The following is a list of notable people who converted to Christianity from a different religion or no religion. This article addresses only past voluntary professions of faith by the individuals listed, and is not intended to address ethnic, cultural, or other considerations such as Marriage. Certain people listed here may be lapsed or former converts, or their current religious identity may be ambiguous, uncertain or disputed. Such cases are noted in their list entries.
Agnosticism or atheism Steve Beren - former member of the Socialist Workers Party (United States) who became a Christian conservative politicianSeattle Times "In 1975, he threw off his atheism and became a Christian." Anders Borg - Sweden's minister of finance Kirk Cameron - actor, star of Growing Pains (former atheist)Sin: An Honest Mistake? , by Kirk Cameron, Boundless Webzine. From the introduction: "But much more noteworthy than his acting career was his conversion to Christianity. Kirk was not raised in a church-going home and described himself as a devout atheist from a very young age." (Accessed 13 June 2007) Bruce Cockburn - Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer/songwriter (former agnostic)"I was brought up as an agnostic... and when I first became a Christian in the Seventies I didn't really know what it was I'd adopted." Faith in Practice: Holding on to the Mystery of Love, by Bruce Cockburn as told to Cole Morton, Third Way, September 1994, page 15. (Accessed 13 June 2007) Francis Collins - physician-geneticist, noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes; director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (former atheist)"He converted from atheism to Christianity in his twenties after seeing how radically his patients' faith transformed their experience of suffering, and after reading several works by C. S. Lewis." The Question of God: Interview with Francis Collins, WGBH Educational Foundation, 2004 (Accessed 14 June 2007) Larry Flynt - American publisher and pornographer; briefly converted under the auspice of Ruth Carter Stapleton"[Stapleton and Flynt] formed a fast friendship, which resulted in Flynt's surprising and publicized conversion to Christianity." Biography.com: Larry Flynt Bo Giertz - Swedish Confessional Lutheran bishop, theologian, and writer (former atheist)[Bo Giertz, The Hammer of God, revised edition, XIII, Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, 2005. Joy Gresham - American writer and wife of C. S. Lewis (former atheist) ; Anna Haycraft - raised in Auguste Comte's atheistic "church of humanity", but became a conservative Catholic in adulthoodTelegraph "She reacted strongly against her parents' beliefs and became a Catholic at 19, because she 'no longer found it possible to disbelieve in God.'" (pg 2) Ignace Lepp - French psychiatrist whose parents were freethinkers and who joined the Communist party at age fifteen; broke with the party in 1937 and eventually became a Catholic priestTime Magazine from July 19, 1963 "Lepp has the credentials to explain the mind of the atheist: he was one himself for 27 years." Félix Leseur - doctor turned priest; his conversion, in part, came by efforts of his wife who was declared a Servant of God by the Catholic ChurchCatholic Net Khang Khek Leu (also known as Comrade Duch) - Cambodian director of Phnom Penh's infamous Tuol Sleng detention center"The Killer and the Pastor" article from Time.com C. S. Lewis - Oxford professor and writer; known for The Chronicles of Narnia series, and for his apologetic Mere Christianity"Lewis lapsed into atheism in his teens but experienced a reconversion to Christianity in 1931." Lewis, C.S.. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved June 28, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online Shelley Lubben - former pornographic actress, current author and executive director of the Pink Cross Foundation, anti-pornography activist Gabriel Marcel - French philosopher and playwright (former agnostic)John J. Drummond, Lester E. Embree. Phenomenological Approaches to Moral Philosophy: A Handbook; Norma McCorvey - "Jane Roe" in Roe v. Wade Alister McGrath - biochemist and Christian theologian; founder of "scientific theology" and critic of Richard Dawkins in his book Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life Czesław Miłosz - Nobel prize-winning poet Nina Karin Monsen - Norwegian moral philosopher and author who grew up in a humanist family, and later converted to Christianity through philosophic thinking Crissy Moran - former pornographic actress and current anti-pornography activist Lacey Mosley - vocalist and lyricist for Alternative metal band FlyleafInterview for Christianity Today: I was so outspoken about not believing in God. I had real problems with Christians.] William J. Murray - author and son of atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair Bernard Nathanson - medical doctor who was a founding member of NARAL, later becoming a pro-life proponentNathanson, Bernand Aborting America (1981 Pinnacle Books) Marvin Olasky - former Marxist turned Christian conservative; edits the Christian World magazineMarxism and Me by Marvin Olasky : My communism was based on atheism, and when I could no longer be an atheist, I resigned from the party. George R. Price - geneticist who became an Evangelical Christian and wrote about the New Testament; later moderated his evangelistic tendencies and switched from religious writing to working with the homeless Anne Rice - author of Interview with the VampireInterview with a Penitent from Christianity Today Edith Stein - phenomenologist philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Discalced Carmelite nun; declared a saint by John Paul IIUniversity of Chicago "made a spiritual journey from atheism to agnosticism before eventually converting to Catholicism" Peter Steele - lead singer of Type O Negative Lee Strobel - author of The Case for Christ (former atheist) Allen Tate - American poet, essayist and social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"...he was an atheist arguing for religious values, a man writing an essay on religion 'in a spirit of irreligion.'... He would not convert to Catholicism for two decades, but his need for religious authority was acute even in 1930." Allen Tate: Orphan of the South, p. 167, biographer Thomas A. Underwood, Princeton University Press, 2000, František Vyskočil – Czech neuroscientist"I Was Raised an Atheist". Awake!. November 2010. pp. 8–9. J. Warner Wallace - American homicide detective, apologist, and writer of anti-atheist book God's Crime Scene (2015)"'Cold-Case Christianity': The Gospel Through a Homicide Detective's Lens", Christian Post, May 7, 2013. Retrieved 2015-11-03. Evelyn Waugh - British writer (former agnostic)"He was conspicuously bohemian and agnostic..." "Waugh's Catholicism is an organic part of this oneness. In 1930 he was converted..." Fay Weldon - British novelist and feministThe Guardian Quote: Even though she was raised an atheist, in the past three or four years she has been going to church. In her eighth decade, she has even submitted to being baptised. Monty White - British Young Earth Creationist (former atheist)"At that time, I was an atheist." "...I was converted as I repented of my sins and asked God to accept me in Christ." My Spiritual Pilgrimage from Theistic Evolution to Creationism by Monty White John C. Wright - science fiction authorAdvocates for self-government (A Libertarian site) says of him "A lifelong 'vehement, argumentative, proselytizing atheist,' Wright suffered a heart attack in 2003 and soon afterwards had a 'supernatural' religious experience that made him, he wrote, 'aware of a spiritual dimension of reality of which I had hitherto been unaware... I was altered down to the root of my being.' Wright is now a Christian.
Baha'i Faith John Ford Coley - American artist and authorBruce 2000.
Buddhism David Yonggi Cho - Korean Christian leader; senior pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church Mitsuo Fuchida - Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service captain noted for involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbor; became a Christian evangelistFrom Pearl Harbor to Calvary by Mitsuo Fuchida Jaruvan Maintaka - auditor-general of the Kingdom of Thailand Chieko N. Okazaki - Relief Society counselor (convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Talduwe Somarama - former Buddhist monk and assassinTime Magazine Charlie Soong - Chinese missionary Paul Williams - professor in Indian Religions at the University of Bristol, England; was a Buddhist for many years but has since converted to Roman CatholicismBuddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies Edited and with a new introduction by Paul Williams (London: Routledge, 2005). Eight volumes.
Cao Dai Phan Thị Kim Phúc - subject of a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by "Nick" Ut; now heads a fund for children victims of war
Confucianism Hong Sa-ik - Korean-Japanese World War II general who was executed for war crimes after the war Heup Young Kim - theologian and member of the International Society for Science and ReligionInterview "I had a religious conversion and became a Christian. Before I followed Confucianism" Nakamura Masanao - member of the Meirokusha who was baptized; largely retained the Confucian ideals that were compatible with Christianity Sun Myung Moon - raised Korean Confucianist before his family (including himself) converted to Presbyterianism, before later he founded Unification Movement (Christian New religious movement) later his lifeUnification Church: Mass Moonie Marriage in the US, BBC News, Saturday, 29 November 1997. Xi Shengmo - Chinese Christian leader
Druze faith Abillama clan - prominent noble Levantine family and clan, converted from the Druze faith to Christianity Khazen family - prominent noble Levantine family and clan based in Keserwan District; converted to the Maronite Church Selwa Roosevelt - chief of Protocol of the United States for almost seven years (1982–1989; longer than anyone has ever served in that position); from Lebanese Druze background, and converted to Methodism Mohamed Alí Seineldín - Lebanese Argentine army colonel, converted from Druzism to Roman Catholicism during his youth Nada Nadim Prouty - Lebanese former intelligence professional; born into the Druze faith; later in life, converted to Catholicism
Hinduism Krishna Mohan Banerjee - Indian educator, linguist, and missionary Michael Madhusudan Dutt - Bengali poet Bobby Jindal - American governor of Louisiana Rabi Maharaj - Trinidadian-born Indian author and evangelistRabi Maharaj Death of a Guru: A Remarkable True Story of one Man's Search for Truth. Mohini - Indian actress Sister Nirmala - Indian religious sister Krishna Pal - first Indian convert to Baptist Christianity and preacher Devasahayam Pillai - Indian layman and martyrChurch beatifies India's first 'lay' martyr, Business Standard, 2 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012. Predhuman K. Joseph Dhar - Indian author and social worker Francina Sorabji - Indian educator Puroshottam Choudhary - Telugu poet and pastorChristopher, K. W. "Negotiating the Spiritual: Purushottama Choudhari and Early 19th Century Christian Literature in Telugu." Indian Literature, vol. 59, no. 1 (285), Sahitya Akademi, 2015, pp. 150–64, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44479273. Henry Alfred Krishnapillai - Tamil poet Mathangi Arulpragasam - British-Sri Lankan singer-songwriter
Islam
A
Aslan Abashidze - leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia; born into a renowned Muslim Ajarian family, a branch of the Abashidze princely house Mohammed Sheikh Abdiraman - Somali convert to Christianity who was shot by al Shabaab members Abo of Tiflis - Christian activist and the patron saint of the city of Tbilisi, GeorgiaCollected Papers in Greek And Georgian Textual Criticism, pg. 174.; January 8th Saints