“What? Change my religion? Not me. My family has gone to the same church and has been in this same religion for generations. If it was good enough for them, then it is also good enough for me. I’m perfectly satisfied with my religion.”

Does the above reasoning sound familiar to you? This sort of statement pops up when you try to convince a person to make a switch, from one religion to another or from one church to the other.

Do you personally believe that it would be wrong for an individual to change from one religion to another? To a vast majority of people, the answer to this question is a big YES. In fact, some feel that it would be a sin against God, Allah, or whoever they worship. Not only will they sin against the Supreme Being that they give devotion to, but they will suffer a condemnation from their parents if they were to change from their religion that they were born into.

Lots of people are highly afraid to change religions because of the respect they might lose from people of the same religious body or church. Changing religions here does not only refer to moving from being a Muslim to a Christian, Christian to a Buddhist, and so on. It captures changing the affiliation from one group to another. So for example, in Christianity, one can change from a particular church to another; say from being a Catholic to become a Presbyterian and so forth.

What happen most often is that people are not too confident, brave, or bold enough to cease affiliating with a particular religion or church to join another one which they think might be the right one… They might be so engrossed in losing self respect than gaining salvation. Mostly, such ones will be members of a particular religion or church but might find it very difficult to adhere to the doctrines of the religion or church.

Today, about one third of the earth’s population claims to be Christian. Does this mean that if you belong to one of the hundreds of churches under Christianity, your church is the acceptable one, and you must therefore stick to it like a super glue? Do not forget that, the near thousand denominations under Christianity all have different doctrines and teachings.

But does it really matter what one believes? Is it not one’s sincerity and the way a person treats his or her fellowman that matters? Someone may probably ask. What do you think?

Does sincerity make a wrong thing right? If I am sincere to the religion I was born into, yet know certain things they engage in are not right or cannot be justified under any circumstance, do you expect me to still continue to be in it?

That will be absurd. As I’ve mentioned above, many fear to change religions or churches because they want to please their friends and family. But is it reasonable to put pleasing such people above seeking for what is right—ultimately salvation?

So my question still remains, is it a sin to change religions?