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My research at Northwestern University investigated religious conversion from another angle. Rather than duplicate the efforts of earlier scholars who limited themselves to the Christian experience, I explored the phenomenon of conversion to another missionary religion—Islam. I examined the published accounts of 60 Western converts to Islam and personally interviewed 10 others. The results contrasted sharply with Starbuck's statistics.

The average age of a Western convert to Islam is approximately 31 years, almost double that of the convert to Christianity. Several persons were in their forties, fifties, and sixties. Islam seems to appeal to a much older group of people. This age difference made the subject of motivating factors of great interest as I investigated why Muslims are apparently reaching an age group in Western societies that Christians are not.

From the testimonies and interviews, it became evident that there are at least five reasons why Westerners choose Islam over Christianity and other religious alternatives. The first is simplicity; the precepts and requirements of Islam are perceived as being much less complicated than those of Christianity. A sincere proclamation of the shahada ("There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger") is all that is required to become a Muslim. Afterwards one must participate in the daily prayers, the Fast of Ramadan, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and almsgiving, but these are not complicated actions and require no engagement in theological or philosophical speculation.

The second factor is rationality. Islam is considered to be a supremely rational faith. The Muslim is not asked to give credence to allegedly "irrational" concepts such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Resurrection of Jesus. Islam presents itself as the natural religion, the faith that one would naturally follow if it were not for the corrupting influences of the Devil and the idolatrous religious systems in which many persons are raised.

Equality is the third factor. The universal brotherhood and equality of all Muslims is a cardinal tenet of Islam, and this is apparently very attractive to Westerners. Muslims take pride in the ceremony connected with their pilgrimage, in which members of every race, class, and ethnic group stand side by side, identically clothed, all worshiping together the One God, Allah.

Fourth, Islam is practical. It is considered a this—worldly religion in contrast to Christianity, which is perceived as abstract in the extreme. Muhammad left his followers a political, social, moral, and economic program founded on religious precepts. Jesus, however, is said to have advocated no such program; it is claimed that the New Testament is so preoccupied with his imminent return that it is impractical for modern life.

Finally, Islam lacks a priesthood. The absence of a spiritual "hierarchy" has attracted many Westerners who have rejected theidea of anyone negotiating with God for them or who have been disappointed and embittered by the scandalous conduct of some Christian leaders.

It seems that postadolescents are motivated to seek religious answers to life's questions for different reasons from those that compel teenagers to turn to Christ. I would like to suggest that one of the reasons older persons do not convert to Christianity is that Christians have emphasized almost exclusively those aspects of their faith that have the greatest appeal to teens. Materials aimed at a youthful audience should not be dispensed with, of course. But new tracts, booklets, musical recordings, and audio-visuals aimed specifically at an older audience should be produced, and the motivational factors gleaned from the testimonies of Western converts to Islam can aid in the creation of those materials. (This is a form of evangelical contextualization, applied within a "home missions" context.)

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January (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46