Is converting to faith the latest TikTok trend?

After we were all completely captivated by the documentary ‘Misslukt’ last week, in which we see what former Miss Netherlands Stephany Tency went through in terms of plastic surgery, she announced today that she converted to Islam a year ago. She made this choice while visiting her sister, who lives in Dubai. Her sister is also converted, and according to Stephanie, she has radiated immense peace since then. Although it may seem striking, Stephanie is not the only famous person who has converted. Earlier, we heard that Donny Roelvink converted as well. He explained that after the accident where he was run over by a Hummer, he believes there must be a higher power that allowed him to survive.

Because more and more young people are converting, the EO made a program about this, in which they spoke with various young individuals who chose faith on their own initiative. The young people they talked to share relatively much about the process via social media. This is one of the reasons why some people call the sudden increase in conversions to Islam a TikTok trend. The number of conversions has risen from two per month to several per week. The main reason for people choosing to convert to faith is that they have experienced something very intense in their lives. In this way, they try to bring about a positive change in their lives, for example by seeking more structure and support. It is now easier for young people to find their place in Islam, as there are relatively more young Muslims compared to, for example, Christians. The majority of Christians are actually 75+ and the churches remain largely empty. Joining a new community is therefore simply much easier for young people within Islam.

The fact that we are surprised in the Netherlands when people join a faith probably comes from the fact that it is quite American to share these kinds of things. For example, we all heard that Justin Bieber announced that he joined Churchome: a trendy kind of church that you can even attend via a livestream. That TikTok is now a place where people share these kinds of things is not so strange. It doesn't have much to do with a TikTok trend; it's mainly just more visible because young people have their own channel where they share these personal things. Everything is shared on TikTok nowadays. Beauty routines, houses being bought, pregnancies being announced, and sometimes people even share footage of childbirth. When you look at it this way, it's actually not so strange that young people also want to share that they have converted to a certain faith.

Source: Dit.EO.nl, Image: @whitney_valerie