“Why are there still people out there that think God is a hard ass who will strike them down if they commit the rarest of infractions?” --Phlosphr
A lot of those fundamentalists truly believe that they are doing the right thing believing that way; they take the Bible literally, and the Bible illustrates several examples both of people sacrificing their families for things we wouldn’t consider them responsible for (Gaspode mentioned a few) and of people dying for their own faith (e.g., many of the apostles) or being threatened for it (e.g., the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Daniel 3:19-30). Taking these stories literally, it would seem that the rule is that your faith in God is something you should hold above any of the cares of the flesh. The last example I gave is one of three men who are cast into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to a statue–which there was no question that they did not believe was an actual deity–and they are depicted as heroes, having done the right thing, by being willing to have their lives sacrificed to avoid paying the respect of worship to anyone but God.
I’m not saying that the literal interpretation is the best one, but it’s there nonetheless. I would imagine it must not be easy for some Christians of the more conservative bent to stomach what they are “told” to do in a variety of areas, but they do it because they believe it’s the right thing to do. In a way, that takes guts, and I respect at least that part of their belief.
The problem I have with them in general, and this particular question is a good example of that, is that in doing what they believe is right, they trample on the rights of others. It’s not an easy thing, after all, to draw the line between doing what you think is right and respecting the rights of another who doesn’t agree with you. Unfortunately, quite a lot of these people don’t draw the line objectively. For example, if I had a daughter who engaged in prostitution, I don’t believe I would have the right to stop loving her, and CERTAINLY wouldn’t have the right to harm her, even if a strict interpretation of Biblical law would suggest that she deserved to die for that. Even if I believe I should act as God’s agent, I don’t have the right to violate her rights because I believe she violated God’s commandments. That’s between her and God, not her and God and me. This rule SHOULD apply across the board, but the problem I have with a lot of fundamentalists is that, while they probably wouldn’t kill their daughter, they WOULD violate another’s rights on a smaller issue, where the law might let them do it. Many of them simply can’t remove themselves from issues that aren’t any of their business, much to the detriment of everyone involved.
Back to the subject, what clouds the answer is that it is not YOU who putting someone at risk or violating someone’s rights with your action; someone else entirely is holding a gun to the head of someone that is NOT YOU, but demanding that YOU do make a choice with that other person’s life as the consequence. The victimizer tries to shift a responsibility to you that is not and should not be yours; and yet, you can’t just say “do whatever you want, it’s your responsibility” because that’s your loved one there, and you arguably do have some responsibility to him/her.
A hard-line interpretation of the Bible would seem to suggest that you should hold on to your conviction, no matter the consequent harm to you or someone you love. You’ll be doing the right thing, according to this line of thought; if that’s not much consolation, toss in that you’ll be going to Heaven and the victimizer, assuming he doesn’t repent, will get his you-know-where. But if you don’t take such a strict interpretation to it, or you’re just squeamish like I would be, what then? Probably you would go ahead and do whatever the victimizer wanted you too-- after all, caring about anyone will always leave you with the potential to be manipulated by him or for him. But then, the argument still has to be made for what God will think… if He really would cut you some slack, where’s the evidence for that?
