Would They Die for a Lie?

[DeistPaladin]

This needs careful definitions, but going with what I think you/he are saying:

The examples given merely demonstrate that people will die for a belief they have, even if that belief is incorrect. The Waco thing is moreover rather more complex, in that there's a lot of vagueness around who did what and why.

Maybe a counter-example or two could be found in which people died for something they knew to be untrue. That doesn't alter the fact that such things are extremely rare. For the very earliest Christian disciples to head off in different directions into a lifetime of getting beaten up and killed, without at some point eventually going 'You know what, I'm just going back home to watch box sets on Netflix because this is rubbish', strikes me as really quite unbelievable.


I mean you have to believe in what you're doing to put yourself through all this:


Ouch.

As far as what the Disciples themselves went through, we only have folklore from Christian sources. The later Christian persecution under Nero was a pogrom where they were blamed as arsonists for the fire that burned much of Rome. It's fair to say they didn't see that coming. The letter of Pliny also suggests persecution of second century Christians who did recant their faith under the lash. 

In modern times, examples abound of cultists and fanatics willing to die for their beliefs. Islam has produced plenty of examples and continues to do so. Fringe cults like the Heaven's Gate or the Jim Jones following produced tragic mass suicides, including their founders who ought to have known better. 

Why people are willing to die for crazy beliefs is a mystery to me but I can't deny that it happens. Fanaticism and persecution prove nothing.