List of former atheists and agnostics

This is a list of notable persons who were formally 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.Demographics of Atheism In one study of the United States 0.3% of Americans were listed as people who were former atheists. The same study indicated that 1.4% of Americans from non-atheist homes became atheists, and that in total 1.6% of Americans described themselves as atheists, 2.4% as agnostics and 12.1% as "nothing in particular".Changes in American religious affiliation - Pew 
==Converts and reverts to Christianity==
*Mortimer Adler - Philosopher who co-founded Great Books of the Western World. Agnostic convert to the Catholic Church.Grand Forks HeraldFree Inquiry
*Steve Beren - Former member of the Socialist Workers Party (United States) who became a Protestant conservative politician.Seattle Times "In 1975, he threw off his atheism and became a Christian."
*Anders Borg - Sweden's Minister for Finance.Wall Street Journal
*Julie Burchill - British journalist and feminist.The Guardian "I grew up, and stopped being an atheist, in my 20s, in the 1980s."
*Kirk Cameron - an American actor best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation comedy, Growing Pains, as well as several other television and film appearances as a child actor. Today he is a Protestant Evangelical. Recently, he portrayed the lead roles in the Left Behind film series and in the 2008 drama film, Fireproof. "Christianity Today: The Rebirth of Kirk Cameron
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*Whittaker Chambers - Former Communist turned conservative writer.Heritage FoundationTruTV: "He had been an atheist and had been kicked out of Columbia University for writing a play considered blasphemous."
*Francis Collins - Geneticist who was an atheist until age 27, but then converted to Christianity.Sunday Times "Collins was an atheist until the age of 27, when as a young doctor he was impressed by the strength that faith gave to some of his most critical patients."
*Joy Davidman - Poet and wife of C. S. Lewis.San Francisco Chronicle: At 8, she read H. G. Wells' "The Outline of History" and pronounced herself an atheist. 
*Avery Dulles - A Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal in the Catholic Church. He was raised Presbyterian, but was an agnostic before his conversion to Catholic Christianity.Obituary at the GuardianNewsweek obituary 
*Dawn Eden - Rock journalist of Jewish ethnicity who went from an agnostic to a Catholic writer, who was particularly concerned with the moral values of chastity.St. Petersburg TimesMSNBC
*André Frossard - French journalist who was atheist, but converted to the Catholic Church in 1935.Time Magazine obituary
*Eugene D. Genovese - Historian who went from Stalinist to conservative theist.Interview in the National Review: FMG:You've mentioned that you now believe in God. How recent is that? Eugene Genovese: It's in the last two years. You know, in The Southern Front I still spoke as an atheist; one reviewer said that I protest too much. When the book came off the press and I had to reread it, I started wrestling with the problem philosophically, and I lost.
*Simon Greenleaf - one of the principle founders of Harvard Law School, professor of law at Harvard University and president of the Massachusetts Bible Society. "Greenleaf ... set out to disprove the biblical testimony concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ ... came to the conclusion that the witnesses were reliable, and that the resurrection did in fact happen"
*Nicky Gumbel - Raised atheist and became an Anglican. He is known for his work with the Alpha course.The Telegraph 
*Keir Hardie - Raised atheist and became a Christian Socialist.Spartacus Schoolnet
*Anna Haycraft - Raised as a member of Britain's Comtist and atheistic "Church of Humanity", but became a conservative Catholic Christian in adulthood.Telegraph "She reacted strongly against her parents' beliefs and became a Catholic at 19, because she 'no longer found it possible to disbelieve in God.'" (pg 2)
*Ammon Hennacy - Initially an atheist labor activist he became a religious pacifist in the Atlanta Penitentiary.Obituary at the Catholic Worker
*Mary Karr - Memoirist and poet who switched from agnosticism to Catholicism in 1996."Finding My Religion" in the San Francisco Chronicle: "I don't think I look like the pope's favorite Catholic— at least not under close scrutiny." "Both my parents were agnostic. My mother was kind of a Buddhist."
*Ignace Lepp - French psychiatrist whose parents were freethinkers and who joined the Communist party at age fifteen. He broke with the party in 1937 and eventually became a Catholic priest.Time Magazine from July 19, 1963 "Lepp has the credentials to explain the mind of the atheist: he was one himself for 27 years."
*Félix Leseur - Doctor turned Catholic priest. His conversion, in part, came by efforts of his wife who was declared a Servant of God by the Catholic Church.Catholic Net
*C. S. Lewis - writer who became an atheist as a young man, later paradoxically describing himself as being "very angry with God for not existing". He later returned to Anglicanism and wrote many books about his faith.PBS special"His pre-university tour of duty in World War I only solidified his atheism,"
*Gabriel Marcel - A leading Christian existentialist. His upbringing was agnostic.Phenomenological approaches to moral philosophy By John J. Drummond, Lester E. Embree; pg 269
*Alister McGrath - Biochemist and Christian theologian. Founder of 'Scientific theology' and critic of Richard Dawkins in books like Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life and The Dawkins Delusion?.Beliefnet article by McGrath Quote "When I was growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the 1960s, I came to the view that God was an infantile illusion, suitable for the elderly, the intellectually feeble, and the fraudulently religious"North County Times
*Claude McKay - Bisexual Jamaican poet who went from Communist atheist to a devout Catholic Christian.A Fierce Hatred of Injustice By Winston James, Claude McKay: "Prior to his conversion to Catholicism in 1944, his atheism was one of the most powerful and enduring threads of continuity in his outlook on life."
*Czesław Miłosz - Poet who won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature.Czesław Miłosz: conversations By Czesław Miłosz, Cynthia L. Haven; pg 145: Miłosz says that in his youth he came to take a "scientific, atheistic position mostly." Now he calls himself a Catholic who does not want to be thought of as a Catholic writer "Because if you are branded as a Catholic you are supposed to testify with every work of yours to follow the line of the Church, which is not necessarily my case." 
*Lacey Mosley - Vocalist and lyricist for Alternative metal band Flyleaf.Interview for Christianity Today: I was so outspoken about not believing in God. I had real problems with Christians.
*Malcolm Muggeridge - British journalist and author who went from agnosticism to the Catholic Church.Malcolm Muggeridge: A Life by Ian HunterChicago Sun-Times obituary
*William J. Murray - Son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair who became a Born again preacher.Austin Chronicle
*Bernard Nathanson - A founder of NARAL Pro-Choice America who dubbed himself a "Jewish atheist", but later became a Pro-life activist within the Catholic Church.Catholic Herald
*Marvin Olasky - Former Marxist turned Christian conservative, he edits the Christian World (magazine).Marxism and Me by Marvin Olasky: My communism was based on atheism, and when I could no longer be an atheist, I resigned from the party.Creators Syndicate Profile
*Joseph Pearce - An anti-Catholic and agnostic British National Front member who became a devout Catholic writer with a series on EWTN.Notre Dame Center for Ethics and CultureThe American Spectator
*Rosalind Picard - Director of the Affective computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab. She was raised atheist, but converted to Christianity in her teens.The Record
*Enoch Powell - Conservative Party (UK) member who converted to Anglicanism.The Guardian's obituary of Powell
*George R. Price - Geneticist who became an Evangelical Protestant and wrote about the New Testament. Later he moderated his evangelistic tendencies and switched from religious writing to working with the homeless.University of BielefeldChronicle of Higher Education article obituary(Copied by Gametheory.net) has the following "Because George was a fire-spitting atheist and Julia a devout Christian, their relationship was contentious from the beginning. After eight years, the marriage ended in acrimony." "On June 7th [1970] I gave in and admitted that God existed," he explained to friends.
*Gerald Priestland - News correspondent who discusses having once been the "school atheist" in Something Understood: An Autobiography. He became a Quaker after an emotional breakdown.Antiqbook
*Michael Reiss - British bioethicist and Anglican priest.Dallas Morning News: Interviewer "You were raised as an atheist, trained as a scientist, came to Christianity as an adult and eventually became an Anglican priest."
*Anne Rice- best-selling American author of Gothic and religious-themed books.Christianity Today
*Dame Cicely Saunders - Templeton Prize and Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize winning nurse known for palliative care. She converted to Christianity as a young woman.Article from the University of Wollongong
*Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Nobel Prize-winning dissident author who converted to Russian Orthodoxy.The Australian
*Edith Stein - Phenomenologist philosopher who converted to the Catholic Faith and became a Discalced Carmelite nun; declared a saint by John Paul II.University of Chicago "made a spiritual journey from atheism to agnosticism before eventually converting to Catholicism"
*Peter Steele - Lead singer of Type O Negative.Decibel Magazine
*Lee Strobel - writer, Christian apologist, a former journalist and megachurch pastor.Daily Herald
* Allen Tate - American poet, essayist and social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress."...he was an atheist arguing for religious values, a man writing an essay on religion 'in a spirit of irreligion.'... He would not convert to Catholicism for two decades, but his need for religious authority was acute even in 1930." Allen Tate: Orphan of the South, p. 167, biographer Thomas A. Underwood, Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-691-06950-6
*Stewart Traill - Founder of the Church of Bible Understanding.Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality By Bob Larson, pg 109
*Simone Weil - Raised by agnostic Jewish parents, and a Marxist for a time, she became a religious mystic.PBS
*Fay Weldon - British novelist and feminist.The Guardian Quote: Even though she was raised an atheist, in the past three or four years she has been going to church. In her eighth decade, she has even submitted to being baptised.
*A. N. Wilson - Biographer and novelist who entered the theological St Stephen's House, Oxford before proclaiming himself an atheist and writing against religion. He announced his return to Christianity in 2009.New Statesman
*John C. Wright - Science fiction author,Advocates for self-government (A Libertarian site) says of him "A lifelong 'vehement, argumentative, proselytizing atheist,' Wright suffered a heart attack in 2003 and soon afterwards had a 'supernatural' religious experience that made him, he wrote, 'aware of a spiritual dimension of reality of which I had hitherto been unaware... I was altered down to the root of my being.' Wright at first became a Protestant Christian but later converted to the Catholic Faith.John C. Wright's livejournal "After three years of prayer, thought, and debate, and an honest attempt to follow where the spirit leads me, I am joining the Catholic Church this Easter."
See also: List of people who converted to Christianity from agnosticism or atheism
==Converts and reverts to Hinduism==
*Annie Besant - In 1887 she wrote "Why I don't believe in God", but later became a leading theosophist and worked with Hindu movements.American AtheistTime MagazineJourneys East By Harry Oldmeadow, pgs 67-
*John Dobson - Atheist who joined the Hindu Vedanta Society.Interview at Space.com Quote: "So I became an atheist, a belligerent atheist. If anybody started a conversation about the subject, I was a belligerent atheist."
*Sita Ram Goel - Marxist and militant atheist in early adulthood, later returned to Hinduism.Voice of Dharma: "I was born a Hindu. But I had ceased to be one by the time I came out of college at the age of 22. I had become a Marxist and a militant atheist." 
See also: List of converts to Hinduism from non-religious backgrounds
==Converts and reverts to Islam==
* A. R. Rahman (Initially raised Hindu, but was atheist as a teenager until conversion to Islam) - Indian music composerThe Complete Biography of A.R.Rahman - The A.R.Rahman Page
*Charles le Gai Eaton - British diplomat and writer.The Radical Middle Way - Hasan Le Gai Eaton 
* Silma Ihram - An Australian educator, author, and racial tolerance campaigner. After an agnostic upbringing she became "born again Christian" and then Muslim.FAIR (pdf) 
* Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - British musician and singer (had a nominally Christian upbringing, but never was a believer)Daily Times article reposted at his site
* Martin Lings - a widely acclaimed British scholar. He was raised as a Protestant, became an atheist, and later converted to Islam.Martin Lings, a Sufi Writer on Islamic Ideas, Dies at 96 - New York Times
*Ilich Ramírez Sánchez "Carlos the Jackal" - Marxist terrorist who converted to Islam.BBC
See also: List of converts to Islam from Atheism
==Converts and reverts to Judaism==
*Christian B. Anfinsen, Nobel prize-winning chemist who converted from "orthodox agnosticism" to Orthodox Judaism.Profile of Anfinsen
*David P. Goldman "Spengler" - A columnist and former member of the LaRouche movement who embraced Judaism in the 1990s."Confessions of a Coward" in First Things
*Will Herberg - A posthumous collection of his writing is From Marxism to JudaismJournal of Law and Religion Described his Jewish family as "passionate atheists" and he was active in Marxist groups until the 1930s.
*Benny Lévy - Philosopher and last personal secretary of Jean-Paul Sartre.The National ReviewHolocaust Literature by S. Lillian Kremer 
*Hilary Putnam - Philosopher raised in a Jewish-atheist home."Finding My Religion" Boston Globe (July 30, 2006)
*Eliyahu Rips - he is a member of the Department of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Rips received the Erdős prize from the Israel Mathematical Society in 1979 and was a sectional speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1994.The Jewish WeekBible Code Bombshell
*Mary Doria Russell - An author who'd been baptized Catholic before being atheist for 20 years.Amazon.com interview: Amazon interviewer: What brought you to Judaism after 20 years of being an atheist? 
*Russell: I became a mom...I became aware of the fact that my ethics and my morality were rooted in religion, and yet I could not bring myself to go back to Christianity.
*Mare Winningham, Actress raised Catholic but atheistic before converting to Judaism.Jewish News Weekly
*In summer 2001, she visited a “creation of the world” exhibit at a science museum and decided, “I don’t think I believe in God.” “But that night, I had the most remarkable dream, which told me, ‘If you’re going to reject something, at least find out what it is you are rejecting.’
See also: List of converts to Judaism From Atheism or Agnosticism
==Other ex-atheists==
*Gabrielle Carey - Australian author of Puberty Blues who was raised atheist but converted to Catholicism and then explored other theologies.ABC Australia.The Australian 
*Antony Flew - Philosopher who has become a deist.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."
*Moses Hess - Socialist philosopher and Left Hegelian who first influenced Karl Marx in his criticism of religion, but who later tried to combine the pantheism of Baruch Spinoza with Hegelianism.Moses Hess: The Holy History of Mankind and other writings
*J. Neil Schulman - Libertarian science fiction writer who states he met, or experienced, God and that this ended his atheism. The first such experience would have occurred when he was 35. That stated he remains skeptical of "the church" and does not belong to any religion.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."
*Dave Sim - Comics writer and anti-feminist. He converted to, or created, his own mixture of Abrahamic religions.Village VoiceSun Comics
*Ted Turner - Media mogul who has stated that he is no longer an atheist or an agnostic and prays for sick friends because he considers it harmless to do so. At the same time he has not embraced any specific religion.
==Notes==
==See also==
* List of atheists
*List of former Muslims
*List of former Protestants
*List of former Roman Catholics
*List of former Latter Day Saints
*List of former Christians