Page 68 - A Study of Traditional Chinese Religions in Malaysia: The Decline and the Path Towards Revitalization

“When I converted to Christianity at first, some Christian friends started questioning
me, “Are you really sincere in converting to Christianity?” Everything happened very

fast… maybe within six months I went from being a Taoist-Buddhist to a Christian.
Sometimes people say that Churches offer a lot of activities and the people are very
friendly and so on... However I only realized at the end that I was one of their fishes…

They were like fishermen. After I converted, they started teaching me that I needed
to start becoming a fisherman… I could no longer be a fish. I realized that there was

a difference in terms of how they treated me after I had successfully converted to
Christianity. I realized that they no longer spent more time on me like before I
converted. They no longer would ask me to join Church activities. Instead, they

wanted me to look for people to join those activities (in order to convert them). They
would say, “You need to invite more friends to take part in the activities. You cannot

join alone. Two or three months after joining Christianity, because of the mentioned
experience I started questioning my decision to convert and telling my friends I was
no longer interested in being a Christian. That was when they would ask their pastor

to counsel me and invite me to attend the Bible college so that I could study (to
become a better Christian). They put in much effort to “negotiate” with me (to make
me remain in Christianity).” (John)

John explained how he had been sidelined and was pressured to recruit new members for

the church. John felt that being a ‘good’ Christian equal helping the church to recruit new
members and is less about practicing the Christian faith. Apart from that, he felt disappointed
about the reduced level of hospitality shown to him and was also burdened by the increasing

pressure of having to recruit new members after he was baptized as a Christian. Unable to
feel belonged and connected to the approaches of the church and the Christian faith, John

eventually decided to leave Christianity and was subsequently drawn to Buddhism as a
religion that gives him peace and a stronger sense of belonging.

As it has been discussed earlier, Helen’s main reason for converting from Christianity
to Buddhism is related to the church’s negative perspectives of the practice of Chinese
cultural traditions and the insistence of the church members in pressuring her to convert her

parents for the “salvation of their souls”. As a result, Helen finally decided to distance herself
from the Christian faith due to her disagreement with the church’s approaches and values,

and she then found her sense of belonging in Fo Guang Shan. This can be seen as another
instance of how the practice of rigorous member recruitment in certain churches could
possibly lead to new members feeling pressured and losing their enthusiasm and sense of

belonging in the Christian faith that they were once drawn to.

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