Blurring the boundaries of religious identity: a phenomenological exploration of conversion and deconversion in Northern Thailand

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent literature on deconversion has highlighted the fluid nature of religious identity that occurs throughout periods of religious change. However, an inordinate emphasis has been placed on the roles of doubt and individual choice in deconversion over and against emotion and group belonging. This study presents a phenomenological interpretation of the experience of deconversion as occurring among Protestant Christian converts in Northern Thailand. Rather than investigating deconversion retrospectively, however, this study targets the felt ‘temptation’ that Christian converts experience to return to their previous Buddhist social worlds. By approaching the phenomenon in this way, I aim to describe better the fluid nature of religious identity as lived through by participants themselves. Further, by providing a cross-cultural comparison, I suggest that factors pertaining to social pressure and the consequent emotional strain should be given more consideration when investigating deconversion in cultural contexts outside North America and Europe.