List of converts to nontheism

This list of converts to nontheism includes individuals who formerly identified with a religious affiliation but have since then openly rejected their belief in a god (or gods) or professed to agnosticism. The list is organised by former religious affiliation.

Christianity

Name	Country	Notes
Dan Barker	United States	American atheist activist who served as a Christian preacher and musician for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984
Ingmar Bergman[1]	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[2]	France	Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815; was raised Catholic[3]
Bob Brown[4]	Australia	Australian senator and former Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens
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[5]
Nikolay Chernyshevsky[6]	Russia	Revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist
Pat Condell	United Kingdom	Writer, political commentator, comedian and atheist internet personality[7]
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
Jerry DeWitt	United States	Former pastor of two evangelical churches; publicly converted to atheism in 2011 after twenty-five years of Christian ministry[8]
Matt Dillahunty	United States	Host of The Atheist Experience
Jonathan Edwards[9]	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
Bart D. Ehrman	United States	American New Testament scholar
Bob Hawke[10]	Australia	Former Australian politician who served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991
Abraham Kovoor[11]	India	Indian professor and rationalist, noted for Abraham Kovoor's challenge
Vladimir Lenin[12]	Russia	Russian revolutionary, then ruler of the USSR; was baptized into Orthodox Christianity but later renounced his belief in God
Karl Marx	Germany	Philosopher; baptised into the Lutheran Church
Joseph McCabe[13]	United Kingdom	Ordained as "Father Antony", but left the Catholic priesthood and abandoned theism; then wrote works like The Totalitarian Church of Rome and stated that "Atheism will in this century be the common attitude of civilized people"
Benito Mussolini[14]	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[15]	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[16]
Nathan Phelps[17]	Canada	American Canadian author and LGBT rights activist; son of Fred Phelps
Brad Pitt[18]	United States	Actor; raised as Southern Baptist
Joseph Stalin	Russia	Russian revolutionary, then ruler of the USSR; studied to be an Orthodox priest but became an agnostic after reading Karl Marx's books.[19]
Victor J. Stenger	United States	Retired American particle physicist, author, and skeptic of religion
Kim Il-sung	North Korea	Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994; formerly Presbyterian
Julia Sweeney	United States	American actress, comedian and author[20][21]
Charles Templeton	Canada	Co-founder of Youth for Christ; rejected Christianity for agnosticism after a struggle with doubts[22]
Josip Broz Tito	Croatia	Leader of the Yugoslav Partisans, Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement; a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1945 until his death in 1980; formerly Roman Catholic;,[23] later became an atheist[24][25]
John Abraham	India	Bollywood actor born to a Zoroastrian mother and a Marthomite Syrian Christian father; left Christianity and became an agnostic atheist[26][27][28]

Hinduism

• Kamal Haasan – despite being born into a Hindu Brahmin family, declared himself an atheist^[29]
• Goparaju Ramachandra Rao – Indian activist for atheism; wrote in We Become Atheists, "I was conventionally orthodox and superstitious in the days of my boyhood. I believed in the claims of divine revelations by my parental aunt."^[30]
• Ram Gopal Varma – born into a Hindu family; claimed himself atheist^[31]
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar – president of Hindu Mahasabha; founder of the Hindutva movement; atheist;^[32] did not define "Hindutva" by religion, and used to publicly advertise lectures on atheism and the non-existence of God^[33]
• Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead – first Hindu woman in British politics; described herself as a "Hindu atheist"^[34]
• Rajeev Khandelwal – Indian film and television actor; states himself an atheist^[35]

Islam

Javed Akhtar is a noted Indian writer and lyricist.

Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses^[36]

Former Muslim and Dutch politician Ehsan Jami was one of the two founders of the Central Committee for Ex-Muslims.^[37]

• As'ad Abu Khalil – Lebanese professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus; describes himself as an "atheist secularist"^[38][39]
• Zackie Achmat – South African anti-HIV/AIDS activist; founder of the Treatment Action Campaign^[40]
• Ismael Adham – Egyptian writer and philosopher^[41]
• Mina Ahadi – Iranian-born pacifist, founder of the German apostate-organization Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime^[42]
• Javed Akhtar – Indian writer, lyricist, TV show host, secular and nationalist activist^[43]
• Mirza Fatali Akhundov – 19th-century Azerbaijani playwright and philosopher^[44]
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali – Somali-born Dutch feminist, writer, and politician^[45]
• Ramiz Alia – Albanian communist leader and former president of Albania^[46]
• Kareem Amer – Egyptian blogger^[47][48]
• Waleed Al-Husseini – Qalqilyan Blogger, Writer, Secular Humanist, and Founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims of France.
• Humayun Azad – Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguist^[49][50]
• Hassan Bahara – Moroccan-Dutch writer^[51]
• Pelin Batu – Turkish actress and television personality^[52][53]
• Hafid Bouazza – Moroccan-Dutch writer^[54][55]
• Parvin Darabi – Iranian-born American writer and women's rights activist^[56]
• Turan Dursun – Turkish writer; was once a Turkish mufti; later authored many books critical of Islam^[57]
• Afshin Ellian – Iranian professor^[58]
• Enver Hoxha – Communist dictator who declared Albania the first atheist state^[59]
• Ehsan Jami – Dutch politician; founder of the Dutch Central Committee for Ex-Muslims^[37]
• Ismail Kadare – world-renowned Albanian writer^[60]
• Sarmad Kashani – 17th-century mystical poet and sufi saint; arrived from Persia to India; beheaded for assumed heresy by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb; renounced Judaism, briefly converting to Islam and then Hinduism; later denounced all religions and rejected belief in God^[61][62]
• Al-Ma'arri – blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer^[63]
• Lounès Matoub – Algerian Berber Kabyle singer and activist^[64]
• Seema Mustafa – Indian journalist, Political Editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper^[65][66]
• Maryam Namazie – Iranian communist, political activist and leader of the British apostate-organization Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain^[67]
• Kumail Nanjiani – Pakistani American stand-up comic and actor^[68]
• Taslima Nasrin – Bangladeshi author, feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist^[69]
• Aziz Nesin – popular Turkish humorist and author of more than 100 books^[70]
• Barack Obama, Sr. – Kenyan senior governmental economist, and the father of Barack Obama^[71]
• Ibn al-Rawandi – 9th-century early skeptic of Shia Islam, of Persian origin^[72]
• Salman Rushdie – British-Indian novelist and essayist^[36]
• Nyamko Sabuni – politician in Sweden^[73]
• Zohra Sehgal – Indian actress who has appeared in several Hindi and English language films^[74]
• Anwar Shaikh – British author of Pakistani descent^[75]
• Dr. Younus Shaikh – Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist, rationalist and free-thinker^[76]
• Ali Sina – Iranian-Canadian activist; owner of the faith freedom website^[77]
• Ali Soilih – Comorian socialist revolutionary; president of the Comoros^[78]
• Wafa Sultan – Syrian-born American psychiatrist; controversial critic of Islam; describes herself as a "secular humanist"^[79][80]
• Cenk Uygur – Turkish-American co-founder and main host of the progressive talk radio show The Young Turks; agnostic^[81]
• Ibn Warraq – British Pakistani secularist author; founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society^[82]

Judaism

Name	Country	Notes
Jack Cohen	United Kingdom	Reproductive biologist; has worked with science fiction writers; co-wrote books including Evolving the Alien; his grandfather was a rabbi; he attends synagogue for cultural reasons, but is an atheist[83]
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;[84] 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."[85]
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,[86] and is an atheist[87]
Carlo Strenger	Switzerland	Swiss-Israeli psychologist who describes his transition from Orthodox Judaism to secular atheism as the defining experience of his life[88]
Mark Zuckerberg	United States	Computer programmer and internet entrepreneur; one of five co-founders of the social networking website Facebook; raised Jewish, had his bar mitzvah when he turned 13;[89][90] but has since described himself as an atheist[90][91][92][93]

Buddhism

Name	Country	Notes
Mao Zedong[94]	China	Communist revolutionary, politician and socio-political theorist and founding father of the People's Republic of China

References

1. [The Films of Ingmar Bergman, by Jesse Kalin, 2003, pg. 193]
2. "Revue des Deux Mondes – 1867 – tome 71, p.386" (in French). Fr.wikisource.org. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
3. E. Hales, "Napoleon and the Pope", (London:1962) pg 114
4. "Q: What do these MPs have in common? A: They are out and proud atheists". Retrieved 13 August 2013.
5. Bourne 1986, pp. 29–30; Coltman 2003, pp. 5–6; Castro and Ramonet 2009, pp. 59–60.
6. [Ana Siljak, Angel of Vengeance, page 58]
7. Hay, Malcolm (3 November 2006). "Pat Condell: interview". Time Out London. Retrieved 20 August 2010. Condell’s 56. He was born an Irish Catholic but educated in Church of England schools.
8. "Jerry DeWitt". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
9. The Times
10. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s2301431.htm
12. Fischer 1964, p. 9; Service 2000, pp. 50–51, 64.
13. The Quotable Atheist by Jack Huberman
14. D.M. Smith 1982, pp. 2–3
15. Nietzsche, Letter to His Sister (1865).
16. Columbia dictionary of modern European literature by Jean Albert Bédé, William Benbow Edgerton, pg 535
17. The Topeka Capital-Journal.
18. Gina Salamone. Brad Pitt: 'I'm probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic'. Daily News (New York). July 23, 2009 [Retrieved January 19, 2010].
19. Vladislav Zubok; Constantine Pleshakov. Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev. pp. 4. ISBN 0674455312. Zubok and Pleshakov further state, "Many would later note, however, that his works were influenced by a distinctly Biblical style" and "his atheism remained rooted in some vague idea of a God of nature."
20. San Francisco Chronicle
21. The Seattle Times
22. Christian Post
23. Richard West, Tito and the Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia, p.211, Carroll & Graff, 1996 ISBN 0-7867-0332-6
    "In one of his talks with Church officials, Tito went so far as to speak of himself 'as a Croat and a Catholic', but this comment was cut out of the press reports on the orders of Kardelj."
24. Nikolaos A. Stavrou (ed.), Mediterranean Security at the Crossroads: a Reader, p.193, Duke University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8223-2459-8
25. Vjekoslav Perica, Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, p.103, Oxford University Press US, 2004 ISBN 0-19-517429-1
26. I am a firm professor of self-belief: John Abraham. The Times of India. September 13, 2011
27. "10 Indian Celebs Who Are Proclaimed Atheists". MensXP.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
28. "My body is my religion: John Abraham". Test Sharma. CNN-IBN. July 20, 2012.
29. Vijayasarathy, R G (2008). "Dasavathaaram is spectacular". Rediff.com. Retrieved 13 June 2008.
30. Introduction to "We Become Atheists" at Positive Atheism
31. "http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/andhra_pradesh/ANR-Actor-Par-Excellence-Student-and-Humanist/2014/01/23/article2015241.ece#.UvSAP_mSzec". Retrieved February 7, 2014. External link in |title= (help)
32. Nandy, Ashis (2003). Time Warps: The Insistent Politics of Silent and Evasive Pasts. Delhi: Orient Longman. p. 71. ISBN 978-81-7824-071-8. OCLC 49616949.
33. Kumar, Pramod (1992). Towards Understanding Communalism. Chandigarh: Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. p. 348. ISBN 978-81-85835-17-4. OCLC 27810012. VD Savarkar was publicly an atheist. Even when he was the Hindu Mahasabha leader he used to publicly announce and advertise lectures on atheism, on why god is not there and why all religions are false. That is why when defining Hindutva, he said, Hindutva is not defined by religion and tried to define it in a non-religious term: Punyabhoomi.
34. BBC News
35. Rajeev Khandelwal and S. Shanthi (10 June 2008). "I AM: Rajeev Khandelwal". Times of India. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
36. Interview with Rushdie by Gigi Marzullo; Sottovoce, RAIUNO, March 31, 2006.
37. "A New Brand of Nonbelievers". Abcnews.go.com. September 17, 2007. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
38. The Angry Arab News Service comments from her blog
39. Between disparate worlds: On California State University professor As'ad AbuKhalil (1: "...who is also an atheist..." 2: "My Sunni family of my mother taught me how to pray")
40. John Carlin (August 5, 2005). "Zackie's story: The man who took on Mbeki – and won". The Independent. London. Retrieved August 27, 2007. A homosexual, an atheist, and a militant anti-apartheid campaigner whose political ideas were forged on an intense reading of Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky...
41. Re-drawing the line – Al Ahram Weekly, August 9, 2000
42. "Founder of ex-Muslim group threatened". United Press International. February 23, 2007.
43. "Eye on England". Telegraphindia.com. 15 July 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
44. "Ахундов Мирза-Фатали". Mirslovarei.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
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46. Europe since 1945: An encyclopedia, Bernard A Cook, Taylor & Francis, 2001, ISBN 0-8153-4057-5, p. 31
47. Kareem Amer. (2006). “تنويه هام جدا بخصوص موقع الأقباط متحدون ومقالى الأخير” (A Very Important Notice Regarding the Copts United Web Site and My Last Article) كريم عامر (Kareeem Amer’s Arabic blog). Retrieved January 28, 2007.
48. Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman (Kareem Amer), Political prisoner Submitted on Mon, 2007-01-29
49. "Dr. Humayun Azad laid to rest". Mukto-mona.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
50. Bangladesh: Protecting the Human Rights of Thought, Conscience, and Religion: U.A.B. Razia Akter Banu Prepared Testimony – ("Dr. Azad is a Muslim by birth and by name ... He is an atheist.")
51. 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.'"
52. "Pelin Batu "Kısa Devre" yaptı!". Haber Türk (in Turkish). November 2, 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
53. Pelin Batu - "Bayrak taşır gibi din taşımıyorum, ateistim" (in Turkish)
54. 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."
55. Verdonschot, Leon (May 8, 2008). ""Ik kan niet leven zonder roes." Interview met Hafid Baouzza, gepubliceerd in Dif nr.1" (in Dutch). Leonverdonschot.nl. Retrieved May 9, 2008. Quote: (Translation) "Look, I'm an atheist. I believe God does not exist, I do not believe in an afterlife. How terrible it may be: Hitler isn't in hell getting pinched in his ass with a trident. I'm fine with the fact there are people who do believe that and get comfort from it, like my mother. I just hope the influence of religion on policy makers will diminish, because my freedom is precious to me." (Dutch) "Kijk, ik ben atheïst. Ik geloof niet dat God bestaat, ik geloof niet dat er een hiernamaals is. Hoe gruwelijk ook: Hitler wordt op dit moment niet in de hel met een drietand in zijn reet geprikt. Dat er mensen zijn dat dat wél geloven en daar troost uit putten, mensen als mijn moeder: prima. Als de invloed van religies op beleidsmakers maar steeds kleiner wordt, want mijn vrijheid is me dierbaar."
56. Darabi, Parvin Rage Against the Veil: The Courageous Life and Death of an Islamic Dissident ISBN 1-57392-682-5
57. "Turan Dursun Website". Turandursun.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
58. Craig Whitlock (November 11, 2005). "For Public Figures in Netherlands, Terror Becomes a Personal Concern". The Washington Post.
59. Kamm, Henry (1993, June 10). 'Hallelujah' is heard in the arch-atheist's temple. The New York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)), p. A4. Retrieved August 27, 2007, from National Newspaper Abstracts
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63. Freethought Traditions in the Islamic World by Fred Whitehead
64. interview with Lounès Matoub Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
65. "Pakistan: Appeasing the Mullahs". Mail-archive.com. September 13, 2006. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
66. The Communalisation of Kargil Archived December 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
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68. Wolinsky, David. "Kumail Nanjiani | Comedy | Interview | The A.V. Club Chicago". Avclub.com. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
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70. "Aziz Nesin of Turkey Dies at 80; Writer Escaped Militants' Arson". New York Times. July 7, 1995. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
71. Obama, Barack (October 16, 2006). "My Spiritual Journey". TIME. Retrieved September 26, 2008. My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.
72. On Ibn al-Rawandi, from the Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1971, Volume 3, E J Brill, Leiden, p 905
73. Lyall, Sarah (January 12, 2007). "Swedish politician's advice to immigrants? Try to fit in – Europe – International Herald Tribune". The New York Times.
74. Ninety and spunky Archived December 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
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76. Younus Shaikh- short biography
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83. The Jewish Chronicle 6 July 2005 "Not only connections"
84. Durkheim The Person from Masters of Sociological Thought
85. Émile Durkheim page at Rogers State University
86. AHA site
87. Proud Atheists from Salon
88. Carlo Strenger (2002) From Yeshiva to Critical Pluralism, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 22: 534-558. http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=pi.022.0534a
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