FORMATION AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONVERSION PROCESS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF ADULT CONVERTS

Abstract

Religious conversion, which includes leaving one's religion for another religion or change within the same religion, is among the most popular subjects of the psychology of religion and the sociology of religion. This study analyzes via a psychosocial methodology the process before, during, and after a change in the faith of individuals born in an Islamic culture and who distanced themselves from religion for a certain period of their lives. The pool consists of twenty-seven participants. The study employs a qualitative research method and a structured interview technique. The interview is an abridgment of the form created by Kose (1996) designed to focus on the childhood and youth of participants, as well as on their family relationships, identity crises, and changes during or after decision-making processes. Content analysis is applied to the findings. Most participants, who indicated that they had not received formal religious education during childhood, expressed that situations such as getting beat up, being ostracized and come across superstitions led to their religious disgruntlement. Some female participants indicated that they distanced themselves from religion during their youth because of the negative image of women created by cultural and religious values. Participants, particularly males, indicated that they made decisions to recover from their addictions prior to intrareligious conversion process. In addition, intellectual motives come to the forefront in the process of intrareligious conversion; factors such as coming across as good believers and having a religious community are influential. Having made the decision to return to their faith, participants often reported that they enjoy peace and feel special and free.