thanks, hairy, nice post. loved it.
First of lying is a sin in every religion I think.
Secondly, lying with an idea in the mind that ´ I am protecting my contry´s reputation´ is a betrayal for your own country..Because those lies are one of the reasons ´why we are advancing so slowly in the way of democracy and form of life´.
If I go to Turkey and say that I am converted to Christianity I will be refused by some of my friends (because most them are like me). I will be refused by my entire relatives.. (I dont think my own family will refuse me)
If anybody says the other way, it is a lie..
You will be treated as if you betrayed your country (despite the fact that we are secular) You will be called ´gavur, dinsiz´ etc. If you are a female you might be treated as a sex object only. They will keep talking about that they converted you with money etc.
Our country is the country sometimes where people are beaten up because they eat or drink during ramadan. Most of them will argue with you that you are insulting their religion because you are not fasting and declaring it openly by eating. You only can imagine what happens if you say you are a converted christian.
Portraying it the other way is comical.
Here is a list for you covering last several years about the incidents happened to Christians in Turkey.
http://cumhuriyetforum.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=10262
I am not going to translate it but bombings of churches/threatening people and some killings (I think they were behaded) are all in that list..
So it is better if we dont lie to ourselves..
It is always better if we live with less lies..
btw..I am not talking about people coming to Turkey as christians and living there as they are..I am talking about the converts here..