Mr. Foley converted to Islam soon after his capture and adopted the name Abu Hamza, Mr. Bontinck said. (His conversion was confirmed by three other recently released hostages, as well as by his former employer.)

"I recited the Quran with him," Mr. Bontinck said. "Most people would say, `Let's convert so that we can get better treatment.' But in his case, I think it was sincere."

compared with the articles about him immediately following his death:

Foley was a devout Christian who, unlike most journalists I've known during my almost four decades in the field, was unapologetic about his heart for social justice and the inspiration he found for his beliefs in the New Testament.

Foley's devout Catholic faith was discussed in the days after his grim execution by many who knew the American journalist, and reports have suggested his life could have been spared if he had converted to Islam.

Foley's parents seemed to validate the martyrdom label when his father, John, spoke at an emotional news conference outside the family's New Hampshire home and said he and his wife "believe he was a martyr." Foley's mother, Diane, added that her son "reminds us of Jesus. Jesus was goodness, love -- and Jim was becoming more and more that."

In an interview two days later with Katie Couric, Foley's younger brother, Michael, recounted how Pope Francis had called the family to console them and in their conversation "referred to Jim's act as, really, martyrdom."

Numerous commentators had already picked up on that idea, holding Foley up not only as a witness to the Christian faith but as a spur for believers in the West to take more seriously the plight of Christians in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East who are being persecuted to a degree that some say is comparable to genocide.