Choosing Your Religion

It's caused wars, riots, and general hate between cultures and societies for years and years. All because someone does not believe the same as another; however, there is another side of this coin--peace within communities and families, love, and hope.

But some people are only in certain religions because it's in the family and is not happy due to its beliefs not matching their own. Why don't they switch? Simple:

The risk of backlash. Simply converting from one to another is not easy without the support of community members and family.

It's terrifying, I know, and if you're going through this kind of thing, I am so very sorry: but that's why I'm here.

I'm going to help you find the right belief system for you and how to gain the confidence to tell the ones you love.

First things first, before you go right into deciding, you need to know which ones you simply can't convert to. This could simply be because it going completely against your morals or because they're specifically for certain races, cultures, or countries.

Once those are out of the way, you can then go and make a list of your morals and beliefs. You could answer these questions, to begin with, then simply continue with whatever other beliefs you can think of.

Do you believe in one, many, or no gods?

Do you prefer a designated place of worship or would prefer none?

What do you strongly believe in? (Ex: free spirit, guidelines, tight-knit community, on your own, etc)

Do you think there is an afterlife?

and start comparing it to other religions you know you could convert to or are interested in! You can do this by checking out this website or others like it to see what you resonate with the most.

Take your time with this! Yes, you could always go back and do this process again, but it feels a lot better to find one you truly want to go with instead of trying out a whole bunch of them!

You may find the one you've been looking for, and that's fantastic! Or you may find out that you don't believe in any of these, which is okay, too! There are plenty of people who find out they don't want to be in a religion. You may even discover that you really do believe in your current religion, but that you wish to practice it differently. Perfectly fine! You can do a little more research and find out how you want to practice!

Coming out about it. Just know that, it's okay to be nervous. No matter what happens, life will move on. Take a deep breath, take two or three or ten if you need to.

Be sure you are confident that you are ready to convert. Do as much research as you think is necessary, especially if there's a lot to it. Trying to convert to Christianity? Read some of the Bible, talk to a pastor if you can, and research traditions. What about Wiccan/Paganism? Learn the differences between them, try to get into contact with someone of said religion, and understand that way of seeing the world. If there is any doubt, take a little more time to do more research. I cannot stress enough how much this research will help you explain why you're converting and what you're converting to.

When you're ready, ask your loved ones for some time to sit down and talk about something important. Be sure to explain that it's an important thing to you and that they deserve to know. I strongly recommend against telling them over text, for obvious reasons. You don't want anything to be misunderstood.

If you're not the best at speaking, don't worry, it happens! There is nothing wrong with writing down a few notes on your hand or a small card, especially if you have a specific statement or a fact you want to get across.

But, most of all, remember that they love you! You'd be surprised at how big of a chance there is of understanding if the situation is explained fully and calmly!