Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depending on where you live you can always choose to change the religion you were raised with. Don’t like being Christian? Become a Muslim. Not happy with Islam? Why not try Buddhism? Don’t want a religion? That’s fine, too. Not everyone has the option to make those sorts of choices without being imprisoned or killed.
> "Don’t like being Christian?" Besides the places where that's not really an option, you're assuming that's even an idea than can actually pop in anyone's head. I content that for a sizable fraction people, it's not: they're handed an "operator's manual on how to live one's life well" early on, and the very notion that you can question the manual is darn near impossible to digest.
Eventually found my way out, despite psychological difficulty (fear of hell, etc) built in to the system to keep me in.
I know, even in the US, there are a number of people that have personally left the faith but hide this fact, still attend church, etc. just because of the communities, families, etc and so forth they are in would not react well.
But comparing all of that to state persecution is still a bit off, IMHO. The power dynamic is very different when a government is involved.