The free-will doctrine of conversion inherently conflicted with missionary zeal.

Evidence

Conflicting attitudes thus existed side by side, and even within the same individual. If conversion should be a matter of free will, and that was what sound doctrine proclaimed unhesitatingly, then preaching ought to be a matter of peaceful persuasion. But if it was felt a Christian missionary had a duty to bring about conversions or to turn nominal conversions into spiritual realities, then zeal too easily led those in direct contact with stubborn recalcitrance to go beyond energetic preaching and to decide either to keep the unbelievers isolated in a sort of spiritual quarantine or even to resort to brutal force in order to bring the problem to an end. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1112

Categorization

• DEFINE: Articulates the internal doctrinal contradiction that licensed coercion: conversion must be voluntary, yet the duty to convert legitimizes force.