This is a list of converts to Hinduism from Christianity .
Name | Nationality | Notes | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Alain Daniélou | French | French Indologist | [1] | |
Agehananda Bharati | German | German Indologist | ||
Sir John Woodroffe | British | British Indologist | ||
François Gautier | French | Political writer, journalist and Hindutva proponent | [2] | |
David Frawley | American | Writer, Ayurveda practitioner, astrologer and Hindutva proponent | ||
George Harrison | British | lead guitarist of The Beatles and solo-artist, follower of ISKCON | [3] | |
Satyananda Stokes | American | Former Evangelist and Indian independence activist. | [4] | |
Sister Nivedita | British-Irish | Writer, educationist, Indian independence activist and disciple of Swami Vivekananda | [5] [6] | |
Sister Christine | German-American | Educationist and disciple of Swami Vivekananda | ||
Savitri Devi | French-born Greek | Nazi activist, writer and German spy | ||
Christopher Isherwood | American | Novelist and disciple of Swami Prabhavananda of Ramakrishna Mission | [7] | |
Shawn Mendes | Canadian | Singer and songwriter | ||
Sister Gargi | American | Writer and disciple of Swami Ashokananda of Ramakrishna Mission |
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliating with another. This might be from one to another denomination within the same religion, for example, from Protestant Christianity to Roman Catholicism or from Sunnī Islam to Shīʿa Islam. In some cases, religious conversion "marks a transformation of religious identity and is symbolized by special rituals".
Proselytism is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Carrying out attempts to instill beliefs can be called proselytization.
Contemporary groups, collectively termed Hindu reform movements, reform Hinduism, Neo-Hinduism, or Hindu revivalism, strive to introduce regeneration and reform to Hinduism, both in a religious or spiritual and in a societal sense. The movements started appearing during the Bengali Renaissance.
Hinduism is the main and largest religion of Nepal. In 2006, the country declared itself a secular country through democracy, after the abolition of its monarchy. According to the 2021 census, the Hindu population in Nepal is estimated to be around 23,677,744 which accounts for at least 81.19% of the country's population, the highest percentage of Hindus of any country in the world. Vikram Samvat, one of the two official calendars used in Nepal, is a solar Hindu calendar essentially the same to that widespread in North India as a religious calendar, and is based on Hindu units of time.
Hinduism is the fourth-largest religion in Malaysia. About 1.78 million Malaysian residents are Hindus, according to 2010 Census of Malaysia. This is up from 1,380,400 in 2000.
Sister Nivedita was an Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She spent her childhood and early youth in Ireland. She was engaged to marry a Welsh youth, but he died soon after their engagement.
Hinduism is the leading single religion of the Indo-Caribbean communities of the West Indies. Hindus are particularly well represented in Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The Cayman Islands also hosts a sizable Hindu population, with 2.4 percent of the country affiliating with the religion. Smaller groups of Indo-Caribbeans live elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Belize, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Bahamas.
Hinduism is the third-largest religious group in the United Kingdom, after Christianity and Islam; the religion is followed by over one million people representing around 1.6% of the total population. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census Hindus are primarily concentrated in England, particularly in Greater London and the South East, with just under 50,000 Hindus residing in the three other nations of the United Kingdom. Hindus have had a presence in the United Kingdom since the early 19th century, as at the time India was part of the British Empire. Many Indians in the British Indian Army settled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Hinduism is the largest religion in India. According to the 2011 Census of India, 966.3 million people identify as Hindu, representing 79.8% of the country's population. India contains 94% of the global Hindu population. The vast majority of Indian Hindus belong to Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations. India is one of the three countries in the world where Hinduism is the dominant religion.
Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupation is sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered untouchables in the caste system.
Religion in Nepal encompasses a wide diversity of groups and beliefs. Nepal is a secular nation and secularism in Nepal under the Interim constitution is defined as "Religious and cultural freedom along with the protection of religion and culture handed down from time immemorial." That is, "The state government is bound for protecting and fostering Hindu religion while maintaining "Religious" and "Cultural" freedom throughout the nation as fundamental rights.
Punjabi Hindus are ethnic Punjabis who are adherents of Hinduism; they constitute the third-largest religious subdivision within the Punjabi people, after Muslims and Sikhs, with a population numbering around 17 to 25 million. Punjabi Hindus are the second-largest religious group in the Indian state of Punjab. Apart from Punjab, they are also found in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and Chandigarh today. Many of them have ancestry across the Punjab region as a whole, which was partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1947.
Growth of religion involves the spread of individual religions and the increase in the numbers of religious adherents around the world. In sociology, desecularization is the proliferation or growth of religion, most commonly after a period of previous secularization. Statistics commonly measure the absolute number of adherents, the percentage of the absolute growth per-year, and the growth of converts in the world.
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of the country's culture and the Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions, namely, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, which are collectively known as native Indian religions or Dharmic religions and represent approx. 83% of the total population of India.
This is a list of various lists of Hindus related topics grouped under related sections.
Hinduism in England is the third largest religion in the country, with over 1,020,533 followers as of the 2021 census. This represents over 1.8% of the English population, up from 1.5% in 2011 and 1.1% in 2001. Hindus are predominantly in the cities of London and Leicester, where they make up greater proportions of the population. England has a number of Hindu temples, including the Hindu temple at Neasden which is a large Hindu temple in Europe. In 2007, the largest Hindu Mandir in the North of England, the Bradford Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple opened in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is an Indian far-right Hindu organisation based on Hindu nationalism. The VHP was founded in 1964 by M. S. Golwalkar and S. S. Apte in collaboration with Swami Chinmayananda. Its stated objective is "to organise, consolidate the Hindu society and to serve and protect the Hindu Dharma". It was established to construct and renovate Hindu temples, and deal with matters of cow slaughter and religious conversion. The VHP is a member of the Sangh Parivar group, the family of Hindu nationalist organisations led by the RSS.
Ghar Wapsi is the programme of religious conversion to Hinduism from Islam, Christianity, and other religions in India conducted by Indian Hindu nationalist organisations Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and their allies. The term owes to the Hindu nationalist ideology that all people of India are ancestrally Hindu and, hence, conversion to Hinduism is one of "returning home" to their ancestral roots.
Hinduism is a minority religion in Ireland, followed by 0.7% of the country's population. It is also the second fastest-growing religions by percentage in Ireland. There are also a small number of recognised temples in the country.