother if others judge me on this ]

Yes.

@Hibernate – why should you be judged for having strong convictions? Being willing to die for something you believe in is noble.

The only issue is whether you’re dying for the right thing. And there are multiple aspects of all religions that are worth dying for…not to mention the very essence of dying for the right and freedom to believe what you want.

Jesus fucking Christ on a bike you’d better believe it!! Operation save-arse would be swiftly implemented.

I’m thankful my faith requires me to endeavor to always Be Here Now, instead of dying for a righteous sentiment.

Sure.

During the potato famine in Ireland families would be offered food if they renounced their Catholic faith. A hellish choice to be offered to a deeply religious people.

Would you lie about your sexual orientation? Your gender? Your family? Your race? Your background? Your age? Your education? Your country of origin?

No way I’d lie. I’d stand up for what I believe in… my religion being one of my most important beliefs.

No, I wouldn’t.

@Cupcake The difference is, you KNOW those things/people you speak of.

Religion is a belief. As sincere as we are about it, it’s still ONLY a belief.

(No disrespect intended.)

@SABOTEUR My religion is far more important to me than my gender/race/age/country. I doubt many firm, sincere believers would lie about their faith.

There are members of the Baha’i Faith who are imprisoned or being killed right now for their religious affiliation. I applaud their tenacity.

I understand people being serious about their religious beliefs. I just find it odd that people will go to great lengths for their beliefs including killing themselves, other people and allowing loved ones to suffer.

@Cupcake on the contrary, I am firm and sincere in my beliefs. I also see no consequences to lying about what I believe. When comparing zero consequences to losing my life… I would lie.

Since I don’t have a religion, it would be kind of hard to lie about it.

But what is really behind a question like this is the issue of loyalty. Are you loyal to us, or not? The way we test loyalty is to see if you believe what we believe. If I’m loyal, then I conform to the test they use. If I’m not loyal, then I better not get caught. I might try to lie, mostly because there is no faith I need to be loyal to. Why not say I am a believer even though I am not? If it saves my life, I’m in favor of it.

I’m not going to die for science. Science won’t care. I’m not going to die for my people, because if my people cared about science, they wouldn’t be asking me for a loyalty test. If they are stupid enough to need an affirmation of faith (and to believe it), then they clearly don’t need any principled stand. They just need me to mouth words so they feel better. Fine.

No I would not.

Yeah, sure. I don’t have a religion, but I could easily pretend to. And while I’m pretending, I can work to bring down whoever is forcing people to choose between honesty and death.

Abandoning your dependents (assuming you have young children, or others that depend on you) because you’d rather die than lie about your faith is just pure fucking insanity. I can’t think of a better example of how dangerous the concept of religion is than that. Jesus fucking Christ!

@FutureMemory I agreed with you completely, but your final sentence seemed a bit overkill. Nothing like pouring a wee bit if salt into the wound, eh? Just my opinion…

@SABOTEUR

“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”

Of course I would. Of course, for me it’d have to be to pretend to be religious but I’d grit my teeth and do it for my safety or that of my family.

I would definitely do so. Granted, I would have to lie about actually having a religion to start with, but for me personally this issue is not something I would want to die for, especially considering that I would be leaving my family behind over an issue that could be avoided if I put on an act. I have some morals that I wouldn’t compromise, but this isn’t one of them.

@iamthemob when someone is seeing ” i’m willing to die for a faith” they think about martyrs
[ my purpose in life isn’t becoming one but I wouldn’t mind about dying for defending my faith ]

Sure. I could even pretend to be religious, as long as it didn’t require me to do anything I consider immoral.

Sure, I if I had a gun to my head, I’d “admit” to being a Jew, Christian, Buddhist, whatever. Since I have no religion it wouldn’t matter what one I claimed to avoid an ass whipping.

Most definitely.

Life is more important than stating one’s beliefs.

I wouldn’t go around genociding Canaanites to save my life, though.

Yes, I would lie to save my life, especially considering that I don’t adhere to any particular religion. It means nothing. Actions speak louder than words; there are many things I would not do to save my life, however…

I’d like to think I have the conviction necessary to die for the things I believe in. The real question in my mind, however, is if I’m willing to live for my faith. Dying is the easy way out.

Yes, I would lie. I think the continuation of the Jewish people matters, and if a Jewish person needs to lie to survive then I think God understands, and I would think that true for any religion. Dying for religion makes no sense to me, because I think if there is a God, He wants us to live. I believe the goal is life, and the continuation of life. This is different from committing an act that might go against our moral convictions, that is a different, more complicated matter in my opinion.

Yes I would and then I’d move if I could. My family has a history of religious oppression and conversions but survive we have :)

Definitely, it’s only a white lie for the greater good.

@AmWiser Why not?

I remember once seeing a movie, based on real events I think, of a hijacked airplane and a passenger lied about his religion, and then broke down later for having lied. Other passengers comforted him that it was ok, God would want it.

I have no religion. But I’d be happy to lie about yours.

All those martyred saints! I’d definitely get martyred.

I honestly think that any religion that encourages its followers to die for it is simply a death cult.

Hell yes! Anyone else dumb enough NOT to, is just living (or dead!) proof of natural selection.

Religion means nothing to me, so it’d be no big deal for me to lie about it. I can, however, see how it’d be a big deal for a religious person.