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In the law, anything you say under an imminent threat of death is taken in context – it can’t be used to say you agreed to something. I would think that most human beings would apply this principle – and, maybe this is why I’m not religious, I’d sure as hell hope some entity charged as our protector and leader would believe the same thing. People know that what you say at gunpoint is what the gunner wants to hear – listeners wouldn’t take that as honest belief or truth, if you’re worried about spreading heresy. I feel sorry for people who believe that their is some power that wants them to die for such a stupid reason.

I’m sorry, I’m trying to be open-minded and admire the strength of his convictions here, but there’s no way I can make this seem other than absolutely crazy.

of course you tell them what they want to hear and get yourself out of danger! they’re a psychotic murderer in your face with a machine gun — you are under no moral obligation to share your true feelings with them about ANY topic.

The question was also “Say that Jesus isn’t real” – poor choice of words as even a crazy gunman can look it up and find that historically of course Jesus was real. Semantics aside, telling your to say what he needs to say to stay alive, won’t put you on G-d’s bad side…letting your child die for something so ridiculous might though.

This is one of those hypothetical situations that some religious people I know mention and the root is they really want to die for their religious beliefs–it follows from the girl who was shot at Columbine and the story which gained traction (though it is probably not true) that one of the gunmen shot her because she said she believed in God. What I point out to the people I know is that when a crazed gunman holds points a gun on you, you have no way of knowing what answer they want to hear or what you should say to stay alive. And while it is all well and good to say “if this happened, I would do this” one cannot know what they really would do in a life or death situation unless they find themselves in that situation–for all anyone knows, Steven Baldwin would find reserves of courage he didn’t know he had and wrestle the gunman to the ground to protect his daughter or he may tell her to tell the crazy man what he wants to hear. This story doesn’t tell us that Steven Baldwin would let his daughter die for God, it tells us that Steven Baldwin believes he would and is fantasizing about martyrdom for his daughter. Which is disturbing.

You never know what you will do in a life threatening situation. At gun point most people’s survival instinct will kick in and they will do absolutly anything possible to live. This includes things that, normally, they would think they were incapable of. If, for example, a man has a gun to your head, you will do all number of sexually depraved things in order to preserve your life. Most people would even kill another human being if it comes down to a choice between them and you. Them exception is that, usually, people will give their lives to protect a child or someone they love.

I think saying “historians have indeed confirmed his existence,” is inaccurate. JS sounds correct to me when he says “the general consensus seems to be that there probably was” a Jesus, but physical evidence is undoubtedly absent, as are contemporary writings. I also think the lack of assurance in Jesus’ existence, let alone his divinity, is something to consider when discussing a person who would rather see his child die than see her say (at the point of a gun) that a possibly-imaginary person wasn’t real.

There are causes and beliefs and faiths which are worth dying for. In fact, Martin Luther King once said “A man who won’t die for something isn’t fit to live”. While I don’t relish the thought of watching my child die and may not react like Stephen Baldwin, I will teach my child to stand up for his convictions, whatever they may turn out to be.

My kids are pretty much agnostics and you couldn’t MAKE them say otherwise, LOL.