Talk:Lists of former Christians

message: Her WP bio only says that she was born into a Catholic family.  Nothing is said which indicates any personal belief on her part. Steve Dufour 01:06, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Barbara Smoker]]

message: He was certainly a skeptic and a critic of religion.  However, his WP bio says that he "never renounced Presbyterianism."  He also wrote a book about Catholic mystic Joan of Arc.  Christians can certainly be social critics and critics of religion, Jesus was himself.  I don't think it is clear that he left Christianity. Steve Dufour 19:39, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[Mark Twain]]

message: It is clear that he was a Christian.  What is not clear is that he left Christianity.  The Urantia Book, as much as some people might dislike it, does draw on the Bible and Christian tradition.  I don't think we can say for sure that he left Christianity. Steve Dufour 20:55, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I would tend to agree. While his beliefs are all perhaps notably out of step with what some might consider orthodox or mainline Christianity, the fact that Part IV of the Urantia Book is specifically and explicitly about Jesus makes it very hard to say that he abandoned Christianity, at least in some form, entirely. John Carter 13:48, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I'd have removed him, but he's already gone.--T. Anthony 07:01, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: [[William S. Sadler]]

message: I have recently started a thread at Talk:List of notable converts to Christianity#Qualifications for inclusion of "List of former (x)s" in which I am hoping we can standardize the qualifications for inclusion in such lists. Any constructive comments would be more than welcome. John Carter 14:55, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Qualifications for inclusion of "List of former (x)s" 

message: I put her back. Although she was never very religious her time as a Catholic is of enough significance to her writing to merit it I think.--T. Anthony 08:04, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mary Doria Russell 

message: Wasn't he christian before converting as Yussuf Islam? 217.228.126.209 (talk) 15:53, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Could be. I know he recorded some Christian songs, or at least one, "Morning has Broken." Steve Dufour (talk) 17:42, 1 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: But, his entry here stated he had a "nominally Christian upbringing, but never was a believer." Can this really be true? WikiPro1981X (talk) 08:59, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes. Just because one is brought up in a religion does not mean that you ever sincerely accept it. Nick Graves (talk) 11:27, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Cat Stevens

message: I am concerned that there are certain assumptions made in these lists that may result in some inaccurate information being included. One such assumption is that those who join a religion have automatically left their old one. Such is not the case. I know of a Christian who became Buddhist, but still considers himself Christian. Those who become Unitarian Universalist need not renounce the religion they had before joining. I know UUs who are humanist, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan, etc. While it is typically assumed that a Jew who converts to Christianity is no longer a (religious) Jew, there may be exceptions, such as certain members of Jews for Jesus. The Church of Scientology states that its religion is compatible with the major world religions. When listing someone here, it might not be adequate to cite a source that says someone was Christian, and then later joined another religion, because that person might still consider themselves Christian. It is far better to rely on a source that says specifically "X is no longer a Christian," and better still to rely on a statement to that effect from the person themselves. Nick Graves (talk) 16:49, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. I am going through the list especially to remove uncited or poorly cited material on living people. Kitfoxxe (talk) 14:03, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Not all who join a new faith have left their old one

message: Who thinks that former Miss California USA 2009 Carrie Prejean has abandoned her Christian faith yet? You know, what with her breast implants and all that sort of stuff??? I won't tell you to include her here, unless it is confirmed she has abandoned her faith.
WikiPro1981X (talk) 08:50, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm unaware of any church doctrine that says those with breast implants are no longer Christian. Yes, we need to wait for confirmation, and lifestyle choices we may consider poor or impious aren't confirmation. Nick Graves (talk) 11:31, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Carrie Prejean 

message: Hi,
Does anyone here think that Jessica Simpson is decidedly a former Christian after receiving bad press for not apologizing to the Resistance, a Christian activist group, over her music video for "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" back in 2005? 
If all this is true, should we include her in this list?
WikiPro1981X (talk) 17:09, 23 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jessica Simpson 

message: See this article for more details:
http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0730/Anne-Rice-says-no-more-to-Christianity-and-no-new-vampires
WikiPro1981X (talk) 22:57, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It reads more to me like she is still a Christian at a personal level, but has quit the Catholic Church. (And one must always be careful assisting to publicise people who make money by being well known) HiLo48 (talk) 23:39, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anne Rice Quits Christianity, But Remains a Believer 

message: I noticed that uncited names were just tagged with citation needed tags.  Instead of doing that shouldn't we just remove the names per WP:BLP?  In the end I would actually be in favor of AfD for this page and all the others at :Category:Lists of religious converts, but for now I think unreferenced BLP claims about religious belief should simply be removed.  Thoughts?Griswaldo (talk) 19:28, 25 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tagging vs. removal 

message: I noted that the article indicated that Frank Schaeffer had converted to Greek Orthodoxy. I may be incorrect, but isn't the Greek Orthodox church simply another form of Christianity? If so, I belief Mr. Schaeffer ought to be removed from the list.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ryan.gore1 (talk • contribs) 17:59, 8 May 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm going to remove him and maybe make other changes.--T. Anthony (talk) 04:11, 2 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Frank Schaeffer 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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