List of people who made multiple religious conversions
This is a list of people noted for having converted to two or more religions or religious movements. Their original religion is mentioned first when applicable. In certain cases the individual considered themselves to be of more than one religion at a time.
- Nicolas Antoine – Started in Catholicism; conversions to Protestantism and Judaism. (not officially admitted to the last one)[1]
- Augustine of Hippo – Mixed Catholic/Pagan background with Catholic upbringing; conversions to Manichaeism, Neoplatonism, and finally baptized Catholic.[2]
- Nissim Baruch Black – Born to Sunni Muslim parents, later converted to Evangelical Christianity at age 14 after attending an Evangelical summer camp. Then turning to Messianic Judaism while still believing in Jesus. Later renounced his belief in Jesus and Christianity altogether and ending up converting to Orthodox Judaism.
- Eldridge Cleaver – Conversions/Associations to Nation of Islam then Evangelical Christianity then Mormonism.[3][4]
- Terry A. Davis – Raised as Catholic, before becoming an Atheist, and later a Independent Fundamentalist Christian.[5]
- Rod Dreher – Started in Methodism; conversions to Catholicism[6] then Eastern Orthodoxy.[7]
- Daveed Gartenstein-Ross – Jewish parents; conversions to Islam then Christianity.[8]
- Newt Gingrich – Lutheran to Baptist to Catholic
- Dawn Eden Goldstein – Raised in a Reform Jewish household; experienced being "born-again" to become a Christian, initially as Protestant and, many years later, was eventually received into the Catholic Church.
- Tom Hanks – Raised primarily in Catholicism then Mormonism; conversions to "born again" Christianity[9] and eventually Greek Orthodoxy.[10]
- Martin Harris – Undetermined Protestantism; Conversions to the Quakers, Universalists, Baptists, Presbyterians,[11] and several denominations of Mormonism,[12] Also may have been Methodist for a time. Known among Mormons as one of the Three Witnesses.
- Lex Hixon – Not raised religious; conversions to Vedanta, Sufism. Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and possibly Zen.
- Rabiah Hutchinson – "Matriarch" of radical Islam in Australia, born to a Sydney Presbyterian family; she later become a Baptist, then converted to Catholicism and eventually, to Sunni Islam.[13]
- Semei Kakungulu – Originally followed traditional African religion, then converted to Protestantism, Malakite Christianity, and finally Judaism.
- Muhammad Khodabandeh (Oljeitu) – Nestorian Christian upbringing; Buddhism, Sunni Islam, and Shia Islam.
- David Kirk – Originally Baptist; became a deacon in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and later converted to the Orthodox Church in America.[14]
- Setsuzo Kotsuji – Born Shinto; converted to Presbyterian Christianity and then Judaism.[15]
- Debi Mazar – Originally Catholic; Actress who reportedly converted to Buddhism, Judaism, and briefly the Jehovah's Witnesses.[16]
- Ibrahim Njoya – Bamum people religion; back and forth conversions from Islam to Christianity.[17] Also created his own religion.[18]
- Sinéad O'Connor (Shuhada' Davitt) – Irish singer-songwriter; a former excommunicated Roman Catholic before becoming an ordained breakaway Catholic priest for several years and later a [Sunni] Muslim for theological reasons,[19][20] thus invalidating her priesthood.
- Kirsten Powers – She was brought up an Episcopalian but spent much of her early adult life as an atheist; reverted to Christianity, first as a Presbyterian and then as a Catholic.
- Theophan Prokopovich – Born and raised an Orthodox Christianity, he converted to Eastern Catholicism in order to achieve better educational benefits, but reverted to Orthodox Christianity later in life.
- J. D. Salinger – Started in Judaism; converted or experimented with Zen Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Dianetics, and Christian Science.[21][22]
- Skanderbeg – Albanian monarch and military leader, National Hero of Albania, was born as Serbian Orthodox, converted to Islam in his early years, but reverted to Christianity later in life, dying as a Catholic.[23]
- Muriel Spark – Grew up a Presbyterian in the Church of Scotland, she was converted at first to Anglicanism in the Church of England and finally to Catholicism.
- Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln – Born an Orthodox Jew, he converted to Lutheranism to escape Austro-Hungarian authorities, and then converted to both Presbyterianism and Anglicanism and then finally converted to Buddhism towards the end of his life.
- Lauren Winner – A convert to Orthodox Judaism then to Christianity. Later ordained as an Episcopal priest.
References
[edit]- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ New York Times obituary
- ^ Africana Online Archived April 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hicks, Jesse (November 25, 2014). "God's Lonely Programmer". VICE Motherboard. Retrieved April 21, 2015.
- ^ Washington Post
- ^ Orthodox Christian Network
- ^ International Herald Tribune
- ^ Time Magazine
- ^ ldsfilm.com
- ^ Ronald W. Walker, "Martin Harris: Mormonism's Early Convert," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 19 (Winter 1986):30-33.
- ^ British Library on his mission for the Strangites
- ^ "Rabiyah and daughter married terror twins". The Australian.
- ^ OCA obituary
- ^ "Japanese Jew -- Page 1 -- TIME". 2007-03-10. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
- ^ NY Metro
- ^ African Studies Quarterly Archived February 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard Archived October 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Singer Sinead O'Connor converts to Islam and changes her name | I Am Birmingham". I Am Birmingham. October 25, 2018. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
- ^ Lonergan, Aidan. "Sinead O'Connor renounces Catholicism and converts to Islam". The Irish Post. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
- ^ Adherents.com
- ^ Dream Catcher: A Memoir by Margaret Salinger
- ^ Rendina, Claudio (2000). La grande enciclopedia di Roma. Rome: Newton Compton, 1136. ISBN 88-8289-316-2.