The BBC is reporting on Islam's hostile take over bid for the Ancient Sabien Mandaeans religion. Muslims are using forced conversion techniques to wipe out the competition - after all, Sabien Mandaeans are polytheists, so any conversion technique is justified by Islam's barbaric interpretation of the Koran.
Mandaean elders use words like annihilation and genocide - they believe Islamic militants, both Sunni and Shia, offer them two choices - convert or die.
Sabien Mandaeans are asking for help. So far, the U.S. has offered to place 7,000, while the U.K. is taking a case-by-case approach. There are only about 13,000 Mandaeans left in Iraq now, the rest are dispersed around the region as refugees. How long can they last? I fear extinction looms for this odd old religion.
Islam does not consider Mandaeans Ahl al-Kitab (People of the Book). When chaos reigns, forced conversions, or murder, will follow.
Some Muslims do not regard Mandaeans as People of the Book (Ahl al-Kitab, which includes Jews, Muslims and Christians), whom Islam protects, and some reports indicate that Mandaeans have been targeted for forced conversion.
Mandaeans have traditionally worked as jewelers and goldsmiths, making them a particularly inviting target; because of their lack of traditional tribal or religious protective shields, and because their religion espouses a strict pacifism, they can be kidnapped or robbed with minimal resistance and, because of endemic lawlessness, impunity.
Source: HRW - The Silent Treatment
To be balanced, I looked for evidence of forced conversions from the various Christian sects. I did not find any. Then again, I did not find many indications that Christians were offering help either. It is also interesting to note that Atheists are not "People of the Book". Muslims don't try to convert us, they kill us instead.
