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Is there a word for a person who has been coerced into doing something because he lacked the intellectual wherewithal to evaluate it beforehand?

Context: A lot of fraudulent conversions from traditional religions into organized religions has happened in Asia and Africa, where spurious reasoning of God and Truth was provided to carry out conversion activity and people were coerced into accepting a new religion.

I don't want to use the word victim here, as victim is a very broad word. I am looking for a specific word to reflect this situation?

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Such a person can be called a

dupe noun
someone who has been tricked:
an innocent dupe

From Cambridge Dictionary.

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    Trickery is nothing like coercion. A dupe doesn't know their actions are against their best interests. That said, the question talks about people who "lacked the intellectual wherewithal", so possibly this is what's being sought?
    – Toby Speight
    Commented Oct 20 at 12:49
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Googling for coercee tells me that applies.

E.g., occurrences with the expected meaning:

There are many more...

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  • Coercer and coercee make a very tenable combination indeed. Just that it doesn't appear in most English dictionaries :( Even though, it makes perfect sense and people can understand it.
    – cph_sto
    Commented Oct 21 at 5:43
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I think "dupe" should be the accepted answer if trickery is the primary component of the coercion, but for the sake of completeness:

Conscript: Someone or something enlisted compulsorily (usually into an army).

Because a person shanghaied or crimped into naval service would be both a dupe (due to the trickery) and a conscript (due to the coercion).

Perhaps we don't know enough about the circumstances of the proposed coercion. An inmate or convict is a coerced person. So, too, a victim and a slave.

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Coercion typically involves persuasion by force or the threat of force. "Pay me the fifty large by Friday or your pet dog Sprinkles gets it". I suppose in the case of religion a threat of eternity in a hot sulphurous hellscape could be considered coercion.

If it is persuasion that overcomes rational thinking by making promises or offering a system that gives peace of mind by providing otherwise difficult answers then it could perhaps be described as being beguiled.

...to persuade, attract, or interest someone, sometimes in order to deceive them :

He was completely beguiled by her beauty.

The salesman beguiled him into buying a car he didn't want.

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    -1, this doesn't answer the question at all of what to call someone who has had "this thing" done to them, whether "this thing" is called being coerced, or beguiled.
    – Vicky
    Commented Oct 19 at 19:14
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    And 'beguiled' could be used as a substantive.
    – Rabbit
    Commented Oct 19 at 19:48
  • @Vicky. The person is the beguiled. As Clint Eastwood could attest to (from the eponymous movie).
    – Spehro 'speff' Pefhany
    Commented Oct 20 at 13:18
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    @cph_sto That person is the beguiled.
    – Spehro 'speff' Pefhany
    Commented Oct 21 at 0:26
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    Oh, I was not aware that beguiled could be used as a substantive. Thanks for that.
    – cph_sto
    Commented Oct 21 at 5:37
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Within the context you provide, where a person is forced to convert to another religion, they are often the victims of terrorism. Take Boko Haram in Africa as a classic example.

Children are abducted, the girls raped and forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men or be made slaves.

Elsewhere in the world adults can face imprisonment and even death unless they recant from their Christian faith and convert to Islam.

The fear of mutilation, abuse, slavery, torture and death is coercion. That makes those poor people victims. They have been terrorised into converting.

You say “spurious reasoning of God and Truth” is responsible for these conversions to a new religion. Do you have any examples to illustrate this claim? If this is what you mean, then nobody is being coerced, are they? They are being persuaded to convert. Duped, perhaps.

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  • Well, there's also the fundamentalist Christian thing in LA where there are so many Catholics. And it's not actually terrorism.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 20 at 16:31
  • 1. There is no such thing happening in India, unless you believe in agenda some media outlets are out there to disseminate. 2. The question was posted to get the appropriate English word, but in the answer section you choose to give political commentary.
    – cph_sto
    Commented Oct 20 at 21:56
  • @Lambie I am unaware of what might be happening in Los Angeles regarding "fundamentalist" Christians and Catholics. I agree that whatever is going on in America is unlikely to be terrorism. Perhaps certain members of the community are under pressure to conform or simply shut up and keep their beliefs to themselves? I shall Google it.
    – Lesley
    Commented Oct 21 at 7:22
  • @cph_sto I have edited my answer to clarify my response to this question and remove any reference to politics. The appropriate English word for the situation referenced in the question is DUPED.
    – Lesley
    Commented Oct 21 at 7:25

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