List of converts to nontheism

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This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This list of converts to nontheism includes individuals who formerly identified with a religious affiliation but have since then openly rejected their former religion and theism and became nontheist. The list is organised by former religious affiliation and theism.

Contents

Former Buddhists

NameCountryNotes
Khorloogiin Choibalsan Mongolia Communist revolutionary, politician, and leader of Mongolia.
Mao Zedong [1] China Communist revolutionary, politician and socio-political theorist and founding father of the People's Republic of China

Former Christians

NameCountryNotes
John Abraham India Bollywood actor born to a Zoroastrian mother and a Marthomite Syrian Christian father; left Christianity and became an agnostic atheist. [2] [3] [4]
Amy Adams United States American actress; raised as a Mormon until her parents divorced in 1985 and left the church. [5] [6]
Sami Aldeeb Switzerland Swiss lawyer and author of many books and articles on Arab and Islamic law born to a Palestinian Christian family; left Christianity and became a nontheist. [7]
Jacinda Ardern New Zealand Prime minister of New Zealand; raised Mormon, became agnostic. [8]
Javier Bardem Spain Actor; raised Catholic, became an agnostic. [9] [10]
Dan Barker [11] United States Former preacher turned atheist activist and co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Ingmar Bergman [12] Sweden Film director whose father was a parson; stated he lost his faith at age 8, but did not fully come to terms with that until making Winter Light.
Napoleon Bonaparte [13] France Emperor of France from 1804 to 1815; was raised Catholic. [14]
Martin Bormann [15] [16] [17] Nazi Germany Nazi official and right-hand man of Adolf Hitler; raised Protestant. [18]
Bob Brown [19] Australia Australian senator and former Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens.
Dan Brown [20] United States American author, raised Episcopalian but gravitated away from religion.
Warren Buffett [21] United States American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist, who is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world [22] [23] and has a net worth of US$88.9 billion as of December 2019, making him the fourth-wealthiest person in the world. [24] Was raised as a Presbyterian, but has since described himself as agnostic. [21]
Bart Campolo [25] United States Humanist chaplain and son of pastor Tony Campolo.
Fidel Castro Cuba Cuban communist revolutionary and politician; Prime Minister of Cuba (1959–1976), and President (1976–2008); baptized into the Roman Catholic Church at the age of eight; later became an atheist. [26]
Nikolay Chernyshevsky [27] Russia Revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist.
Helen Clark New Zealand Prime Minister; raised Presbyterian, became an agnostic. [28]
George Clooney United States Actor; raised Catholic, became an agnostic. [29]
Pat Condell United Kingdom Writer, political commentator, comedian and atheist internet personality. [30]
Marie Curie Poland Physicist and chemist; raised Catholic, became an agnostic. [31]
Charles Darwin [32] [33] United Kingdom British naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution; raised as a Unitarian, later became an agnostic.
Richard Dawkins United Kingdom British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author; was brought up as an Anglican until ceasing to believe in a deity in his teens, concluding that the theory of evolution was a better explanation for life's complexity.
Emily Deschanel United States American actress. [34]
Jerry DeWitt United States Former pastor of two evangelical churches; publicly converted to atheism in 2011 after twenty-five years of Christian ministry. [35] He has written a book based on his career and experiences entitled Hope After Faith. [36]
Matt Dillahunty United States Public speaker, raised Southern Baptist, considered becoming a minister. His religious studies, instead of bolstering his faith as he intended, led him to no longer believe in Christianity and then all religions.
Jonathan Edwards [37] United Kingdom Former British triple jumper; former Olympic, Commonwealth, European and World champion; formerly a devout Christian, and even presented episodes of the BBC Christian worship programme Songs of Praise.
Anthony Fauci [38] [39] [40] United States American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the chief medical advisor to the president, grew up Catholic, but then considered himself a humanist
Ricky Gervais United Kingdom Actor, abandoned Christianity at the age of eight. [41]
Julia Gillard Australia Prime Minister; brought up in the Baptist faith, then became an atheist [42] [43]
Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Union Ruler of the USSR; baptized Russian Orthodox, became an atheist. [44]
Bob Hawke [45] Australia Former politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991.
Francois Hollande France French president, was raised Catholic, but became an agnostic later in life. [46] He now considers himself to be an atheist, [47] but still professes respect for all religious practices. [48]
Kim Il Sung [49] [50] North Korea North Korean leader, was raised in a Presbyterian family.
Abraham Kovoor [51] India Indian professor and rationalist, noted for Abraham Kovoor's challenge.
Vladimir Lenin [52] Soviet Union Russian revolutionary, then ruler of the Soviet Union; was baptized into Orthodox Christianity but later renounced his belief in God.
Glenn Loury [53] United StatesAmerican academic and scholar.
Emmanuel Macron France President of France, raised in a non-religious family, he was baptized a Roman Catholic at his own request at age 12. [54]
Karl Marx Germany Philosopher; baptised into the Lutheran Church.
Joseph McCabe [55] United Kingdom Ordained as "Father Antony", but left the Catholic priesthood and abandoned theism; then wrote The Totalitarian Church of Rome and stated that "Atheism will in this century be the common attitude of civilized people."
Jennette McCurdy [56] United StatesAmerican singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and former actress; was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but left the religion in her early adulthood, citing fundamental disagreements with church doctrine.
François Mitterrand France President of France; his family was devoutly Catholic, [57] became agnostic following an observation of Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II. [58]
Benito Mussolini [59] Italy Italian politician, journalist and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to his ousting in 1943.
Friedrich Nietzsche [60] Germany German philosopher, poet, cultural critic and classical philologist.
Millosh Gjergj Nikolla Albania Albanian poet and writer; trained to be an Orthodox priest, but became an atheist. [61]
Nathan Phelps [62] Canada American Canadian author and LGBT rights activist; son of Fred Phelps.
Brad Pitt [63] United States Actor; raised as a Southern Baptist.
Alfred Rosenberg [15] [64] [65] Nazi Germany Leader of NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs; raised Protestant.
Maikel Nabil Sanad [66] Egypt Egyptian political activist, blogger, and a former political prisoner.
Michael Shermer [67] United States American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor-in-chief of its magazine Skeptic.
Morgan Spurlock [68] United States American documentary filmmaker, humorist, television producer, screenwriter and playwright, raised Methodist but became agnostic later in life.
Joseph Stalin Soviet Union Russian revolutionary, then ruler of the USSR; studied to be an Orthodox priest but became an atheist after reading Karl Marx's books. [69]
Meryl Streep [70] United States American actress.
Julius Streicher [71] Nazi Germany Nazi official and founder of the antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer ; raised Catholic.
Chris Stuckmann [72] [73] [74] United States American film critic, filmmaker and YouTuber; raised as a Jehovah's Witnesses, but abandoned the faith around 2011, due to the faith's authority have been suppressing his hobby on film reviewing. And since referring himself as a areligious.
Julia Sweeney United States American actress, comedian and author. [75] [76]
Charles Templeton Canada Co-founder of Youth for Christ; rejected Christianity for agnosticism after a struggle with doubts. [77]
Josip Broz Tito Yugoslavia Leader of the Yugoslav Partisans (Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement); revolutionary and statesman; Roman Catholic [78] who became an atheist. [79] [80]
Michael J. Totten United States American journalist and author. [81]

Former Hindus

Former Jews

NameCountryNotes
Jack Cohen United Kingdom Reproductive biologist; worked with science fiction writers; co-wrote books including Evolving the Alien ; his grandfather was a rabbi; he attended synagogue for cultural reasons, but was an atheist [89]
Émile Durkheim France Sociologist descended from a long line of rabbis; had an interest in religion as a social phenomenon; wrote The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life ; was an agnostic by adulthood; [90] besides an interest, he saw some value in religion, but stated, "We must discover the rational substitutes for these religious notions that for a long time have served as the vehicle for the most essential moral ideas." [91]
Al Goldstein [92] United States Pornographer; widely regarded as the father of Internet pornography
Rebecca Goldstein United States Novelist and professor of philosophy; born into an Orthodox Jewish family; has an older brother who is an Orthodox rabbi; in 2011 she was named AHA's Humanist of the Year, [93] and is an atheist [94]
Carlo Strenger Switzerland Swiss-Israeli psychologist who describes his transition from Orthodox Judaism to secular atheism as the defining experience of his life [95]

Former Muslims

Javed Akhtar, Indian writer and lyricist Javed Aktar 2010.jpg
Javed Akhtar, Indian writer and lyricist
Ismail Kadare. Albanian writer Ismail Kadare.jpg
Ismail Kadare. Albanian writer
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie signierend, 2017 Literaturfest Munchen.jpg
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses
Former Muslim and Dutch politician Ehsan Jami; one of the two founders of the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims Ehsan Jami.jpg
Former Muslim and Dutch politician Ehsan Jami; one of the two founders of the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims

Former Shintos

NameCountryNotes
Hideki Tojo [153] Japan Politician, military general, and Prime Minister of Japan.

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  109. ↑ Political Islam in Turkey by Gareth Jenkins, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 84; ISBN   0230612458
  110. ↑ Atheism, Brief Insights Series by Julian Baggini, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009; ISBN   1402768826, p. 106.
  111. ↑ Islamism: A Documentary and Reference Guide, John Calvert John, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008; ISBN   0313338566, p. 19.
  112. ↑ ...Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the secular Turkish Republic. He said: "I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea..." The Antipodean Philosopher: Interviews on Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand, Graham Oppy, Lexington Books, 2011, ISBN   0739167936, p. 146.
  113. ↑ Phil Zuckerman, John R. Shook, The Oxford Handbook of Secularism, Oxford University Press, 2017, ISBN   0199988455, p. 167.
  114. ↑ Tariq Ramadan, Islam and the Arab Awakening, Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN   0199933731, p. 76.
  115. ↑ "Atatürk İslam için ne düşünüyordu? - Türkiye Haberleri - Radikal". July 22, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-07-22.
  116. ↑ On 1 November 1937, his speech in parliament he said:
    It is known by the world that, in our state administration, our main program is the Republican People's Party program. The principles it covers are the main lines that illuminate us in management and politics. But these principles must never be equated with the dogmas of books supposed to have come down from heaven. We derive our inspiration, not from heaven, or from an unseen world, but directly from life. Our path is guided by the homeland we live in, the Turkish nation of which we are members, and the conclusions we have drawn from the history of nations, which records a thousand and one disasters and sufferings. (Atatürk'ün Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi'nin V. Dönem 3. Yasama Yılını Açış Konuşmaları, in Turkish)
  117. ↑
    Even before accepting the religion of the Arabs, the Turks were a great nation. After accepting the religion of the Arabs, this religion, didn't effect to combine the Arabs, the Persians and Egyptians with the Turks to constitute a nation. (This religion) rather, loosened the national nexus of Turkish nation, got national excitement numb. This was very natural. Because the purpose of the religion founded by Muhammad, over all nations, was to drag to an including Arab national politics. (Afet İnan, Medenî Bilgiler ve M. Kemal Atatürk'ün El Yazıları, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1998, p. 364.)
  118. ↑ "Dr. Humayun Azad laid to rest". Mukto-mona.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  119. ↑ Bangladesh: Protecting the Human Rights of Thought, Conscience, and Religion: U.A.B. Razia Akter Banu Prepared Testimony Archived 2007-12-24 at the Wayback Machine – ("Dr. Azad is a Muslim by birth and by name ... He is an atheist.")
  120. ↑ Kranenberg, Annieke (August 11, 2007). "Als dit niet werkt, beledig ik Wilders wel" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant . Retrieved May 9, 2008. Quote: (Translation) "In interviews he calls himself an atheist, but until now 'I have been left alone by the beardmonkeys (referring to Muslim fundamentalists). Perhaps I have to make myself heard just a little bit better, I should be more explicit in my aversion to Islam and religion in general." (Dutch) "In interviews noemt hij zichzelf atheïst, maar tot nog toe 'ben ik ongemoeid gelaten door de baardapen. Misschien moet ik een hardere toon aanslaan en wat explicieter zijn in mijn afkeer van de islam en religies in het algemeen.'"
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  123. ↑ Humanistische Omroep, Link to video interview with Hafid Bouazza Quote: (Translation) "Believers live behind a fence, and non-believers live in a pasture and they know there are believers out there behind the fence." "It [religion] is a matter of conditioning, of brainwashing." "I know that when I die, it's over with me." (Dutch) "Gelovigen leven achter een hek, en ongelovigen in een weiland, waarin ze weten dat er gelovigen zijn die achter hekken wonen." "Het [religie] is een kwestie van conditionering, van hersenspoeling" "Ik weet dat het moment dat ik ter aarde word besteld, dat het afgelopen is met mij."
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