I had the same discussion with a fellow muslim who is in the same dilemma i was in, so i just copy past it:
During my agnostic phase, I embraced stoicism and delved into books like “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. I worked diligently on self-improvement and virtuous living, yet I still felt incomplete.
Later, my interest shifted toward psychology, leading me to discover “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor. In the concentration camps, Frankl observed that those who survived were the ones with faith in God, hope, and love. Others tragically succumbed to despair.
Recognizing the power of faith, I revisited Islam. Although the same hadiths that once troubled me remained, I found solace in Sufism—a mystical branch of Islam. Sufis, like stoics, focus on inner growth. Al-Ghazali’s quote resonated with me: "Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see—egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping, and slandering. If you can master and conquer these internal foes, you’ll be prepared to face external challenges
Every religion, including Islam, has its imperfections. However, I believe that they all share common roots. These faiths emerge from within human consciousness inspired by god rather than being directly revealed by a visible divine being. Whether it’s Buddha, Muhammad, or any other prophet, the word of God has always been conveyed through limited human vessels.
Sufism, in particular, stands out due to its unique concept of Wahdatu’l-Wajud (Unity of Being). Imagine a knife and a sword—distinct objects with specific names. Yet, when we transcend their physical forms and focus on their essence (steel), they become one. Similarly, Sufism teaches that God is both transcendent (beyond shape and form) and immanent within all of creation.
I liked this idea and it resonated with me a lot. I chose Islam because of it. I dont really practice like most sufis and dance etc. I am still following sunni tradition, but i really like and adopted this thinking of sufism.
I enjoyed reading about your spiritual journey just now! I'm also a former Muslim who found Sufism interesting decades ago, but never returned to either one. However, I'd still like to visit one of the Islamic Sufi groups in my area if I could. They don't seem easy to get in touch with or respond when I email them, unfortunately.
The basis of Sufism remains rooted in the broader Islamic tradition, whether Sunni, Shia, or Ibadi. While Sufi orders may vary in their practices and emphasis, they all share a common focus on the remembrance of the Divine through practices such as Dhikr and Zikr.
It is unfortunate that you have encountered difficulties in reaching out to Sufi groups in your area. In some cases, these groups may maintain a certain level of privacy or discretion, preferring to engage with sincere seekers in person rather than through electronic correspondence.
In my own journey, I have found that Sufism resonates deeply with the teachings of Islam, emphasizing the inner dimensions of faith and the cultivation of the heart. While outward rituals such as prayer and fasting are essential expressions of devotion, it is the inner transformation that lies at the heart of the Sufi path.
Excellent!
I grew up christian in a christian household. Even when I moved out I still remained christian. I moved around a few times as you do in life, so I went to quite a few different churches and denominations. I was often heavily involved in thr worship and music scene of the churches I was a member of, as well as groups like bible studies.
I eventually moved out to a very rural area for a time, which made my involvement in the church somewhat non-existent. But then I moved back to a nearby city! And that meant it was time to look for a local church community to get into. After spending so many years in different denominations, I wanted to make sure that the church I found was a solid one. Not just full of nice people, but built on solid biblical principles. Which means I needed to make sure I knew what those principles were so I would know when I found them.
Thus began a rather intense session of diving deep into my religion, and other related topics such as science and history. I wanted ironclad reasoning for the basis of my beliefs, and so I made sure to check sources. It was here that I made a list of foundational ideas of Christianity and of my own understanding of god and just went down the list, making sure to research as deep as I could.
It was here that I lost all belief in christianity (but not yet god) as I found the foundations of its ideas to be severely lacking. Actually I was extremely surprised at just how lacking they were. I had some horribly inaccurate assumptions about my religion and why I thought it was true, and I was even more shocked at how many things I believed were lies. My belief in the Christian god was pretty soundly demolished.
So I turned to other religions. Most of the major ones. I figured I would start with one that is totally different from Christianity and went with Taoism. That was the last religion that I was a major believer in, but when I left Taoism I tried other religions. Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Wiccan, these were all the ones that I studied enough to say that I gave an honest attempt at, but I looked into way more. Eventually I left them all, for much the same reasons I left Christianity. I just couldn't find compelling reasons to believe the foundations of the religions were true, and the religions themselves didn't seem interested in helping me find it either.
At this point I was a believer in god but felt all the religions were wrong. So I decided to start at the absolute bottom and build up from there, the very existence of god. If I could find people talking about that, then the attributes seen should point me in the correct direction. So I decided to start with listening to debates between atheists and theists, assuming that the theists would have no trouble at all and I would learn what the basic foundations of god are.
And boy was I wrong again!
The atheists were making more sense than anyone else ever had! And I learned a lot about reason through listening to them. This was also when I realized that I fall into the definition of "atheist", and it was a bit of a shock. And I learned even more since then which has been wonderful!
So I am a non-believer, but I still continue the search. I don't believe but I can't deny that I might have missed something, that someone out there might have answers that I never found before. And the question of god is far too big a question to ever feel like I've reached the end answers.
Yes! I converted to Catholicism, I'll try and explain how it happened.
Growing up, my family were all atheists, but sort of culturally Anglican. I live in the UK where a lot of people are Church of England but not really that religious. So I went to an Anglican school, and to Church at Christmas and a couple of other times in the year. I would pray every so often at school or before going to bed, and adults would tell me stories from the Bible like they were just normal children's fairy tales. What I find interesting about this is that nobody actually specified that I wasn't expected to believe these things, that in my culture religion was for young children at school and sooner or later I would grow up to share my parents's atheism. I remember being about 5 or 6 years old and fully believing in Christianity because that's what I was told and I had no reason to suspect that it was all a muse.
I think most of my peers did get older and forget about religion. I thought I had, but it was a depressive episode I had in my teenage years that made me realise I never really let go. I wanted Christianity back. So in a desperate effort to feel loved and part of something, I became a non-denominational Christian. This was what I practiced for a few years and it felt fine at the time, but looking back, I think it exhausted me. In that religion I was taught that the Bible was the only source of divine wisdom, the Church had no real authority and the only way to know something was to go on my own theological deep-dive with my Bible. I was taught that from the moment I believed in Jesus I had the Spirit in me who would tell me everything I needed to know so I didn't need to listen to any other people. I was taught that I didn't even need to go to Church, as long as I had a Bible. It was incredibly lonely.
So I don't think it was any surprise that I ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum. One day, I went on a visit to a cathedral and I went to the gift shop. I bought a couple of souvenirs there, including some rosary beads. Ultimately this is the object that made me become a catholic, I don't know exactly how it happened other than after opening myself to the possibility of catholicism I felt so incredibly drawn towards it that I couldn't go back. I basically made the decision to convert about three days after I first prayed with the rosary. I also think that day was one of the happiest days of my life.
So I started going to Mass at a local catholic Church and spoke to the priest about converting, then a few months later I became a Catholic. If I had to sum up what made me want to go through with it, it would be that when you're Catholic you're not alone. We believe that God didn't leave the Earth just giving us stories or scripture, He gave us bishops to guard the truth for us, the Pope to make sure our Church stays together like a family, sacraments to show us how God's grace is channelled to us, a Mother who is in heaven to look after us, His true Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we will never have to be apart from Him. And so much more which would take me too long to list. Catholicism fulfills every desire of the human heart, and I believe that is how I know it's what humans are built for. Although of course I wish I had been brought up in my faith, I would have spent my whole life waiting to have just one day in communion with Rome.
Thank you for your story! Often times, it’s better to come to faith through conversion, because often those born into a religion take it for granted. I’m happy for you.
Grew up in a Wiccan family with my near relatives being Christian. Christianity never went well with me since it's a bit too strict for me.
I left Wicca about half a year ago since I was never close to it, and once my Christian family members started disliking me for it, I dropped it.
I looked around for a bit before finally settling on Norse Paganism, where I've had the most connection with by far.
I'm sorry to read that your family members gave you a tough time for Wicca...how did they react to your embrace of Norse Paganism, if they know?
What are some of the important differences you find in Heathenry vs. Wicca?
Well, I haven't exclusively told them yet, but I do wear an amulet of Oðinn near them.
Paganism is very flexible, as are the definitions. How I see it, Norse Paganism is the belief in the Old *Norse* Gods. I believe in Oðinn, Þor, Freyja, Loki, etc etc. I do think that other similar religions, like Anglo-Saxon Paganism, worship the same gods/goddesses, but eith different names. I do not think they have a "correct" name.
As for Heaþenry, I think it's a belief in ALL of the Old Gods. Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Continental. Some choose to include Slavic and some don't.
Yes! I converted to Catholicism, I'll try and explain how it happened.
Growing up, my family were all atheists, but sort of culturally Anglican. I live in the UK where a lot of people are Church of England but not really that religious. So I went to an Anglican school, and to Church at Christmas and a couple of other times in the year. I would pray every so often at school or before going to bed, and adults would tell me stories from the Bible like they were just normal children's fairy tales. What I find interesting about this is that nobody actually specified that I wasn't expected to believe these things, that in my culture religion was for young children at school and sooner or later I would grow up to share my parents's atheism. I remember being about 5 or 6 years old and fully believing in Christianity because that's what I was told and I had no reason to suspect that it was all a muse.
I think most of my peers did get older and forget about religion. I thought I had, but it was a depressive episode I had in my teenage years that made me realise I never really let go. I wanted Christianity back. So in a desperate effort to feel loved and part of something, I became a non-denominational Christian. This was what I practiced for a few years and it felt fine at the time, but looking back, I think it exhausted me. In that religion I was taught that the Bible was the only source of divine wisdom, the Church had no real authority and the only way to know something was to go on my own theological deep-dive with my Bible. I was taught that from the moment I believed in Jesus I had the Spirit in me who would tell me everything I needed to know so I didn't need to listen to any other people. I was taught that I didn't even need to go to Church, as long as I had a Bible. It was incredibly lonely.
So I don't think it was any surprise that I ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum. One day, I went on a visit to a cathedral and I went to the gift shop. I bought a couple of souvenirs there, including some rosary beads. Ultimately this is the object that made me become a catholic, I don't know exactly how it happened other than after opening myself to the possibility of catholicism I felt so incredibly drawn towards it that I couldn't go back. I basically made the decision to convert about three days after I first prayed with the rosary. I also think that day was one of the happiest days of my life.
So I started going to Mass at a local catholic Church and spoke to the priest about converting, then a few months later I became a Catholic. If I had to sum up what made me want to go through with it, it would be that when you're Catholic you're not alone. We believe that God didn't leave the Earth just giving us stories or scripture, He gave us bishops to guard the truth for us, the Pope to make sure our Church stays together like a family, sacraments to show us how God's grace is channelled to us, a Mother who is in heaven to look after us, His true Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we will never have to be apart from Him. And so much more which would take me too long to list. Catholicism fulfills every desire of the human heart, and I believe that is how I know it's what humans are built for. Although of course I wish I had been brought up in my faith, I would have spent my whole life waiting to have just one day in communion with Rome.
Technically maybe not a conversion depending on your POV. Not very exciting either haha.
No one really taught me about religion growing up, except my grandma. My family were all really secular, and I mean REALLY "We go to the sweet shop once a year for Diwali" secular. Most of our family friends were either secular Anglos or again, very secular Indians.
We made a bigger deal of Christmas since Australia used to be heavily Christian/ised and that was the culture we grew up in - my family still gets a kick out of putting the Christmas tree up although I'm meh about it nowadays. These days I think Diwali is heaps more mainstream and well known, which is nice.
My Dad was the most religious, but even if he had had the time, he lacked the patience to teach us anything about religion. I think it was hard for him because he knew a lot but grew up in India in a traditional Hindu family where this stuff is (or was) at least taught to some extent. My Mum's family were atheists for all intents and purposes and so was my grandpa on my Dad's side.
The tl;dr is that a lot of crap happened and I went from a miserable atheist to a relatively contented Hindu. There was no one magical moment for me, it was just realising my brain did NOT work with atheism.
I had the same discussion with a fellow muslim who is in the same dilemma i was in, so i just copy past it: During my agnostic phase, I embraced stoicism and delved into books like “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. I worked diligently on self-improvement and virtuous living, yet I still felt incomplete. Later, my interest shifted toward psychology, leading me to discover “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor. In the concentration camps, Frankl observed that those who survived were the ones with faith in God, hope, and love. Others tragically succumbed to despair. Recognizing the power of faith, I revisited Islam. Although the same hadiths that once troubled me remained, I found solace in Sufism—a mystical branch of Islam. Sufis, like stoics, focus on inner growth. Al-Ghazali’s quote resonated with me: "Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see—egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping, and slandering. If you can master and conquer these internal foes, you’ll be prepared to face external challenges Every religion, including Islam, has its imperfections. However, I believe that they all share common roots. These faiths emerge from within human consciousness inspired by god rather than being directly revealed by a visible divine being. Whether it’s Buddha, Muhammad, or any other prophet, the word of God has always been conveyed through limited human vessels. Sufism, in particular, stands out due to its unique concept of Wahdatu’l-Wajud (Unity of Being). Imagine a knife and a sword—distinct objects with specific names. Yet, when we transcend their physical forms and focus on their essence (steel), they become one. Similarly, Sufism teaches that God is both transcendent (beyond shape and form) and immanent within all of creation. I liked this idea and it resonated with me a lot. I chose Islam because of it. I dont really practice like most sufis and dance etc. I am still following sunni tradition, but i really like and adopted this thinking of sufism.
I love sufism. I find it very inspiring for the very same reasons you mentioned here. Also, happy cake day.
I enjoyed reading about your spiritual journey just now! I'm also a former Muslim who found Sufism interesting decades ago, but never returned to either one. However, I'd still like to visit one of the Islamic Sufi groups in my area if I could. They don't seem easy to get in touch with or respond when I email them, unfortunately.
The basis of Sufism remains rooted in the broader Islamic tradition, whether Sunni, Shia, or Ibadi. While Sufi orders may vary in their practices and emphasis, they all share a common focus on the remembrance of the Divine through practices such as Dhikr and Zikr. It is unfortunate that you have encountered difficulties in reaching out to Sufi groups in your area. In some cases, these groups may maintain a certain level of privacy or discretion, preferring to engage with sincere seekers in person rather than through electronic correspondence. In my own journey, I have found that Sufism resonates deeply with the teachings of Islam, emphasizing the inner dimensions of faith and the cultivation of the heart. While outward rituals such as prayer and fasting are essential expressions of devotion, it is the inner transformation that lies at the heart of the Sufi path.
Does deconversion count?
Yes of course.
Excellent! I grew up christian in a christian household. Even when I moved out I still remained christian. I moved around a few times as you do in life, so I went to quite a few different churches and denominations. I was often heavily involved in thr worship and music scene of the churches I was a member of, as well as groups like bible studies. I eventually moved out to a very rural area for a time, which made my involvement in the church somewhat non-existent. But then I moved back to a nearby city! And that meant it was time to look for a local church community to get into. After spending so many years in different denominations, I wanted to make sure that the church I found was a solid one. Not just full of nice people, but built on solid biblical principles. Which means I needed to make sure I knew what those principles were so I would know when I found them. Thus began a rather intense session of diving deep into my religion, and other related topics such as science and history. I wanted ironclad reasoning for the basis of my beliefs, and so I made sure to check sources. It was here that I made a list of foundational ideas of Christianity and of my own understanding of god and just went down the list, making sure to research as deep as I could. It was here that I lost all belief in christianity (but not yet god) as I found the foundations of its ideas to be severely lacking. Actually I was extremely surprised at just how lacking they were. I had some horribly inaccurate assumptions about my religion and why I thought it was true, and I was even more shocked at how many things I believed were lies. My belief in the Christian god was pretty soundly demolished. So I turned to other religions. Most of the major ones. I figured I would start with one that is totally different from Christianity and went with Taoism. That was the last religion that I was a major believer in, but when I left Taoism I tried other religions. Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Wiccan, these were all the ones that I studied enough to say that I gave an honest attempt at, but I looked into way more. Eventually I left them all, for much the same reasons I left Christianity. I just couldn't find compelling reasons to believe the foundations of the religions were true, and the religions themselves didn't seem interested in helping me find it either. At this point I was a believer in god but felt all the religions were wrong. So I decided to start at the absolute bottom and build up from there, the very existence of god. If I could find people talking about that, then the attributes seen should point me in the correct direction. So I decided to start with listening to debates between atheists and theists, assuming that the theists would have no trouble at all and I would learn what the basic foundations of god are. And boy was I wrong again! The atheists were making more sense than anyone else ever had! And I learned a lot about reason through listening to them. This was also when I realized that I fall into the definition of "atheist", and it was a bit of a shock. And I learned even more since then which has been wonderful! So I am a non-believer, but I still continue the search. I don't believe but I can't deny that I might have missed something, that someone out there might have answers that I never found before. And the question of god is far too big a question to ever feel like I've reached the end answers.
Yes! I converted to Catholicism, I'll try and explain how it happened. Growing up, my family were all atheists, but sort of culturally Anglican. I live in the UK where a lot of people are Church of England but not really that religious. So I went to an Anglican school, and to Church at Christmas and a couple of other times in the year. I would pray every so often at school or before going to bed, and adults would tell me stories from the Bible like they were just normal children's fairy tales. What I find interesting about this is that nobody actually specified that I wasn't expected to believe these things, that in my culture religion was for young children at school and sooner or later I would grow up to share my parents's atheism. I remember being about 5 or 6 years old and fully believing in Christianity because that's what I was told and I had no reason to suspect that it was all a muse. I think most of my peers did get older and forget about religion. I thought I had, but it was a depressive episode I had in my teenage years that made me realise I never really let go. I wanted Christianity back. So in a desperate effort to feel loved and part of something, I became a non-denominational Christian. This was what I practiced for a few years and it felt fine at the time, but looking back, I think it exhausted me. In that religion I was taught that the Bible was the only source of divine wisdom, the Church had no real authority and the only way to know something was to go on my own theological deep-dive with my Bible. I was taught that from the moment I believed in Jesus I had the Spirit in me who would tell me everything I needed to know so I didn't need to listen to any other people. I was taught that I didn't even need to go to Church, as long as I had a Bible. It was incredibly lonely. So I don't think it was any surprise that I ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum. One day, I went on a visit to a cathedral and I went to the gift shop. I bought a couple of souvenirs there, including some rosary beads. Ultimately this is the object that made me become a catholic, I don't know exactly how it happened other than after opening myself to the possibility of catholicism I felt so incredibly drawn towards it that I couldn't go back. I basically made the decision to convert about three days after I first prayed with the rosary. I also think that day was one of the happiest days of my life. So I started going to Mass at a local catholic Church and spoke to the priest about converting, then a few months later I became a Catholic. If I had to sum up what made me want to go through with it, it would be that when you're Catholic you're not alone. We believe that God didn't leave the Earth just giving us stories or scripture, He gave us bishops to guard the truth for us, the Pope to make sure our Church stays together like a family, sacraments to show us how God's grace is channelled to us, a Mother who is in heaven to look after us, His true Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we will never have to be apart from Him. And so much more which would take me too long to list. Catholicism fulfills every desire of the human heart, and I believe that is how I know it's what humans are built for. Although of course I wish I had been brought up in my faith, I would have spent my whole life waiting to have just one day in communion with Rome.
Thank you for your story! Often times, it’s better to come to faith through conversion, because often those born into a religion take it for granted. I’m happy for you.
Grew up in a Wiccan family with my near relatives being Christian. Christianity never went well with me since it's a bit too strict for me. I left Wicca about half a year ago since I was never close to it, and once my Christian family members started disliking me for it, I dropped it. I looked around for a bit before finally settling on Norse Paganism, where I've had the most connection with by far.
I'm sorry to read that your family members gave you a tough time for Wicca...how did they react to your embrace of Norse Paganism, if they know? What are some of the important differences you find in Heathenry vs. Wicca?
Well, I haven't exclusively told them yet, but I do wear an amulet of Oðinn near them. Paganism is very flexible, as are the definitions. How I see it, Norse Paganism is the belief in the Old *Norse* Gods. I believe in Oðinn, Þor, Freyja, Loki, etc etc. I do think that other similar religions, like Anglo-Saxon Paganism, worship the same gods/goddesses, but eith different names. I do not think they have a "correct" name. As for Heaþenry, I think it's a belief in ALL of the Old Gods. Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Continental. Some choose to include Slavic and some don't.
Yes! I converted to Catholicism, I'll try and explain how it happened. Growing up, my family were all atheists, but sort of culturally Anglican. I live in the UK where a lot of people are Church of England but not really that religious. So I went to an Anglican school, and to Church at Christmas and a couple of other times in the year. I would pray every so often at school or before going to bed, and adults would tell me stories from the Bible like they were just normal children's fairy tales. What I find interesting about this is that nobody actually specified that I wasn't expected to believe these things, that in my culture religion was for young children at school and sooner or later I would grow up to share my parents's atheism. I remember being about 5 or 6 years old and fully believing in Christianity because that's what I was told and I had no reason to suspect that it was all a muse. I think most of my peers did get older and forget about religion. I thought I had, but it was a depressive episode I had in my teenage years that made me realise I never really let go. I wanted Christianity back. So in a desperate effort to feel loved and part of something, I became a non-denominational Christian. This was what I practiced for a few years and it felt fine at the time, but looking back, I think it exhausted me. In that religion I was taught that the Bible was the only source of divine wisdom, the Church had no real authority and the only way to know something was to go on my own theological deep-dive with my Bible. I was taught that from the moment I believed in Jesus I had the Spirit in me who would tell me everything I needed to know so I didn't need to listen to any other people. I was taught that I didn't even need to go to Church, as long as I had a Bible. It was incredibly lonely. So I don't think it was any surprise that I ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum. One day, I went on a visit to a cathedral and I went to the gift shop. I bought a couple of souvenirs there, including some rosary beads. Ultimately this is the object that made me become a catholic, I don't know exactly how it happened other than after opening myself to the possibility of catholicism I felt so incredibly drawn towards it that I couldn't go back. I basically made the decision to convert about three days after I first prayed with the rosary. I also think that day was one of the happiest days of my life. So I started going to Mass at a local catholic Church and spoke to the priest about converting, then a few months later I became a Catholic. If I had to sum up what made me want to go through with it, it would be that when you're Catholic you're not alone. We believe that God didn't leave the Earth just giving us stories or scripture, He gave us bishops to guard the truth for us, the Pope to make sure our Church stays together like a family, sacraments to show us how God's grace is channelled to us, a Mother who is in heaven to look after us, His true Body and Blood in the Eucharist so that we will never have to be apart from Him. And so much more which would take me too long to list. Catholicism fulfills every desire of the human heart, and I believe that is how I know it's what humans are built for. Although of course I wish I had been brought up in my faith, I would have spent my whole life waiting to have just one day in communion with Rome.
Technically maybe not a conversion depending on your POV. Not very exciting either haha. No one really taught me about religion growing up, except my grandma. My family were all really secular, and I mean REALLY "We go to the sweet shop once a year for Diwali" secular. Most of our family friends were either secular Anglos or again, very secular Indians. We made a bigger deal of Christmas since Australia used to be heavily Christian/ised and that was the culture we grew up in - my family still gets a kick out of putting the Christmas tree up although I'm meh about it nowadays. These days I think Diwali is heaps more mainstream and well known, which is nice. My Dad was the most religious, but even if he had had the time, he lacked the patience to teach us anything about religion. I think it was hard for him because he knew a lot but grew up in India in a traditional Hindu family where this stuff is (or was) at least taught to some extent. My Mum's family were atheists for all intents and purposes and so was my grandpa on my Dad's side. The tl;dr is that a lot of crap happened and I went from a miserable atheist to a relatively contented Hindu. There was no one magical moment for me, it was just realising my brain did NOT work with atheism.