List of converts to Christianity

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.

Converts to Christianity

Total population

There are approximately 2.7 million conversions to Christianity every year, according to the World Christian Encyclopedia.^[1] According to various scholars and sources Pentecostalism – a Protestant Christian movement – is the fastest growing religion in the world,^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] this growth is primarily due to religious conversion.^[11]^[12] According to 2015 Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background": A Global Census study published by Baylor University institute for studies of religion, it estimates that 10.2 million Muslims converted to Christianity.^[13] Due primarily to conversion, Christianity has grown in South Korea from 2.0% in 1945^[14] to 29.3% in 2010^[15] Protestantism continues to experience steady growth as a result of conversion in Asia,^[14]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19] Latin America,^[16]^[20]^[21] the Muslim world,^[13] and Oceania.

From major religions

• List of converts to Christianity from nontheism
• 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

Baha'i Faith

• John Ford Coley — American artist and author.^[22]

Cao Dai

• Phan Thị Kim Phúc — subject of a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by "Nick" Ut,^[23] she now heads a fund for children victims of war.^[24]

Druze faith

• Abi-Lamma clan — prominent noble Levantine family and clan, converted from the Druze faith to Christianity.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30]}
• Khazen family — prominent noble Levantine family and clan based in Keserwan District, they converted to the Maronite Church.^[31]
• Selwa Roosevelt — Chief of Protocol of the United States for almost seven years from 1982-1989—longer than anyone has ever served in that position, she is from Lebanese Druze background, and converted to Methodism.^[32]
• Mohamed Alí Seineldín — Lebanese Argentine army colonel, he converted from Druzism to Roman Catholicism during his youth.^[33]
• Nada Nadim Prouty — Lebanese former intelligence professional, She was born into the Druze faith,^[34] later in life, she converted to Catholicism.^[34]

Manichaeism

• St. Augustine of Hippo — early Christian theologian and philosopher.^[35]

Rastafarian

• Bob Marley — Jamaican reggae singer and musician^[36]

Zoroastrianism

• Mar Abba I — Metropolitan bishop and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East^[37]
• Anastasius of Persia — was originally a Zoroastrian soldier in the Sasanian army, later converted to Christianity.^[38]
• Babowai — was Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Patriarch of the Church of the East from 457 to 484, during the reign of the Sassanid King Peroz I.^[39]
• Bademus — was a rich, noble citizen from Persia, who founded a monastery nearby.^[40]
• Behnam, Sarah, and the Forty Martyrs — were 4th-century Christians who suffered martyrdom during the reign of Shapur II.^[41]
• Christina of Persia — was a Sasanian Persian noblewoman and Christian martyr.^[42]
• Nadir Dinshaw — was a British Parsi philanthropist, businessman and accountant, he converted from Zoroastrianism to Christianity in the early 1960s.^[43]
• Shapurji Edalji — probably the first person from South Asia to be made the vicar of an English parish.^[44]
• Eustathius of Mtskheta — was an Orthodox Christian saint, executed for his apostasy from Zoroastrianism by the Sasanian military authorities in Caucasian Iberia.^[45]
• George of Izla — was an East Syriac martyr, theologian and interpreter.^[46]
• Golinduch — was a noble Persian lady, She converted from Zoroastrianism to Christianity in the reign of Khosrau I.^[47]
• Gregory the Commander — was a Sasanian military leader from the House of Mihran, who converted from Zoroastrianism to Christianity.^[48]
• Varaz Grigor — was the Mihranid king of Caucasian Albania from 628 until his death in 638.
• Daisy Irani — an Indian actress in Hindi and Telugu language films.^[49]
• Ishoʿsabran — was a Persian Zoroastrian convert to Christianity who was martyred in the Sasanian Empire in 620 or 621.^[50]
• Javanshir — was the prince of Caucasian Albania from 637 to 680, hailing from the region of Gardman.
• Joseph Hazzaya — was an 8th-century Syriac Christian writer, ascetic and mystic.^[51]
• Miles — was the bishop of Susa in Sasanian Persia from before 315 until his martyrdom in 340 or 341.^[52]
• Mirian III of Iberia — was a king of Iberia or Kartli.^[53]
• Niketas the Persian — was a 7th-century Byzantine officer.^[54]
• Peroz — was king of Gogarene and Gardman, ruling from 330 to 361. He converted to Christianity during his rule in Caucasus.^[55]
• Piran Gushnasp — he was appointed as the new governor (marzban) of Iberia. Between 540-542 he converted to Christianity.^[56]
• Razhden the Protomartyr — was a 5th-century Persian nobleman in the service of the Georgian king Vakhtang I of Iberia and a convert to Christianity who was executed by the Sassanid military in Iberia.^[57]
• Sagdukht — was a 5th-century queen consort of Iberia.^[58]
• Salome of Armenia — was an Armenian princess.^[59][60]
• Sinharib — was an Assyrian king who controlled Nineveh in the fourth century AD.^[61]
• Sultana Mahdokht — was the daughter of Pholar, the Prince of Dorsas.
• Theophobos — was an Iranian commander of the Khurramites who converted to Christianity.^[62]
• Tiridates III of Armenia — he proclaimed Christianity as the state religion of Armenia in 301, making the Armenian kingdom the first state to embrace Christianity officially.^[63]
• Yazdin — was an influential Iranian aristocrat.^[64]

Yezidism

• Zarifa Pashaevna Mgoyan — Russian pop singer, model and actress convert to Eastern Orthodoxy after marriage.^[65]

Satanism

• Bartolo Longo — Italian lawyer and former Satanic priest, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980
• Jason Massey — American murderer
• Sean Sellers — American murderer.^[66]

Skepticism

• Chip Ingram — American author and pastor of Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California.

Undetermined

• Kim Dae-jung — President of South Korea from 1998 to 2003, and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.^[67]
• Tony Fontane — popular recording artist in the 1940s and 1950s^[68]
• Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) — German aerospace engineer and space architect considered a "father of rocket science". Von Braun's religious conversion occurred in 1946 after he visited a church in Texas.^[69]
• René Girard (1923-2015) — philosophical anthropologist^[70]
• William Onyeabor — Nigerian funk musician.
• Barbara Jones — Jamaican singer who after becoming a Christian gave up her secular career and released four Gospel albums.^[71]
• Gloria Gaynor — American singer, best known for her disco era hits, notably "I Will Survive". After what she referred to as a sinful lifestyle, and a search in different faiths, she became a Christian and rejected several things from her former musical career.^[72]
• Tony Orlando — American producer who reached fame as the lead singer of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn in the early 1970s. Interviewed on The 700 Club, he explained that he became a Christian in 1978, after life struggles.^[73]
• 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.^[74] After surviving a brain tumour, he released a Christian rock album The Lou Gram Band (2009).^[75]
• 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.^[76][77][78] He changed his life direction and became an evangelist under his real name Abraham Philip Akpor Kojo Kenya.^[79]
• Nicko McBrain — drummer of heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
• Jin Au-Yeung — Chinese-American hip hop rapper, songwriter and actor. Became a born again Christian in 2008.^[80]
• Spencer Chamberlain — lead vocalist of the Christian metalcore band Underoath, was not raised in a religious home.^[81]
• Dave Mustaine — former lead guitarist of Metallica and co-founder and lead guitarist of Megadeth. Though raised as a Jehovah Witness, he left religion early in his youth and later practiced satanism and occult practices. In 2002 he became a born-again Christian.^[82]
• Kunle Ajayi — Nigerian saxophonist and veteran of Gospel music in his country. He became a Christian when he was in High School. Later, along with his musical career, he also became a Pastor.^[83]
• Abraham Laboriel — prominent Mexican bassist who has participated in over 5,000 studio albums along with international musicians. He became a Christian and recorded several Gospel albums and he has continued to play along with Christian and secular musicians.^[84][85]
• G.E.M. — notable Hong Kong singer who was baptized and became a Christian in 2011.^[86]
• Vanity — former front woman of Vanity 6 who after becoming a Christian renounced her stage name and music and started to preach in different parts of the U.S.^[87][88][89]

See also

• Conversion to Christianity
• List of people by belief

Notes and references

1. David B. Barrett; George Thomas Kurian; Todd M. Johnson, eds. (February 15, 2001). World Christian Encyclopedia p.360. Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 0195079639.
2. Miller, Donald E; Sargeant, Kimon H; Flory, Richard, eds. (9 September 2013). Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism. Oxford University Press Scholarship. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199920570.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-934563-2. Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing religious movement in the world
3. Anderson, Allan; Bergunder, Michael; Droogers, Andre (9 May 2012). Studying Global Pentecostalism: Theories and Methods. University of California Press Scholarship. doi:10.1525/california/9780520266612.001.0001. ISBN 9780520266612. With its remarkable ability to adapt to different cultures, Pentecostalism has become the world's fastest growing religious movement.
4. "Pentecostalism—the fastest growing religion on earth". ABC. 30 May 2021.
5. "Pentecostalism: Massive Global Growth Under the Radar". Pulitzer Center. 9 March 2015. Today, one quarter of the two billion Christians in the world are Pentecostal or Charismatic. Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religion in the world.
6. "More Religion, but Not the Old-Time Kind". The New York Times. 3 August 2005. The world's fastest-growing religion is not any type of fundamentalism, but the Pentecostal wing of Christianity.
7. "Witnessing The New Reach Of Pentecostalism". The Washington Post. 3 August 2002. Pentecostalism is widely recognized by religious scholars as the fastest-growing Christian movement in the world, reaching into many different denominations.
8. "Canadian Pentecostalism". McGill–Queen's University Press. 9 February 2009. One of the most significant transformations in twentieth-century Christianity is the emergence and development of Pentecostalism. With over five hundred million followers, it is the fastest-growing movement in the world. An incredibly diverse movement, it has influenced many sectors of Christianity, flourishing in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and having an equally significant effect on Canada.
9. "Max Weber and Pentecostals in Latin America: The Protestant Ethic, Social Capital and Spiritual Capital Ethic, Social Capital and Spiritual Capita". Georgia State University. 9 May 2016. Many scholars claim that Pentecostalism is the fastest growing religious phenomenon in human history.
10. A. Elwell, Walter (2017). Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Baker Academic. ISBN 9781493410774. Pentecostalism arguably has been the fastest growing religious movement in the contemporary world
11. "Protestantism: The fastest growing religion in the developing world". The Manila Times. 18 November 2017. At the heart of this religious resurgence are Islam and Pentecostalism, a branch of Protestant Christianity. Islam grew at an annual average of 1.9 percent between 2000 and 2017, mainly as the result of a high birth rate. Pentecostalism grew at 2.2 percent each year, mainly by conversion. Half of developing-world Christians are Pentecostal, evangelical or charismatic (all branches of the faith emphasize the authority of the Bible and the need for a spiritual rebirth). Why are people so attracted to it?.
12. "Why is Protestantism flourishing in the developing world?". The Economist. 18 November 2017. Pentecostalism grew at 2.2 percent each year, mainly by conversion. Half of developing-world Christians are Pentecostal, evangelical or charismatic.
13. Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane Alexander (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census". Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. 11: 8. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
14. Korean Overseas Information Service, A Handbook of Korea (1993) p, 132
15. "Global Christianity: Regional Distribution of Christians". Pew Research Center. December 19, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
16. Ostling, Richard N. (24 June 2001). "The Battle for Latin America's Soul". TIME.com. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
17. Phillips, Tom (19 April 2014). "China on course to become 'world's most Christian nation' within 15 years" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
18. "In China, Protestantism's Simplicity Yields More Converts Than Catholicism". International Business Times. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
19. Miller, 2006. pp. 185-186
20. Chris Arsenault. "Evangelicals rise in Latin America". Retrieved 14 February 2015.
21. "Religion in Latin America, Widespread Change in a Historically Catholic Region". pewforum.org. Pew Research Center, November 13, 2014. 13 November 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
22. Bruce 2000.
23. "Canadian Christianity.com".
24. Kim Foundation 2007-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
25. Gábor Ágoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009-01-01). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 530. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
26. F. Harik, Iliya (2017). Politics and Change in a Traditional Society: Lebanon 1711-1845. Princeton University Press. p. 241. ISBN 9781400886869. the Abillama' amirs, were mostly Christians converted from the Druze faith.
27. Shwayri, Raif (2016). Beirut on the Bayou: Alfred Nicola, Louisiana, and the Making of Modern Lebanon. SUNY Press. p. 14. ISBN 9781438460956. The Abillamah, by the way, also converted to Christianity when the Metn Mountains came to be densely inhabited by Christians, a second conversion for them, given that they already turned Druze earlier, relinquishing the Sunni religion
28. Nisan, Mordechai (2004). The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Etienne Sakr (Abu-Arz). Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 9781135759520. Other earlier converts were the Abillamah Druze Emirs and Harfush Shiite.
29. al- H̲azīn, Farīd (2000). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. Harvard University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780674081055. So did other amirs, like the originally Druze Abi-llamah family, which also became Maronite
30. Salibi, Kamal (1900). A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered. University of California Press. p. 162. ISBN 9780520071964. namely the emirs of the house of Abul - Lama, used to be Druzes before they converted to Christianity and became Maronites
31. Matti Moosa, The Maronites in History, p. 283. Quote
32. . Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
33. Irigaray, Juan I. (2009-09-11). "Mohamed Alí Seineldín, ex militar golpista". El Mundo (Spain). Retrieved 2010-06-17.
34. Prouty, Nada (2011). Uncompromised: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab American Patriot in the CIA. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-34124-1.
35. . Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-03.; [1] 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine
36. Booth, Martin. Cannabis: A History. pp. 366, 367, 368.
37. Holweck, F. G. "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints". St. Louis, Missouri: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
38. Payne 2015, p. 195.
39. Wigram 1910, p. 151.
40. Butler, Alban (1894). "April 10.—ST. BADEMUS, Martyr". Lives of the Saints. sacred-texts.com (Benziger Brothers). Retrieved 2007-07-23.
41. Rassam (2005), pp. 31–32.
42. Jean Maurice Fiey, Saints Syriaques (Darwin Press, 2004), pp. 59–60.
43. Holloway, Richard (2003-01-02). "Obituary: Nadir Dinshaw". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
44. John Wilson, The Star of Bethlehem and the Magi from the East: A Sermon Preached on the Occasion of the Baptism of a Parsi Youth 31 August, MDCCCLVI, Smith Taylor & Co, Bombay, 2nd ed, 1857
45. Lang, David Marshall (1976), Lives and Legends of the Georgian Saints, pp. 95-99. Mowbrays: London and New York.
46. Howard-Johnston 2010.
47. Michael G. Morony, Iraq after the Muslim Conquest, p. 299
48. Payne, Richard E. (2015). A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity. Univ of California Press. pp. 1–320. ISBN 9780520961531.
49. "I knew nothing about Jesus Christ earlier: Daisy Irani Shukla". The Christian Messenger. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
50. Jean Maurice Fiey, Saints Syriaques (Darwin Press, 2004), pp. 100–102.
51. Robert A. Kitchen (2011), "Yawsep Ḥazzaya", in Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, Gorgias Press.
52. Wood 2013, p. 266.
53. Thomson, Robert W. (1996), Rewriting Caucasian History, pp. 83-90. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-826373-2
54. Kaegi (2003), pp. 188–189, 206
55. Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Georgetown University Press. pp. 1–599.
56. Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.
57. Machitadze, Archpriest Zakaria (2006), "St. Razhden, Protomartyr of the Georgian Church (†457)", in The Lives of the Georgian Saints 2008-06-14 at the Wayback Machine. pravoslavie.ru. Retrieved on 2011-12-18.
58. Toumanoff, Cyril (1969). The Chronology of the Early Kings of Iberia. Fordham University Press. p. 28, n. 31.
59. Wardrop & Wardrop 2006, p. 71.
60. Rapp 2003, p. 218 & 295.
61. Karen Radner (1 March 2015). Ancient Assyria: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-19-871590-0.
62. Venetis 2005.
63. Binns, John. An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 30. ISBN 0-521-66738-0.
64. Morony 2005, p. 171.
65. . Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2014-10-18. До 2004 года Зара исповедовала езидизм, затем приняла христианство.
66. Clay and Thornton, "Sellers Executed For 3 Murders", The Daily Oklahoman, February 4, 1999.
67. "John Paul II's appeal saved future Korean president from death sentence". Catholic News Agency. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
68. Wonderful Words of Life: Hymns in American Protestant History and Theology By Richard J. Mouw, Mark A. Noll (Accessed 14 June 2007)
69. Mallon, Thomas (October 22, 2007) "Rocket Man", The New Yorker, Access date: January 8, 2015.
70. "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
71. Limited, Jamaica Observer. "Musical tributes for Barbara Jones". Jamaica Observer.
72. "Gloria Gaynor: Surviving in Christ". cbn.com.
73. Tony Orlando's Brush With Death, cbn.com; accessed June 23, 2014
74. "Legendary Voice of Foreigner Lou Gramm Discovers What Love Is". cbn.com.
75. "Lou Gramm Knows What Love Is (Extended Version)". cbn.com.
76. solutions, skills and. "all Ghana data Home Page - Your Research Portal". allghanadata.com.
77. CosmoGhana (29 July 2011). "Lord Kenya - A new Man". Archived from the original on 2021-12-19 – via YouTube.
78. "Truly Born Again! Lord Kenya says he cannot stand the smell of weed and alcohol now - AmeyawDebrah.Com". 17 October 2013.
79. "Stations and DJs are not helping my cause - Lord Kenya". ghanaweb.com. 13 November 2014.
80. . Archived from the original on 2010-03-27. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
81. The best interview ever with the lead men of UnderOath Norma Jean As I Lay Dying — Buzznet 2007-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
82. Stone, Rolling (10 December 2010). "Top 10 Rockers Who Found God". Rolling Stone.
83. NAIJ.com Kunle Ajayi speaks on music, rising from poor background. H. Igwe. March, 2016
84. Sevilla, María Eugenia. 2016. Abraham Laboriel, el discreto brillante. El Financiero.
85. Toma Tu Lugar Conference (Official Youtube Channel). Conferencia TOMA TU LUGAR — Reforma 2015 — Entrevista Abraham Laboriel. Sep 15, 2015
86. China Christian Daily. "Christian Singer G.E.M. Nominated on the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Music". Grace Zhi. January 12, 2016
87. Goblanerías.com. Muere a los 57 años de edad la cantante Vanity. 16 de febrero de 2016.
88. Rettenmund, Matthew (1996). Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon Of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV shows, Stars, and Trends Of That Decadent Decade. Macmillan. p. 57. ISBN 0-312-14436-9.
89. "Denise "Vanity" Matthews Of Vanity 6 Dead At 57". 16 February 2016.

Works cited

• Howard-Johnston, James (2010). "Ḵosrow II". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition.
• Morony, Michael G. (2005) [1984]. Iraq After The Muslim Conquest. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-59333-315-7.
• Rapp, S.H. Jr. (2003). Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Vol. 113. Peeters. ISBN 978-90-429-1318-9.
• Rassam, Suha (2005). Christianity in Iraq: Its Origins and Development to the Present Day. Gracewing Publishing.
• Venetis, Evangelos (2005). "Ḵorramis in Byzantium". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
• Wardrop, Margery; Wardrop, J.O. (2006). "Life of St. Nino". In Margery Wardrop; Kirsopp Lake; G.H. Gwilliam; C.F. Rogers (eds.). Studies in Biblical and Patristic Criticism: Or Studia Biblica Et Ecclesiastica. Vol. 5. Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-470-2.
• Wigram, William Ainger (1910). An Introduction to the History of the Assyrian Church or The Church of the Sassanid Persian Empire 100-640 A.D. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. ISBN 9780837080789.
• Wood, Philip (2013). The Chronicle of Seert: Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq. Oxford University Press.