Is it possible to convert to Hinduism from Christianity?

Question

(And I've already decided that Christianity no longer makes sense to me...so please don't give me a sermon.)

Answer 1

Sure. In fact it is fairly easy.

Hinduism is not a fixed set of Dogma and clear cut doctrine. Its full of freedom of choices instead. Hinduism is not a "one size fits all" religion. It offers something for everyone, including the atheist.

Juanita Moreno above is wrong about Hinduism and unaware of a b c d of it. We do not worship cow and Caste system is not an essential religious belief and not much different than class system of west.

Is slavery and racism essential feature of Christianity ?

When religion becomes organized, man ceases to be free. It is not God that is worshipped but the group or the authority that claims to speak in his name. It is not faith, but just social idolatry. God is not like a father in a patriarchal society, who has His favorite children to whom He communicates. This idea seems rather archaic and crude. Hinduism believes in behavior than belief and experience over authority.

Hinduism's greatest feature has been its positive ideas and those who do not belong to it are not infidels or heretics. Hinduism does not believe in bringing about a mechanical uniformity of belief and worship by a forcible elimination of all that is not in agreement with a particular creed.

If you want to convert , you are welcome. Even if you do not want a formal conversion but to enrich your philosophy read Upanishads. For thousands of years India has been a veritable laboratory of religion: everything imaginable has been tried out, and nothing ever has completely been rejected.

You will be surprised by their depth and vastness.

Answer 2

Simple answer: Yes

Technical answer: No

Yes you can change from being a Christian to a Hindu. I did it. The technical answer of no is because Hindus don't "convert" people. They say if you believe in what Hinduism teaches and want to practice it then feel free to do so. If you want to call yourself a Hindu, then go ahead and do that, too. Hinduism doesn't really think it's all that important to make some sort of official conversion like some religions. There are some groups that try to make something for people that enter Hinduism and weren't born into (like the taking on of a Hindu name, for example). People like to have some symbolism of the new step they are taking in their life, but not everyone does and Hinduism doesn't require people to.

Also, if you'd like to join a yahoo group that has others who have "converted" to Hinduism then feel free to visit the Progressive Hindu Association's yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/westernhindu
There are those who used to be Christian or other religions who have thus changed their religion to Hinduism as well as those who were born Hindu. I belong to the group and there are a lot of really interesting people to talk to there and there are always interesting discussions there, too. So just thought I'd share that with you as well.

Peace be with you.

Answer 3

yes i did it- hinduism is incredbile- email me if you want to know more.

Reading over these answers tells me just how uneducated people really are. First off, you do NOT have to convert to Buddhism before you convert to Hinduism. Second, there is no releasse form to leave the Christian community, and third we dont worship cows, fourth, we dont have to give up meat. A lot of Hindus in India eat chicken. A few wedding dishes are made with lamb in them.

The thing with the cows is that there is a special protection on the one certain type of cow that you see walking around India that was placed by Krishna. A lot of Hindus dont eat meat mainly because killing a chicken constitutes murder of another being. And you could be eating your uncle since your soul goes into another shell after death. The caste system in India is really coming down rapidly. I suggest that you read "The Ramayana", "The Mahabharata", and the "Bhagavad-Gita" See how you feel after reading those. If it still seems like you are interested, then by all means go for it. Are you in the Ohio area? Run a search for ISKCON temples near your area. My temple is really cool and the people are really accepting and nice. Contact me for other details.

Answer 4

Part of the beauty of free will is the ability to choose how the world makes sense to you. If Hinduism allows you to become the person you want to be and lets you see the world in a far more complete light than Christianity, then sure.

More to the point, I'd simply advise you to make sure this is what you want to do and that you'll be happy doing it. You don't want to be going back and forth from religion to religion.

Good luck!

Answer 5

It is possible to leave any religion and change. But.... If you are really a Christian, they you will not consider any other religion as true. Christianity is more than a religion. It is a relashionship with Jesus Christ, and this relationship restores the believer to a relationship with God like Adam and Eve had in the garden of Eden. Just going to church, reading the Bible, doing good things and being nice to people does not make you a real Christian. A true Christian is one who realizes that they need help, and that sin in a major problem in life. Jesus came to solve that sin problem. He died to provide you forgiveness and cleansing from sin. He was resurrected so that He could overcome sin and satan and death. He now give each of us freedom from sin and guilt when we come to Him and ask for firgiveness then choose to make Him the Lord...the One in charge of our lives. He came to give us life...help us with our life here and also life in heaven. You can know for sure where you are going. Why would anyone want to choose Hinduism and reincarnation which means you go on and on searching and perfecting your life... Let Christ do it for you. If you believe the Bible.... it tells us that man dies once and then we face judgement..... That means there is no reincarnation.
If you are thinking of hinduism because of the peaceful lifestyle... Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He gives you peace that passes all understanding.
You won't find lasting peace anywhere else. If the Christians you have known thus far go to spiritually dead churches filled with tradition and ritual.... find one that believes the "Bible and offers a practical relavant message for today. There's all kinds of them who believe the bible message is more than tradition.

Answer 6

As far as I know, Hindu scriptures are generally silent about "conversion", although there is currently a movement in Hindu countries to counter the spread of Christianity and to "reconvert" (for lack of a better term) former Hindus. I have also read that Hinduism does not generally encourage "horizontal" conversion - moving from one faith to another.

Here is some interesting commentary that you might like to read, entitled "Politics of Conversion" from "A Tribute to Hinduism".

http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Conversion.htm

I think that you will find some similarities between Hindu beliefs and Christian beliefs (such as the belief in Brahman and the belief in a Trinity) that may better help you to understand the Hindu faith.

Good luck with your search.

Answer 7

Yes. It's possible to convert from any belief to another belief. You can start out as a Satanist, then move to Christianity, then to Atheism, then to Hinduism.

Nobody is stopping you from doing it. It's your life.

By the way, I beg to differ with Christians who believe that if one was truly a Christian at a certain point in time, that it's impossible to leave the faith. Total misinterpretation of scripture. You still have free will to do anything you want after you "get saved". You have free will to kill, steal, murder, rape, etc. And, you definitely have free will to leave your faith and turn your back on God.

Answer 8

ABSOLUTELY NOT! You can convert and become a Hare Krishna, but they do not exactly follow Hinduism like true Indians do. Hare Krishnas are not considered Hindu by Indians and the only way to be a true follower of Hinduism is to be born a Hindu.

Answer 9

Why do you want to convert to a religion that worships cows and enforces strict social-class systems, like India's caste system?

Nobody who's interested in freedom and equality would convert from Christianity to some "trendy" religion like Hinduism.

Answer 10

Yes, but you have to convert to Buddhism first. That is because you cannot convert directly from Christianity to Hinduism, but you can get a special dispensation from the pope to convert from Christianity to Buddhism. Then, converting from Buddhism to Hinduism is a piece of cake.