A single rationalist conversation can convert religious comfort into intellectual commitment

Evidence

By the time Rami arrived home, everything was fitting into place. It was just one night, begun with a small comment about marriage, but it made a world of difference to him. Now the religion made more sense. Up to this point, it had given him spiritual comfort and community. From this point on it appealed to his rationalist side, and he began seeing it through the lens of knowledge acquisition. The evening made him feel that he still had so much more to learn, but he understood that he was now a changed person. Before, Rami explained, he’d had his “foot in the water and was feeling around before jumping into the pool of deen.” But now, he said, he was gaining the confidence in himself “to take a dive headfirst and jump right in.” — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 877

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ framing of religion as identity signaling — here conversion is internal, cognitive, private. — connects to: A wife’s intellectual convictions could steer a devout husband from religion to ethical culture — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 119