"held the conviction" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you mean to express that someone has a strong feeling of certainty about an idea or belief. For example: "She held the conviction that she could make a difference if given the opportunity."
Seleucus I and his successors hoped to Hellenize Asia and held the conviction that the Greeks and Macedonians were a superior people and the bearers of a superior civilization.
He said he held the conviction that Iran was going to get a nuclear weapon that it would detonate, presumably as a test, in the period between 2010 and 2015, and that this would "create an incredibly unstable situation in the Middle East".
Before the Syrian uprising in 2011, Assad and his intelligence held the conviction that Jihad could be manipulated for the benefit of the regime.During this time, foreign fighters entered Syria and created the networks they use today.
The Tea Partiers whom Hochschild writes about sense a collapse in the work ethic of their neighbors, but they also still hold the conviction that social decay is worse in other places.
At 70 years old, Goodnight holds the conviction that "what makes his organization work are the new ideas that come out of his employee's brains".
At HP, we hold the conviction that the science is clear, the impacts are serious and the need to act is essential.
Firstly, because they can hold the conviction that one arm is medically superior [ 36- 38].
ALAC holds the conviction that the highest standard of care is achieved within this multidisciplinary environment.
They held the firm conviction that conservatism was something that appealed exclusively to people in the provinces of the nation.
I had held the entitled conviction of a middle-class, white British woman that all victims of violent crime could expect access to justice.
Darwin held to the conviction he grew up with, that human beings must not be bought, sold or owned.
