Switching religions from Catholic to Islam.
Item
PGV_ID
300240
Title
Switching religions from Catholic to Islam.
Author (individual or group)
Trevor Burke
Location
Columbus, OH
Religious movement
Islam, general
Description or narrative
This story is not of me, but of a friend of mine who switched religions this past may. I asked him to tell me his story, in short, for this assignment, and he agreed as long as his name was left out of it. This story is summarized because he didn’t want his exact details out there because they could trace back to him, but still has enough details to get the message across.
It started with his questions regarding religion. He was raised Lutheran and never identified closely with his religion. His parents were both strong Catholic’s, yet they never raised them as strict as he was. His parents just figured he would adopt the same religion and follow it as closely as they did when he was older, yet they were wrong. When he got to high school he realized how religion affects our world today and how diverse it could be. He began to examine the differences that people of different religions have, and what makes them different. He tried to gain as much knowledge as he could on the different branches and types of religion.
After he graduated, he enrolled at community college and one of his first classes he signed up for was Introduction to Religion, not comparative religion, but a class that went into depth of the different branches and beliefs. He thoroughly enjoyed the class, and he found that after completing it he had a lot of questions of his own. He wanted to know more about his beliefs and went to his parents to ask his questions regarding them. He would assume that since they were very strong catholics that they would know the answers, or at least have an answer they could come up with on the top of their heads, but he was wrong. He asked his parents many questions regarding sins, what is bad and good, the cycle of life, how he should lead his life, and many others. They didn’t have many answers for him, and he was very upset.
After this, he read the bible to see if his practices and proposed religion would answer his questions, but they didn’t. In fact, it drove him farther away from Lutheranism and he felt he didn’t belong. He told me that when he was in his religion class he found Islam made a lot of sense to him. He then read the Quran, and it answered the questions he had. He kept reading the book and found that he identified with the practices, most of them, and that he belonged. Shortly after this, he converted to muslim and felt happier and at peace with the topic. He has told me to look into the Quran, and I haven’t yet but plan to, especially since I have a lot of questions myself.
It started with his questions regarding religion. He was raised Lutheran and never identified closely with his religion. His parents were both strong Catholic’s, yet they never raised them as strict as he was. His parents just figured he would adopt the same religion and follow it as closely as they did when he was older, yet they were wrong. When he got to high school he realized how religion affects our world today and how diverse it could be. He began to examine the differences that people of different religions have, and what makes them different. He tried to gain as much knowledge as he could on the different branches and types of religion.
After he graduated, he enrolled at community college and one of his first classes he signed up for was Introduction to Religion, not comparative religion, but a class that went into depth of the different branches and beliefs. He thoroughly enjoyed the class, and he found that after completing it he had a lot of questions of his own. He wanted to know more about his beliefs and went to his parents to ask his questions regarding them. He would assume that since they were very strong catholics that they would know the answers, or at least have an answer they could come up with on the top of their heads, but he was wrong. He asked his parents many questions regarding sins, what is bad and good, the cycle of life, how he should lead his life, and many others. They didn’t have many answers for him, and he was very upset.
After this, he read the bible to see if his practices and proposed religion would answer his questions, but they didn’t. In fact, it drove him farther away from Lutheranism and he felt he didn’t belong. He told me that when he was in his religion class he found Islam made a lot of sense to him. He then read the Quran, and it answered the questions he had. He kept reading the book and found that he identified with the practices, most of them, and that he belonged. Shortly after this, he converted to muslim and felt happier and at peace with the topic. He has told me to look into the Quran, and I haven’t yet but plan to, especially since I have a lot of questions myself.
Contributor
burketp2
Genre
Personal story, social media or blog post, unpublished material, etc.
Date
September 15, 2020
Item sets
This item was submitted on September 15, 2020 by Trevor Burke using the form “Help gather religious responses to the pandemic” on the site “Preaching Goes Viral”: https://pandemicreligion.org/s/preaching-goes-viral
Click here to view the collected data.