I was talking with a friend of mine last night. I brought up this scenario:

A man is a devout Muslim. He's been a Muslim ever since he can remember and he believes in it just as you and I believe the sun is bright. For the sake of this scenario, let's call him "Fred". I'm sure there are Muslims named Fred. So one day, a Christian comes up to Fred's house. He gives Fred the message of Jesus Christ. For whatever reason, Fred decides to convert to Christianity. That following Sunday, Fred visits a church. This is his first time in a Christian church. He is surprised that men and women worship in the same area. He is also surprised that their idea of worship is just sitting down and occasionally standing up to sing. He is also surprised that when they pray, they don't bow properly. They just stand there with their eyes closed. He puts it out his mind, though. Then, the preacher comes up to deliver his sermon. He points out Fred. Fred stands up. The preacher says that Fred just converted from Islam. The congregation says "amen." Fred takes his seat. The preacher then segues into a sermon against Islam. It is full of stereotypes and misinformation. The Preacher starts making really bad jokes about bombs and mocks the way Muslims pray.

Put yourself in Fred's shoes. If the preacher is that misinformed about Islam, would you begin to look at Christianity skeptically? If he can be that misinformed about one religion, isn't it possible that he is just as misinformed about his own? It doesn't matter that the two example religions are Islam and Christianity. I just used those for my example. If you were Fred, would you renounce your new found religion because it seems hateful? Would you convert back? Someone convinced you that your previous faith had flaws. Would you chalk it up to a crisis of faith or would you become an atheist/agnostic? Would you hunt for another religion?

If someone has actually gone through something like this, please post about it. It would be great to have an actual story instead of my contrived scenario.