Freedom, conviction and religious life

The purpose of this study is to understand and explain how the processes of freedom and conviction affect the religious life of the individuals. The study group of the research consists of 31 individuals who reside in Adana, Gaziantep, and Osmaniye provinces and who have been convicted. The phenomenological design, which is one of the qualitative method designs, was used in the research. The data of the study were obtained by conducting in-depth interviews using semi-structured interview forms. The data obtained were subjected to content analysis. QSR NVivo 10 program was used while applying content analysis to the data. According to the results of the research, low education level, inadequate economic conditions, relatives with a criminal history, and growing up in a large family were effective in conviction. When individuals were convicted, they experienced situations of regret, taking refuge in religion, and gaining strength from religion. In the majority of the participants, it was determined that after losing their freedom, they approached God, coped with the process by worshiping, received psychological support from the religion they believed in, experienced spiritual elevation, and increased devotion to God. After their convictions, there was an increase in worship and religious practices, religious sensitivity in behaviour, and a desire to learn religious knowledge. In addition, it was observed that the participants experienced changes such as maturation, patience, calming, empathy, and emotionalization. The reasons for the increase in religious devotion in individuals who have regained freedom are: thanking God for freedom, seeing the new life as God's gift, and approaching religion while convicted. The reasons for the decrease in worship after being free are access to comfort, lack of leisure time, and preoccupations in daily life. Acting according to the advice of the believed religion, obeying the rules of the religion, and behaving with the aim of gaining the pleasure of God are the changes in behaviour after they are free. In addition, increasing the level of religious knowledge through books, social media, and television are situations that continue after freedom. Religious inappropriateness, fear of God, change in personality and loss of time were effective in the participants' decisions not to do the act that caused them to be imprisoned again after they were released. In line with the findings of the research, it was determined that the conviction process had a positive effect on individuals' orientation towards religion in terms of emotion, thought, and behaviour, and the findings obtained were discussed and interpreted within the framework of the relevant literature.