of Religious Conversion*

In a study among 92 Dutch adolescents we tested the Lofland and Stark model of religious conversion. Our results show that the model offers a fairly adequate set of conditions of conversion, but is inadequa~e asa model for the process of conversion. Young people are attracted to religious groups for two reasons: First, he group offers them a new perspective on life and so liberates them from entrapment in their own problems. Second, the group provides them with a satisfying personal network. The model offered by John Lofland and Rodney Stark has been studied more than most other models of religious conversion. These authors define conversion as the process by which % person gives up one... perspective or ordered view of the world for another " (1965:862). Conversion implies that the convert renounces his or her former life pattern, joins a given religious movement or sect, and becomes an adherent of this group's teachings. Lofland and Stark developed their model in a study of the Divine Precepts. The model consists of seven conditions for conversion which the authors formulate as follows: For conversion a person must: 1. Experience nduring, acutely felt tensions 2. Within a religious problem-solving perspective 3. Which lea & hito [her] to define hito [her]self asa religious seeker 4. Encountering the D.P. [Divine Precepts] at a turning point in... life 5. Wherein an affective bond is formed (or pre-exists) with one or more converts 6. Where extra-cult attachments are absent or neutralized 7. And, where, if he [she] is to become a deployable agent, he [she] is exposed to intensive interaction (1965:874). *The authors are associated with the Department of Development and Socialization o … the University of Utrecht. Willem Kox and Wim Meeu. ~ ate members of the Section Youthstudies, and Harm 't Hart ot the Sectio