I understand that. I'm just saying executing someone for simply changing their beliefs is deeply dystopian and oppressive. Couldn't we just choose to not enforce this aspect of the faith? Leave it to God in the hereafter?
You can't just pick and choose which parts of the religion you want to believe in. It is not "dystopian and oppressive". it is part of the sharia. we have no right to disagree with it. just follow whatever the religion says. Allah knows better than we do.
I mean, for example- Islam tells us not to eat pork. someone might say "but what's wrong with eating pork?!" maybe I don't have a bunch of scientific facts at hand to explain scientifically why eating pork is bad. But if Islam says not to eat pork- we should follow it. whether we understand why or not. and maybe there's even more reasons that science hasn't discovered as to why we shouldn't eat pork.
so whatever the ruling is on something- we have to follow it whether we think it makes sense or not. as to what are some of the benefits of the law on apostasy- that's kind of a different discussion. firstly, you have to just accept what Islam says irrespective of whether it makes sense to your human intellect. Allah is Al-Hakeem- He is the All-Wise. Do any of us have greater wisdom than Allah?
but as to some of the benefits of the law on apostasy- someone who quietly is an apostate, doesn't preach his apostasy and keeps his apostasy to himself, almost certainly he'll be fine. it's prohibited to spy. there's nothing dystopian about the sharia. if he keeps it's to himself, he'll probably be fine. but if he goes around preaching apostasy- he can create chaos, he can misguide people. one of the flaws of the idea that an "open marketplace of ideas" will lead to the acceptance of the truth is that this idea thinks that humans are truly rational and will follow what is true. in reality, many people will reject truth and follow falsehood. look at India- those Hindus have had centuries to learn about Islam. yet they've stuck to paganism. so the truth will not necessarily win when it comes to the battle of ideas in the field of public opinion. people are liable to follow wrong ideas. a person who claims God doesn't exist, for example, is seriously deluded. yet- these kinds of people still potentially can misguide people. and in a society that rules by the sharia- Islam is the basis of the state, the basis of the social order and the bedrock of society. if you let apostates run wild in an Islamic state, this can lead to chaos. so actually, the law on apostasy is very merciful. rather than protect the murtad- it protects the interest of the entire society.