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I didn't intend for all the Christians to be Catholic, I might look for more later.
Okay I think he's Protestant
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=== Agnostics who converted to Christianity ===
=== Agnostics who converted to Christianity ===
*[[Paul Bourget]]&nbsp;– French author who became agnostic and positivist at 15, but returned to Catholicism at 35.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=DaJI8Qmn-LUC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=%22paul+bourget%22+agnostic&source=bl&ots=Pc0Eue076w&sig=yjWNICPTnO8n66d06j0TcZQHhro&hl=en&ei=_KvSS9LhOIHc8QT76Iy2Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22paul%20bourget%22%20agnostic&f=false Career stories: Belle Epoque novels of professional development by Juliette M. Rogers, pg 55]</ref>
*[[Paul Bourget]]&nbsp;– French author who became agnostic and positivist at 15, but returned to Catholicism at 35.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=DaJI8Qmn-LUC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=%22paul+bourget%22+agnostic&source=bl&ots=Pc0Eue076w&sig=yjWNICPTnO8n66d06j0TcZQHhro&hl=en&ei=_KvSS9LhOIHc8QT76Iy2Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22paul%20bourget%22%20agnostic&f=false Career stories: Belle Epoque novels of professional development by Juliette M. Rogers, pg 55]</ref>
*[[Bruce Cockburn]] - Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer/songwriter. (former agnostic)<ref>"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." [http://www.things.org/music/bruce_cockburn/articles/third_way.html 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)</ref>
*[[Avery Dulles]]&nbsp;– A Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal in the [[Catholic Church]]. He was raised Presbyterian, but was an agnostic before his conversion to Catholic Christianity.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/19/cardinal-avery-dulles Obituary at the Guardian]</ref><ref>[http://www.newsweek.com/id/174310 Newsweek obituary]</ref>
*[[Avery Dulles]]&nbsp;– A Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal in the [[Catholic Church]]. He was raised Presbyterian, but was an agnostic before his conversion to Catholic Christianity.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/19/cardinal-avery-dulles Obituary at the Guardian]</ref><ref>[http://www.newsweek.com/id/174310 Newsweek obituary]</ref>
*[[Dawn Eden]]&nbsp;– Rock journalist of Jewish ethnicity who went from an agnostic to a Catholic writer, who was particularly concerned with the moral values of chastity.<ref>[http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/26/Pasco/Author_tells_of_her_j.shtml St. Petersburg Times]</ref><ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23437024/ MSNBC]</ref>
*[[Dawn Eden]]&nbsp;– Rock journalist of Jewish ethnicity who went from an agnostic to a Catholic writer, who was particularly concerned with the moral values of chastity.<ref>[http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/26/Pasco/Author_tells_of_her_j.shtml St. Petersburg Times]</ref><ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23437024/ MSNBC]</ref>

Revision as of 00:59, 8 April 2012

This is a list of notable persons who formerly identified as either atheists or agnostics, but then developed belief in a deity or deities. In some countries the percentage of those professing "no belief" is growing.[1] A 2008 Pew Forum study reported that 3.9% of Americans were raised without religion, but later affiliated with a religious group. The same study reported that 12.7% of Americans were unaffiliated despite being raised in a particular faith.[2]

For lists specific to atheist converting to religions see


Former Atheists

Atheists who converted to Hinduism

Atheists who became an unspecified/uncertain form of theism or deism

Former Agnostics

Agnostics who converted to Christianity

Agnostics who converted to Islam

  • Silma Ihram - An Australian educator, author, and racial tolerance campaigner. After an agnostic upbringing she became "born again Christian" and then Muslim.[32]

Agnostics who converted to Judaism

See also

References

  1. ^ Demographics of Atheism
  2. ^ U.S.Religious Landscape Survey (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. 2008. pp. 22–26. The unaffiliated group provides a good example of the high degree of religious movement that has taken place in the U.S. Overall, 3.9% of the adult population reports being raised without any particular religious affiliation but later affiliating with a religious group. However, more than three times as many people (12.7% of the adult population overall) were raised in a particular faith but have since become unaffiliated with any religious group.
  3. ^ Besant, Annie. The Building of the Kosmos and Other Lectures: Delivered at the Eighteenth. The Path, 1894.
  4. ^ "John Dobson: Amateur Astronomy's Revolutionary". space.com.
  5. ^ Wall Street Journal Article about John
  6. ^ Goel, Sita Ram, "How I became a Hindu"
  7. ^ ABC Australia.
  8. ^ The Australian
  9. ^ BBC Interview Quote: "What I was converted to was the existence of an Aristotelian God, and Aristotle's God had no interest in human affairs at all."
  10. ^ Moses Hess: The Holy History of Mankind and other writings
  11. ^ Christianity Today
  12. ^ LA Times
  13. ^ Baltimore Sun: My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been or might become.
  14. ^ Interview with Schulman: "After a thorough analysis of my previous life's experiences, and later experiences that lent validation, I concluded that the reality was that what had happened to me were really encounters with God -- therefore proving God's existence to me."
  15. ^ Village Voice
  16. ^ Sun Comics
  17. ^ "Ted Turner apologizes, joins churches' $200M malaria fight". USA Today. Associated Press. 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2009-10-27.
  18. ^ Career stories: Belle Epoque novels of professional development by Juliette M. Rogers, pg 55
  19. ^ "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)
  20. ^ Obituary at the Guardian
  21. ^ Newsweek obituary
  22. ^ St. Petersburg Times
  23. ^ MSNBC
  24. ^ Catholic Converts: British and American Intellectuals Turn to Rome by Patrick Allitt, pg 199-201
  25. ^ Phenomenological approaches to moral philosophy By John J. Drummond, Lester E. Embree; pg 269
  26. ^ Malcolm Muggeridge: A Life by Ian Hunter
  27. ^ Chicago Sun-Times obituary
  28. ^ Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture
  29. ^ The American Spectator
  30. ^ Race: the history of an idea in America by Thomas F. Gossett, pg 390
  31. ^ Six Modern British Novelists by George Stade, pgs 53-55
  32. ^ FAIR (pdf)
  33. ^ Profile of Anfinsen