Five Dimensions of Religious Deconversion: Their Application to the Accounts of Young Pakistani Deconverts

Abstract

A considerable amount of research has been conducted in the fields of religious psychology and social sciences on the topic of religious conversions, its reasons, and effects, but it is only in recent years that religious deconversion has attained the interest of researchers in the West. Though it has been observed since the last few years that religious deconversion is trending among the Pakistani youth, no considerable research has yet been done on this phenomenon in the Pakistani context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the phenomenon of deconversion among the young adults of Pakistan in light of the five dimensions of deconversion proposed by Streib et al. This research does not discuss the “reasons of deconversion”, rather it aims to present those experiences and perceptions of Pakistani young deconverts which contributed to their loss of faith in the religion. To carry out this research, in-depth interviews are conducted and these interviews will be analyzed within the framework of the 5 dimensions of deconversion.