What makes a martyr?

This position holds that what makes a martyr is sincere conviction: the death must be suffered for something the person actually believed, so that the belief rather than the outcome or the beneficiary is what the title records.

This position holds that martyrdom is defined by whom the death serves rather than by what the person believed, so that a martyr is one who dies in place of others or for their sake, with sacrifice rather than conviction as the essential element.

This position holds that a martyr is made by what the death accomplishes: it is a death that advances a cause, taking its meaning from the public effect it has on those who come after rather than from the dying person's beliefs or beneficiaries.