I struggled with this when I first converted. I still do a bit to be honest. I kept all of my protestant items for two reasons. One, they are still valid in many ways. I have a book that talks about forgiveness. The author is Protestant, but the points are still valid and helpful for me on my path. Second, it helps for me comparisons, particularly when people begin to question my conversion decision.
I have found that many things people think are “different” are actually the same or similar, and the things people think are the same are actually different. I have met cradle Catholics who have no clue that the Catholic bible has different books. I can show them my KJV and NIV as proof. I have met life long Protestants, who swear that Protestants “don’t do” confession, but always have the cat butt face when I point out that several Protestant denominations have a history of making people confess to the church body as a whole when they have sinned greatly.
If it makes you feel any better, I have a copy of the Koran also. LOL Long story there, but it was purely academic and now I keep it to defend my Muslim friends when someone says “their book says…”. Obviously, I don’t read it on a regular basis and can’t quote things from it, but I don’t think understanding others is bad. In fact, I think it helps me to understand MY faith better because I can reply in CONTEXT when someone asks me things.
Your question makes perfect sense to me though as a convert. There is a study group here at the military base where I live currently. It is hosted by the Protestant women’s group. They have women of all faiths attending (Protestant, Catholic, Mormon) and they are proud of this as it shows how “welcoming” they are. I disagree. Maybe it’s just my old Protestant habits, but Bible study to me, means an in-depth study. So I don’t see how deep they can get when the faiths are different in their beliefs about how the Bible is interpreted. I am pretty sure it’s an excuse for some of the women to get together, but a small part of me wonders how many people are trying to convert the non-Protestant attendees.
I think that even re-reading some of those things from a “fresh” perspective as a convert can be quite eye-opening. My husband and I have actually gotten stronger from re-analyzing things we were taught as children. We say often, “see THIS is why I converted”.