Top 10 Recent Celebrity Converts

A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has found that more than half of American adults have changed religion in their lives. And from Beliefnet's very own completely unscientific survey, we've found celebrities are particularly prone to such religion-hopping.

Of course, we've all heard about the conversions of Muhammad Ali, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Gere, and other big-name stars. And more recently, before her breakup with Sam Ronson, Lindsay Lohan was in the process of converting to Judaism. Over the last 10 to 15 years in particular, many celebrities have actually taken the plunge and converted to a faith they were not born into. Madonna, anyone?

So, without further ado, here are the Top 10 Recent Celebrity Converts.

Katie Holmes: From Catholicism to Scientology

Before Katie Holmes got the role that propelled her to stardom—as Joey Potter on "Dawson's Creek"—she was just your average small-town, church-going girl. Thus far she's managed a somewhat successful movie and stage career, but currently her most famous role is as Tom Cruise's wife. Baptized and raised a Roman Catholic, within weeks of dating Cruise—who's been an outspoken Scientologist since 1990—Holmes was taking Scientology classes. In 2006 they were married in a Scientology ceremony, after the given birth of their daughter Suri earlier that year (Katie had a "silent birth" in accordance with Scientology practices). While a rep for the Church of Scientology claims that one needs not renounce his or her former faith to join, Cruise told Diane Sawyer in a 2006 interview, "You can be Catholic and be a Scientologist. You can be Jewish and be a Scientologist. But we’re just Scientologists."

--Dena Ross

Jane Fonda: From Agnosticism to Christianity

Jane Fonda publicly announced her Christian conversion in 2001, shortly after her divorce from media mogul Ted Turner, a staunch atheist, her husband for 10 years. "I always assumed [I was raised] as an atheist, " Jane Fonda told Beliefnet in a 2005 interview. "Looking back now, I guess it was more an agnostic upbringing. My father's parents were Christian Science practitioners. Things began to change for me--as I think they do for many people--when I was in crisis." In a 2006 interview with Charlie Rose, she also stated that her conversion upset Turner and may have played a role in their divorce.

Fonda refers to her new Christian faith as her "spiritual home." "I think it's partly that I live in Georgia; it's partly that it's my culture. …I wasn't attracted to Buddhism although I really respect it. I wasn't attracted to Islam although I really respect it. Or Judaism. I'm attracted to Jesus."

--Dena Ross

Orlando Bloom: From Anglicanism to Buddhism

As it turns out, the dreamy actor (he was rated #37 in TV Guide's Top 50 Film's Sexiest Man Alive), known best for his roles in "The Lord of the Rings" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," has a penchant for inner calm.

Bloom was raised in the Church of England before trading in sacraments for sutras. In 2004, he became a full member of Soka Gakkai International, a Nichiren Buddhist-based lay association. Along with 60 others, his formal conversion occurred at SGI's headquarters at Taplow Court Mansion in Maidenhead, England. In an interview with the Independent Film Quarterly, he was quoted as saying, "The philosophy that I've embraced isn't about sitting under a tree and studying my navel, it's about studying what is going on in my daily life and using that as fuel to go and live a bigger life." A Hollywood star who is beautiful inside and out? If that's not nirvana, I don't know what is.

--Alana B. Elias Kornfeld

Snoop Dogg: From Baptist to Nation of Islam

Somehow, it didn't seem too far-fetched when news broke at the Nation of Islam's annual Saviour's Day event in Chicago in 2009 that Snoop Dogg had joined the Nation of Islam, leaving behind his Baptist roots. The self-proclaimed "leader of the hip-hop community" and one of the original gangsta rappers, who hasn't revealed exactly when he made the conversion, said he joined NOI because he was "doing what's right and representing what's right." The Nation of Islam, a different group from mainstream Islam, started as a black empowerment, supremacy, and separatist group. In 1975 the organization was dissolved by its leader, Warith Deen Muhammad, who brought most of its members into the practice of mainstream Sunni Islam. In 1978 NOI was reconstituted by the controversial Minister Louis Farrakhan, who has been accused of racism and anti-Semitism. His defenders point out that he has helped the black community. Snoop Dogg has implied that what attracted him to NOI was his need to be part of a peace movement, something that seems at odds with the rapper's violent past.

Whether Snoop will be a Farrakhan NOI follower or will be traveling down the path paved by W.D. Muhammad remains to be seen. But my money on a Snoop looking to reinvent himself, and using the more benign principles of NOI to do so.

--Dilshad D. Ali

Isla Fisher: From Methodism to Judaism

The Australian, flame-haired actress stole most of our hearts as the pathologically clingy "virgin" in the hit film, "The Wedding Crashers," opposite Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. But it was really English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen who swept her away—toward Judaism. Baron Cohen was brought up an Orthodox Jew in London and was quite active in Jewish theater performances there before his fictional character, Borat, a Kazakhstani news reporter, made him a worldwide sensation.

The romance between Fisher and Baron Cohen began when they met at a party in Australia. Fisher converted to Judaism in 2007 after completing her studies and even accepted the Hebrew name Ayala. In the February 2009 edition of Allure Magazine, Fisher was quoted as saying, "I never saw it as a losing or gaining situation, just an embracing situation. I think if one wanted to be buried next to one's beloved and they were Jewish, then one would have to be Jewish, too." For now, she remains engaged to Baron Cohen. The couple live in Los Angeles and London with their daughter, Olive. And yes, his parents approve.

--Alana B. Elias Kornfeld

Dave Chappelle: From Unitarian Universalism to Islam

Comedian and actor Dave Chappelle is probably best known for the sudden hiatus he took in 2005 from Season Three of his then wildly popular Comedy Central program, "The Dave Chappelle Show," when he disappeared and then turned up in South Africa. Why would the comedian walk away from a 50 million dollar contract and retreat to South Africa where he stayed with an old friend named Salim? To reflect on his Muslim faith, to be "well balanced" and to "check my intentions," Chappelle told Time Magazine in 2005.

Chappelle, the son of Yvonne Seon, who was the first ordained African-American woman Unitarian Universalist minister, reportedly converted to Islam in 1998. But long before that he saw his brother, Sedar Chappelle, convert to the Nation of Islam, and revert to mainstream Islam, bringing many of his family members into the fold. Perhaps it was his relationship with his brother or his nearly decade-long friendship with Salim that brought Chappelle to Islam. Chappelle won't say, as he rarely talks about his religion in public. But he said that "it is a beautiful religion if you learn it in the right way. It is a lifelong effort."

--Dilshad D. Ali

Anne Rice: From Catholicism to Athiesm to Catholicism

Raised in an Irish-Catholic family, Anne Rice was always captivated by the sensory traditions of the Catholic church, but she would lose her fervor for "the smells and bells" when she entered Texas Women’s University in 1959. It was here that she realized her longing to read the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and other existentialists—which were frowned upon by the Catholic church—and explored the world beyond Catholicism. From that time forward, Rice journeyed between the worlds of atheism and agnosticism, writing the best-selling series "The Vampire Chronicles," until 1998 when she reaffirmed her Catholicism. In 2002 she acknowledged receiving an inner directive to "Write for God. Write for him. Write only for him." And she hasn't looked back, introducing the "Christ the Lord" series and her most recent work, a spiritual biography entitled, "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession."

--Nicole Symmonds

Michael Jackson: From Jehovah's Witness to Islam

The buzz was loud in November, 2008, when reports came out that one of the world's most famous celebrities was no longer to be known as Michael Jackson, but as Mikaeel, following the King of Pop's conversion to Islam. The former Jehovah's Witness reportedly took the shahada, or oath of Islamic faith, in Los Angeles at the home of a musician friend, after being encouraged to embrace Islam by Canadian-Muslim Dawud Wharnsby and producer Phillip Bubal. His brother, Jermaine Friday, who had converted to Islam in 1989, is also reported to have helped his brother to the fold. Wharnsby and Bulbul told UK's The Sun that they had been speaking to Jackson about their Muslim beliefs and felt they had become better people after converting. Perhaps that was the impetus for Jackson, who had gone from the highest of musical highs to the lowest of the lows when he faced scrutiny over his marriages, plastic surgeries, and public disgust over child molestation charges. Conversion to Islam has served some of his fellow musicians well, like Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) who recently returned to music with favorable reviews. Maybe this latest transformation will be the key to keeping Michael, or Mikaeel, grounded in faith and reality.

--Dilshad D. Ali

Madonna: From Catholicism to Kabbalah

The most successful female recording artist of all time (according to Guinness World Records), Madonna Louise Ciccone was born and raised a Catholic—even attending Catholic school as a child. "The Material Girl" was named after her mother, who was most likely named after the biblical Virgin Mary. As a young adult Madonna moved to New York City to pursue a dance/music career but instead fell into singing. Her lacey—sometimes racy—outfits and sexy dance moves while performing were in stark contrast to the crosses she'd wear as jewelry and her virginal, pure name. And, of course, Madonna continually addressed religious themes in her music, often mixing them with sexuality ("When you call my name, it's like a little prayer, I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there. In the midnight hour, I can feel your power, just like a prayer, you know I'll take you there..."—"Like a Prayer")

After about 15 years of ticking off the Catholic Church, in the late '90s Madonna began studying Kabbalah, a school of thought that delves into the mystical aspects of Judaism, and she has been one of its most active, high profile members ever since. She's also adopted the Hebrew name Esther, which is derived from the Persian word "star." Fitting, wouldn't you say?

--Dena Ross

Stephen Baldwin: From Catholicism to Evangelical Christianity

Stephen Baldwin, the youngest of the Baldwin acting clan, has always been radical in his professional life, but within the last few years, he has become a spiritual radical as well. Raised as a Roman Catholic until he was 12 years old, Baldwin stepped away from faith and into the frenzy of being a movie star. But in the midst of the glitz and glamour of movie stardom, faith would come calling through his Brazilian housekeeper who filled his home with Portuguese songs about Jesus and piqued his wife Kennya’s interest in Jesus as a result. Kennya would go on to steep herself in Bible study and become a member of a church where she would fervently pray for Stephen. Hecame fully into the Christian faith following the 9/11 attacks. Since then Stephen has become very vocal about his faith via his book "The Unusual Suspect," his extreme sports evangelism ministry, and a Christian talk-radio show.

--Nicole Symmonds

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