A former Catholic Sunday school teacher has spoken about why she was moved to convert to Islam.
Cheryl Dacey, was born into an Irish Catholic family. After meeting some Muslims through her job in New York City, the mother four became interested in their religion and eventually converted to Islam.
“I thought it was totally a foreign type of religion from what I believed in,” Daceyl said in an interview, published on OnIslam.com.
“I didn’t realize that we have the same prophets and that much of the information that we have been taught is actually the same as what Muslims were taught. So I really didn’t know much about Islam.”
A former Sunday school teacher, the New Brunswick resident had a strong Christian faith.
“I believed very strongly in what I believed.”
“I was teaching hundreds of children about Catholicism. That’s why I find it such a miracle that I converted to Islam! People argued to get their children into my Sunday School class!”
Dacey recalls her Muslim friends told her that the same God and the same message came down over and over again to the different prophets.
“What happened I think is truly a miracle. I couldn’t sleep, and I have been given a book by a Sheikh from the Masjid (mosque) who came from Syria, he was just visiting. And the book was entitled “Miracles of the Quran” and I couldn’t sleep at all that night. I had it for two years but I never read it.”
“One day I just picked up the book and I read it. And once I read it I got this really fighting feeling that 'Oh my Gosh, now I know it’s the truth.' I had no choice. And I knew that it was going to be so hard because it’s not really that easy to change your religion. You have to consider your family, how they are going to take it, and it’s very frightening.”
When Dacey converted to Islam, many of her friends and family had mixed responses.
“A lot of them moved away from me,” she said.
“My brothers and sisters took it differently. Some of them accepted it better than others, but nobody gave me a hard time.”
“My mother had a little bit of a hard time every time I tried to tell her she would escape the discussion. She knew, but she was afraid to discuss it. And that was about 3 and half years ago, and today she is happy about it. She said “I’m glad you found a beautiful religion.”
Dacey added: “I haven’t been able to convince her to be a Muslim yet.”
In an bid to get to know more Muslims, Dacey started a program at the Islamic society of Central Jersey called “Muslim by Choice” program.
“I started this program because I as a convert in the Masjid was someone isolated. As loving and wonderful Muslims are, they are a little bit protective too. So when you have no Muslim family, it has to be the Muslim sisters and a brother in the Masjid, but initially it’s hard to be accepted there.”
Dacey says despite the negative image being portrayed in the media about Islam, many women are still accepting of the religion.
“The number of Hispanic Muslims is really climbing,” she said.
“What I think happened sometimes too is focus here in the negativity and they are smarter than that and they say that can’t be right that can’t be true, what they are saying about Muslims can’t be right and this made them go and investigate it.?”
Watch the interview below:
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Oct 15, 2012, 06:18 PM EDT
Sorry Republic it should have read "BIGOT". I'm not a Muslim Krisdaly and I do not believe Jesus is the son of God.BTW Republic Hitchens and Dawkins practiced Christianity and wrote about it.Spencer is an associate of David Horowitz a well know Islamic basher. HE and Spencer are regular guests on all Fox TV and radio programme's. They push their right wing hate speech on the usual shows Beck,O'Reilly,Ingraham,Hannity and the comedy three stooge act called the Fox morning show again I apologise for calling you a racist,I should have called you a bigot.
Bill Doherty | Oct 15, 2012, 01:17 PM EDT
Why is this even news worthy? Who cares about her journey to her new faith,I wish her well you should be writing about the slaughter of Coptics and what we should be doing to help them survive!!!
krisdaly | Oct 15, 2012, 12:48 PM EDT
MUSLIM'S REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT JESUS (YASHUA) IS THE SON OF GOD, THE MESSIAH, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!! THE MUSLIMS WILL ADMIT THAT JESUS SITS ON THE RIGHT OF THE ALMIGHTY, AND IS ABOVE ALL THE PROPHETS INCLUDING MOHAMMED. NO HUMAN BEING CAN BE CLEANSED FROM ALL SIN AND GET TO HEAVEN EXCEPT THRU JESUS THE CHRIST.
BrianO | Oct 15, 2012, 09:01 AM EDT
Seano, I believe if she wishes to convert back to Christianity she could be stoned to death by the followers of the religion of peace.
ForTheRepublic! | Oct 15, 2012, 06:50 AM EDT
Forgot to mention there are loads of books out there by former Muslims who left their religion and dared to write books warning others even though they would face death for doing so! Does that make them bigots??? Also there is speculation that Robert Spencer converted to Islam but then left (can't be confirmed) but if true I doubt this would make him a bigot! Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out by Ibn Warraq is a book about loads of former Muslims who dared to speak out.
ForTheRepublic! | Oct 15, 2012, 06:38 AM EDT
My racist beliefs? When did I insult any race??? Islam is a religion not a race!!! Also alot of Arabs are Christian and rejected Islam back when people had no choice but to convert to this new religion as they couldn't afford to pay the tax that was forced upon them by their new Muslim rulers who used sharia law to get people to get non Muslim to covert or live in poverty or even worse face death! I take inspiraion from the Arabs that stayed strong and refused to convert to Islam. They also have a beautiful culture, language and history! Calling Robert Spencer a bigot just because he studied Islam and wrote a book critical about the religion does not make him a bigot! Does that also mean Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are bigots because they studied religion and have wrote books critical of it???
seanomelb | Oct 14, 2012, 07:21 PM EDT
Jetsnoone she did not abandon Jesus Islam accepts Jesus as a prophet from God. Mereflow shouting her ignorant uninformed bigoted opinion like a true crusader.A poster below quoting Spencer a known bigot making millions from his hate speech and sheep like "Republic" below in their racist beliefs suck it all up like vacuum cleaner.
canadianirish | Oct 14, 2012, 06:59 PM EDT
She says: "and I got this book called 'Miracles of the Qur'an...and once I read it I got this really frightening feeling"... Enough said.
merefalow | Oct 14, 2012, 04:49 PM EDT
BRILLIANT,SO NOW SHE KNOWS ABOUT ISLAM,WELL SHE DOES,NT,UNTILL SH,E,S BEEN MARRIED AGAINST HER WILL AT 12 TO AN 80 YEAR OLD MAN,UNTILL SH,S BEEN CIRCUMCISED TO PREVENT HER NORMAL SEXUAL FEELINGS,UNTILL SHE IS A FOURTH WIFE,UNTILL SHE HAS NO RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND THE RIGHT TO DRIVE,UNTILL SHE SPENDS HER LIFE BEHIND A VEIL AND RELINQUISHES ALL CONTACT WITH MEN,SHE DOESNT KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE MUSLIM RELIGION?
Canal Rat | Oct 14, 2012, 12:54 PM EDT
This makes me really confused about WHAT WOMEN WANT. The Catholic religion is not oppressive enough for you?
ForTheRepublic! | Oct 14, 2012, 11:36 AM EDT
The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion by Robert Spencer. Every child and adult should read this book including are leaders that smile infront of the camera telling us Islam is a religion of peace as they try to score points with Muslim world.
BrianO | Oct 14, 2012, 11:19 AM EDT
IC would only be happier if she wear a nun converting, as with most socialist, attack religion then control the people.
usacelt1 | Oct 14, 2012, 03:02 AM EDT
Makes no sense. If you are aiming for a pure monotheistic faith, choose Judaism. Why go for the Islamic religion that is clearly a plagiarism of countless belief systems, such as Christianity, Judaism, Nestorianism, Arab paganism, and the Gnostic Gospels. If Mohammed had been assigned a writing project, he would have been expelled from school for plagiarism. So sad to see her reject the great Lord who preached such radical equality messages like the "God Samaritan."
jetsnoone | Oct 14, 2012, 02:22 AM EDT
How sad to reject Jesus for this.
seanomelb | Oct 13, 2012, 08:06 PM EDT
Cheryl has every right to follow any religious belief.Islam is based on the same old book as Christianity and Judaism with all its fire and brimstone.
Bocktherobber | Oct 13, 2012, 05:34 PM EDT
That's as opposed to the perfectly reasonable advice of Leviticus? "If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." Sweet.
PiperMac52 | Oct 13, 2012, 05:28 PM EDT
This defies reason. Islam is an totalitarian ideology posing as a religion. It was born of the sword and it's "holy book" the Quran calls for the conversion of the world via any means. Additionally the Quran is replete with Suras that incite violence and hatred against infidels. "...take no Jew or Christian as friend." "Slay the infidel where yo find him, smite his neck..." Sharia law is barbaric in it's extreme punishment for even summary offences. Women are treated as chattel and have no rights. Is this woman insane?
Bocktherobber | Oct 13, 2012, 03:57 PM EDT
Kilgara- As opposed to a cult that believes in different fairies?
89west | Oct 13, 2012, 03:54 PM EDT
hmmmmmm......Divorced, Sunday School teacher with four kids. Need to look back on this story in a year or so. Meanwhile, look for her in Journal Square at the entrance to the tube station sitting on the sidewalk, jingling a paper coffee cup. Truly a case for intervention!
kilgara | Oct 13, 2012, 03:17 PM EDT
You combine a lack of knowledge of the basic tenents of Catholicism[ most Catholics , even those who attended Catholic schools after 1970 or so, are woefully ignorant of the faith largely because nuns and brothers were scarce by then and most lay teachers did not then or now have the "fire in their belly" to impart these truths the way the religious formerly did}and you take someone like Dacey who is , to put it kindly, not the sharpest crayon in the box{see interview}, and voila you have an instant convert to a vile and filthy cult. God help us.
Bocktherobber | Oct 13, 2012, 01:39 PM EDT
A woman went from believing in Christian pixies to believing in Muslim pixies and that's news?
Happyhippo | Oct 13, 2012, 01:35 PM EDT
Life is a learning curve for better or for worse, we don't get a trial run at it, just the one shot that's it,at the end of the day we look back and come to our own conclusions,no time for regrets.
cillowen | Oct 13, 2012, 12:54 PM EDT
good on ye - explore - scientific.
CitizenWhy | Oct 13, 2012, 12:47 PM EDT
Many of the rules associated with Sharia are also found in Leviticus: death for adulterers of both sexes, death for women who have premarital sex, death for disobedient children, condemnation of homosexuality, extremist patriarchy, etc. Actually, you can argue from the context in Leviticus that the condemnation of homosexuality applies only to homosexual sex at pagan temples, where ritual sex with the priests was common. The condemnation is part of a list of forbidden practices relating to pagan worship. But the popular interpretation does not take context into account. Leviticus is pretty savage as is the bloody revenge fantasy in Revelation.
PhlutiePhan | Oct 13, 2012, 10:58 AM EDT
Anyone who believes her "malarky" only need go so far as to read Nonie Darwish. Women are told one thing and once they are "trapped" they learn another. I have a friend from South Africa, half German-half black, whose daughter married a Muslim. This became the sad story for her. There is a wide gulf between fact and fancy. The complete subservience of women is hard to overcome in the arena of justice and reality.
Springfield9 | Oct 13, 2012, 10:57 AM EDT
Mullarkey! giving me a song and dance about the koran is absurd. the koran is nice reading but doesn't contain much fact. the REAL islam is in the 3 principal hadiths and they ain't so nice. The realtionship is the same between the bible and Canon Law. bible nice - Canon Law nasty.
misneac | Oct 13, 2012, 09:52 AM EDT
If I were the FBI I would keep an eye on her !
Parents | Oct 13, 2012, 09:44 AM EDT
I am catholic and would never ever even consider converting to Islam or the muslim faith. It is way too restrictive and too violent for me. We don't say it's voilent because of the media, we know it from world wide situations, we know it from other muslim women, we know it from the "honor" killing of their own children and siblings, we know it from things we have seen and heard first hand. It has nothing to do with the coverage in the media. There will always be a few who are vunerable, who seek attention, to are unhappy with their lives that look to do something radical. They now have a spokes woman who they hope will help to convert others.
Parents | Oct 13, 2012, 09:21 AM EDT
Start of a trend, a double-edged sword for right wing fundamentalist Muslims. These women converts will demand a more humanitarian interpretation of the Muslim tradition and equal rights for women. ... Is it easy for a Catholic woman to convert to Islam since Catholicism also subordinates women? Who knows? ... As the number of priests in the Catholic Church goes into a serious nosedive, Catholics will seek out a religion that is easier to practice, especially in the home. ... Women were responsible for Europe's conversion to Christianity and will be responsible for the conversion of the US and much of Europe to Islam.