Whenever there’s a large atheist gathering somewhere, there are inevitably Christians who come to the venue just to chat with the attendees. Sure, some want to convert people. But sometimes they just enjoy a good debate. Sometimes they bring cameras hoping to catch atheists in some “gotcha” moment. It’s all fine as long as it’s all peaceful and done with the best of intentions.

That’s what a few members of the Ex-Muslims of North America were thinking when they went to a conference run by the Islamic Society of North America. Their goal was to have conversations with anyone willing to speak with them, primarily about their thoughts regarding apostasy. What do they think about people who leave the faith?

It’s an important question given that more than a dozen countries consider that a crime worthy of death. Did these American Muslims feel the same way? To their credit, EXMNA included a lot of opinions in their video. Some people flat-out said if a sibling stopped being Muslim, that person would be kicked out of the family. Others were more permissive. Check it out for yourself:

I really didn’t want the camera cutting out on a few of those discussions…

Most troubling was EXMNA’s interactions with a group of socialists who were there to protect and defend the Muslims against people who might be “Islamophobic” or bigoted. The ex-Muslims tried explaining they were neither of those things… but they could barely get a word in with that group. That was unfortunate.

In any case, I would love to see these conversations take place more often, if for no other reason that it’s jarring to see some American Muslims treat apostasy no differently from Islamic theocracies. It’s frightening.

I should mention that this was the same event at which the EXMNA members were kicked out of a nearby Starbucks for the crime of… existing. A lot of people that weekend wanted nothing to do with them. It clearly had nothing to do with their actual views or actions.

