Customer Reviews

Amazing Conversions: Why Some Turn to Faith & Others Abandon Religion

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Independent Publisher and Jennifer Smith both appear to have little information about Altemeyer and Hunsberger's backgrounds as research psychologists, or with the research that they are doing. The purpose of this book is not entertain the reader with gripping tales of religious turmoil. It is to examine the process in the subject pool that they have available to them - Canadian college students. Within this pool, they have conducted scientific research for over 30 years, with tens of thousands of college students and adults. Their research findings have been replicated across the globe (including South Africa, Israel, and the former USSR) with faiths including Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims.

That the 'Publisher' feels that religion is 'not susceptible to a statistical survey approach' demonstrates their lack of familiarity with the field of religious research in general and with the work of both authors in particular. I suggest that they consult a research library and learn something about the field before making such sweeping pronouncements.

Those who don't have a serious interest in research on religion should steer clear of this book. Those who do will enjoy it and their other books and research.

I loved this book. Unlike most studies which only summarize their data, these authors give you a detailed description of each of their interviewees responses. After reading the rich details of the apostate stories and the believer stories, it was hard to argue with the analysis. For example, I was a little critical of the amazing believer stories to begin with but found my views softening and expanding as I read story after story that showed the same pattern of finding happiness and meaning through their turn to religion.

It is clear that the apostates were more fully represented and that the believers were more scant. Of the 24 believers interviewed, only 10 were what I had expected (more fundamentalistic and committed), but the authors recognized this and described the subsample of "real converts".

As others have intimated, this is not a book for people who want to be reaffirmed in their faith or lack of faith, but rather a book for someone who is more neutral and wants to understand the dynamic processes that pushed people in both directions. Thanks Altemeyer & Hunsberger for a stimulating read!

I believe this book lays the foundation for the study of the deconversion phenomenon. The authors clearly establish their criteria for candidate selection as well as the type of relevant data to collect. Their data collection methodolgy follows the scientific process. However, I believe the conclusions were simplistic and somewhat "rushed". I do not feel that the book adequately established a cause-effect using the data. However, I do think this book is a valuable resource as a starting point for other social scientists who wish to examine the phenomenon further

Christians looking for astounding stories of towering faith, or Atheists looking for the exact moment when all the illusions faded, will be deeply disappointed. That's not the sort of "Amazing" that's involved here.

The sort of amazing involved is the degree of transition; those who are raised in one extreme quartile of religiosity, yet who end up in the opposite quartile. The more common case in society is when, as Proverbs 22:6 puts it, parents "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." The 1% or so discussed are the exception to that rule - and thus, interesting, in that they may indicate a more general principle. The degree of religiosity or irreligiosity that results is not always that amazing relative to the norm for society; some of the AA "Amazing Atheists" identified are more theist than atheist, and some of the AB "Amazing Believers" are merely non-denominational Christians who seldom pray or attend services. It is where they end relative to the norm for their upbringings that makes the conversions amazing.

The methodology is outlined: the surveys used to identify their targets, and the general interview style used. A summary is given of the interview with each of the students (although some personal details are changed for privacy reasons), followed by observing some patterns and some absences. The two groups are also compared, with commonalities and differences highlighted.

The book does not and cannot give a final answer. To study a representative sample for a phenomenon that is only happens one percent of the time requires an enormous sample to turn up any candidates at all; and would require even larger samples (well beyond that obtained) to reach statistically high-confidence conclusions. There's also the usual cautions about extrapolating from the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) implicit in samplings of college students to the wider population. Naturally, data from a few dozen cases will not sustain even remotely definitive conclusions. However, Altemeyer and Hunsberger indicate patterns in the data - some of which are reminiscent of patterns long noted in the psychology literature, others more surprising.

The book is not excessively technical in presentation; the reading level is probably high-school. It's definitely a worthwhile addition to the literature of the psychologies of religion, irreligion, and conversion. It would seem likely to interest anyone whose attention has been drawn by the recent media attention to the "New Atheism", despite pre-dating the furor. However, the tentative conclusions seem less likely to endear the work to those who deeply disapprove of that social trend.

I agree with another reviewer here that the "Indpendent Publisher" review is pathetic, to put it as nicely as possible. Having been brought up a good Christian, passing through the many stages described by Altemeyer myself, and spending most of the last 40 years in religious studies in an attempt to understand my former faith, and others who do not become free of that kind of mind control, I can attest to the reliability of what Altemeyer has revealed in this book. The only difference between me and many of the individuals described in theses studies is that I actually have become more spiritual in the sense of understanding the world in non-material terms which is where pure science/inquiry will ultimately lead you if you are truly honest and truly seeking Truth.

Among the observations that I found most interesting are those relating to the psychological/life problems of people who become true believers, coming out of families where there was no religious training, as well as the evidence suggesting that their IQs were somewhat lower than those who became free of religious dogma. That has certainly been my observation/experience as well.

All in all, this is an excellent book that answers many questions but, of course, brings many more questions to the fore that only more studies can answer. Altemeyer is a careful, conscientious researcher and he writes with great humor and compassion. Highly recommended.

My expectations for this book were to find stories of people who either became religious after many yrs of atheism or vice versa. What you will find, however, is a study done on college age students who have found religion (no matter how superficially) or left it behind. I thought the work done by the authors was very shallow as to their presentation on why someone might take upon themselves a belief system foreign to them. There are no Muslim converts, Mormon or any "exotic" groups, only Protestant Christians. The subjects are pretty young, so there is no way of telling how deeply their newfound beliefs or freethinking will go in the future. The conversions are also not "amazing" at all. They are people who find themselves at a crossroad in life, don't know where to turn, go to the most common religion in this country, and voila! I'm born again! Ho hum.