{"id":22811,"date":"2026-09-14T09:57:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=22811"},"modified":"2026-09-14T09:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T13:57:51","slug":"former-transgender-atheist-says-one-bible-verse-helped-lead-her-back-to-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/former-transgender-atheist-says-one-bible-verse-helped-lead-her-back-to-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Former Transgender Atheist Says One Bible Verse Helped Lead Her Back to Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Haley Furst<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For years, Haley Furst identified as a transgender man, embraced atheism and held political beliefs far removed from the Christian upbringing of her childhood. Today, she says her life and worldview have dramatically changed after rediscovering her faith in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

“I really just had a radical perspective change where now \u2026 I believe in biblical values and everything that entails and what that looks like,” Furst told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

Furst grew up in Alberta, Canada, in a Christian family and attended a private Christian school until high school. She described entering the Canadian public school system as a “culture shock,” particularly as she encountered conversations surrounding gender and sexuality that had not been prominent in her earlier education.<\/p>\n

During the years that followed, Furst said she began identifying as a transgender man.<\/p>\n

“I was born a female \u2026 but for five or six years I presented as a male [and] took male hormones so that I could appear as a man,” she said. Furst also underwent a hysterectomy, during which her uterus and one ovary were removed.<\/p>\n

At the same time, her religious beliefs changed. Furst said she became an atheist and embraced far-left political views, including anarchist communism.<\/p>\n

But a seemingly simple interaction with a coworker eventually prompted her to reconsider her faith.<\/p>\n

Furst said the coworker shared Romans 8:38-39 with her, in which the Apostle Paul declares that nothing in creation can separate believers from the love of God found in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

The passage stayed with her.<\/p>\n

“I had gone home and continued to wrestle with that, and by myself alone in my bedroom I said \u2026 I’m just going to pray and see what happens,” Furst recalled. “I highly doubt that Jesus would still want me, but I’m going to do that anyway.”<\/p>\n

Rather than describing an immediate transformation, Furst said returning to Christianity became a gradual process.<\/p>\n

“It was slow hard work, but now I get to come as the woman that I am today, because it was [a] slow and steady journey of [my] relationship with Jesus,” she said.<\/p>\n

Her experience has also shaped how she now views conversations with children and teenagers about gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n

Furst believes those discussions became too prominent and detailed during her teenage years and argues that parents should have a central role in deciding when and how such subjects are discussed with their children.<\/p>\n

“There is so much talk, way more talk with children about sexual identity than there ever was in past years,” she said.<\/p>\n

Furst also said she does not believe teachers should have detailed conversations with young teenagers about sexual activity, arguing those discussions should be left primarily to families.<\/p>\n

“I think that should be reserved for families to decide how they want to approach those conversations and when it’s most appropriate for those to be had,” she said.<\/p>\n

For Furst, however, the heart of her story is the faith she once left behind. What began with a coworker sharing a few verses from Romans ultimately prompted her to pray again \u2014 and started what she describes as a long journey back to Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years, Haley Furst identified as a transgender man, embraced atheism and held political beliefs far removed from the Christian upbringing of her childhood. Today, she says her life and worldview have dramatically changed after rediscovering her faith in Jesus Christ. “I really just had a radical perspective change where now \u2026 I believe in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":22814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Transgender Atheist Says One Bible Verse Helped Lead Her Back to Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Haley Furst, a former transgender atheist, shares how a Bible verse sparked a dramatic journey back to faith in Jesus Christ.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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