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.

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

Cao Dai

• Phan Thị Kim Phúc - subject of a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by "Nick" Ut,^[14] she now heads a fund for children victims of war.^[15]

Manichaeism

• St. Augustine of Hippo - was an early Christian theologian and philosopher.^[16]

Rastafarian

• Judy Mowatt - Jamaican reggae singer ^[17]
• Papa San - Jamaican reggae singer ^[18]
• Bob Marley - Jamaican reggae singer and musician

Zoroastrianism

• Mar Abba I - Metropolitan bishop and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East^[19]
• 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.^[20]

Satanism

• Jason Massey - American murderer
• Sean Sellers - American murderer.^[21]

Skepticism

• Chip Ingram - American author and pastor of Venture Christian Church.

Undetermined

• Kim Dae-jung - President of South Korea from 1998 to 2003, and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.^[22]
• Tony Fontane - popular recording artist in the 1940s and 1950s^[23]
• 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.
• René Girard (1923-2015) - philosophical anthropologist^[24]
• William Onyeabor - Nigerian funk musician.
• Barbara Jones - Jamaican singer who after becoming a Christian gave up her secular career and released four Gospel albums.^[25]
• 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.^[26]
• 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.^[27]
• 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.^[28] After surviving a brain tumour, he released a Christian rock album The Lou Gram Band (2009).^[29]
• 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.^[30][31][32] He changed his life direction and became an evangelist under his real name Abraham Philip Akpor Kojo Kenya.^[33]
• 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.^[34]
• Spencer Chamberlain - lead vocalist of the Christian metalcore band Underoath, was not raised in a religious home.^[35]
• 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.^[36]
• 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.^[37]
• 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.^[38][39]
• G.E.M. - notable Hong Kong singer who was baptized and became a Christian in 2011.^[40]
• 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.^[41][42][43]

See also

• Conversion to Christianity
• Lists of former Christians

Notes and references