Coerced converts were deemed validly baptized because they could have chosen death

Evidence

Clearly a correct Christian interpretation of the situation ought to have been that since these Muslims had not freely chosen to become Christians, their “conversion” counted for nothing. Some Christians did take this view, but many did not. The necessary element of free will had been present when the Muslims agreed to be baptized, it was held: after all they could, instead, have chosen to refuse—and so opted for death! — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 465

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A chilling inversion of free-will theology: choosing death is reframed as the only ‘free’ alternative, so accepting coercion becomes consent. This is dense with implications for consent theory generally.
• XREF: Echoes contemporary arguments that people who ‘choose’ under duress (sex work, marriage, migration) were genuinely consenting; a historical template.