Lists of former Christians explained

The following is largely a link to lists of notable people who left Christianity, sorted by the religious or non-religious ideology they switched to:

By former Christian denomination

• List of former Catholics
  • List of former Jesuits
• List of former or dissident LDS (Mormons)
• List of former Protestants

By newly adopted religion or irreligion

• List of converts to the Bahá'í Faith from Christianity
• List of converts to Buddhism from Christianity
• List of converts to Hinduism from Christianity
• List of converts to Islam from Christianity
• List of converts to Judaism from Christianity
• List of converts to Sikhism from Christianity
• List of converts to nontheism from Christianity

Miscellaneous

This section is due to the existence of former Christians who do not fit existing lists of former Christians, either because their current faith is indeterminate or is not dealt with by the above lists.

• Brigitte Boisselier – mostly known for her association with Clonaid, converted to Raëlism^[1]
• Bart Campolo – former pastor and son of pastor Tony Campolo; as he is described as "secular humanist" he may fit the nontheist list, but has not precisely stated his view of theism^[2]
• Tom Cruise – American actor and well-known Scientologist^{[3] [4]}
• Jenna Elfman – American actress who converted to Scientology^[5]
• Katy Perry – musician with five platinum records, daughter of Pentecostal pastors
• Charles M. Schulz – taught Sunday School at one time, but later identified as Secular humanist,^[6] although his widow indicates he maintained a belief in God.^[7]
• John Travolta – actor raised Catholic who converted to Scientology^[8]
• Neville Wadia – Anglo-Indian businessman of an old Parsi family, but raised Christian before converting to his ancestors' Zoroastrianism; this caused some controversy as orthodox Parsee clergy do not believe in converting to Zoroastrianism^[9]

See also

• Apostasy in Christianity
• List of converts to Christianity

Notes and References

1. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/08/1041989999291.html SMH: According to published reports, she was raised as Catholic on a farm in the Champagne region east of Paris.
2. http://orl.usc.edu/about/personnel/campolo.html Office of Religious Life at USC
3. Web site: Tom Cruise . 2006-05-10 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060513225829/http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=14938&pageIndex=1 . 2006-05-13 . "RD: You were Catholic originally. Cruise: Well, we went from Episcopalian, to atheist, to Catholic..."
4. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/tomcruisebiogx21x05x02xpu "In 1990 Cruise renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church Of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life."
5. https://web.archive.org/web/20141006222808/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/lat-famsci-jelf_m5janvpd20120702124906-photo.html LA Times
6. Templeton, David. My Lunch with Sparky, reproduced from the December 30, 1999 – January 5, 2000 issue of the Sonoma County Independent. Archived November 28, 2008.
7. Web site: I'm Jean Schulz. My husband drew the PEANUTS comic strip for 50 years and I'm happy to talk with you and take your questions. 11 December 2013.
8. News: The Big Question: John Travolta . "THE BIG QUESTION" BBC1 . January 28, 2004 . July 17, 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071006124942/http://cosmedia.freewinds.cx/media/articles/bbc250198.html . October 6, 2007 .
9. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaryneville-wadia-1308408.html Obituary - The Independent 6 August 1996.