List of converts to Christianity
1st row: Sake Dean Mahomed • Skanderbeg • Fritz Haber • Max Born • John von Neumann 2nd row: Pocahontas • Lise Meitner • Mitsuo Fuchida • Benjamin Disraeli • Gerty Theresa Cori 3rd row: Malika Oufkir • Bobby Jindal • Clive Staples Lewis • William Levy • Sun Yat-sen 4th row: Emir Kusturica • Hakeem Seriki • Felix Mendelssohn • Carlos Menem • Akbar Gbaja-Biamila 5th row: Daniel Tammet • Francis Collins • Anne Rice • Peter Hitchens • Magdi Cristiano Allam | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,501,396 every year, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia[1][2] Another estimate says in Africa, every year, 6 million Muslims convert to Christianity.[3] |
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.
From major religions
- List of converts to Christianity from Atheism
- List of converts to Christianity from Buddhism
- List of converts to Christianity from Confucianism
- List of converts to Christianity from Hinduism
- List of converts to Christianity from Islam
- List of converts to Christianity from Judaism
- List of converts to Christianity from Paganism
- List of converts to Christianity from Sikhism
Cao Dai
- Phan Thị Kim Phúc - Subject of a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by "Nick" Ut,[4] she now heads a fund for children victims of war.[5]
Manichaeism
Rastafarian
- Bob Marley - Jamaican reggae singer
- Judy Mowatt - Jamaican reggae singer [7]
- Papa San - Jamaican reggae singer [8]
Zoroastrianism
- Mar Abba I, Metropolitan bishop and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East[9]
- Shapurji Edalji, probably the first person from South Asia to be made the vicar of an English parish.
Yezidism
- Zarifa Pashaevna Mgoyan - Russian pop singer, model and actress convert to Eastern Orthodoxy after marriage.[10]
Satanism
- Jason Massey - American murderer
- Sean Sellers - American murderer.[11]
- Mongol Stres - Indonesian comedian.[12]
Skepticism
- Chip Ingram - American author and pastor of Venture Christian Church.
Undetermined
- Tony Fontane - popular recording artist in the 1940s and 1950s[13]
- Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), German aerospace engineer and space architect considered a "father of rocket science". Von Braun's religious conversion occurred in 1944 after he visited a Church in Texas.
- René Girard (1923-) - philosophical anthropologist[14]
- Tony Orlando, American producer who reached fame as the lead singer of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn in the early 1970s. Interviewed in the 700 Club, he explained that he became a Christian in 1978, after life struggles.[15]
- Lou Gramm, lead singer of 80's band Foreigner. He struggled with sex, drugs and rock n'roll, and in 1992, after having completed a stint in a rehab center, he became a born again Christian.[16] After surviving a brain tumour, he released a Christian rock album The Lou Gram Band (2009).[17]
- Lord Kenya, pioneer of Ghanaian Hiplife and multiple award-winning musician who in 2010 became a Christian after visiting a Church where he said he had an experience with the Holy Spirit and a warning of repentance.[18][19][20] He changed his life direction and became an evangelist known by his real name, Abraham Philip Akpor Kojo Kenya.[21]
- Nicko McBrain - Drummer of heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
- Jin Au-Yeung - a Chinese-American hip hop rapper, songwriter and actor. Became a born again Christian in 2008.[22]
- Spencer Chamberlain - Lead vocalist of the Christian metalcore band Underoath, was not raised in a religious home.[23]
See also
Notes and references
- ^ The Numbers. FastestGrowingReligion.com
- ^ "Fastest Growing Religion – Numbers".
- ^ Six Million African Muslims Convert to Christianity Each Year. OrthodoxyToday.org May 6, 2006.
- ^ Canadian Christianity.com
- ^ Kim Foundation
- ^ [1]; [2]
- ^ http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608003963/Judy-Mowatt.html
- ^ http://194.154.164.100/~westbury@westburymusicltd.co.uk/4artisttrackdb/showarticle.php?id=86
- ^ Holweck, F. G. "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints". St. Louis, Missouri: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
- ^ http://kurd-art.com/index.php/en/everything-for-you/music/music/188-zara До 2004 года Зара исповедовала езидизм, затем приняла христианство.
- ^ Clay and Thornton, "Sellers Executed For 3 Murders", The Daily Oklahoman, February 4, 1999.
- ^ http://hot.detik.com/read/2011/12/30/132856/1803108/1303/1/mongol-pernah-jadi-pemimpin-gereja-setan Mongol Pernah Jadi Pemimpin Gereja Setan
- ^ Wonderful Words of Life: Hymns in American Protestant History and Theology By Richard J. Mouw, Mark A. Noll (Accessed 14 June 2007)
- ^ "In the winter of 1959 [René Girard] experienced a conversion to Christian faith which had been preceded by a kind of intellectual conversion while he was working on his first book." René Girard:A Biographical Sketch, by James G. Williams
- ^ Tony Orlando's Brush With Death, cbn.com; accessed June 23, 2014
- ^ Lou Gramm Knows What Love Is
- ^ Lou Gramm Knows What Love Is (Extended Version)
- ^ Lord Kenya | Born Again
- ^ Lord Kenya - A new man
- ^ Truly Born Again! Lord Kenya says he cannot stand the smell of weed and alcohol now
- ^ Stations and DJs are not helping my cause - Lord Kenya
- ^ http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2009/09/03/21923200.aspx
- ^ The best interview ever with the lead men of UnderOath Norma Jean As I Lay Dying - Buzznet