Hear the stories of Catholic converts from Atheism/Agnosticism and learn what led them to embrace Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church.
“The New Atheists had convinced me that Christianity was not only naive and unscientific, it was outright dangerous and delusional. I felt it my duty to proclaim the ‘good news’ that religion was bogus…”
-Jeffrey Shott, Former Atheist
A FEW GREAT VIDEOS
Leah Libresco Sargeant 56:10
Leah didn’t grow up religious, but was interested in ethics and virtue, especially stoicism and the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. She shares how the study of logic, reason and metaphysics, along with some late-night conversations with Christian friends, caused her over time to become interested in questions of religion as well. Watch Leah’s story.
Deacon Joe Calvert 9:52
Deacon Joe Calvert had experience of Baptist, Methodist, and Christian Science congregations, but by the time he got to college, he was pretty sure none of it was true, and was even handing out atheist literature from Bertrand Russell on campus. He shares how experimenting with meditation techniques let him to eventually explore the tradition of Christian prayer. Watch Deacon Calvert’s story.
Dr. Jennifer Frey 56:04
Jennifer came from a family that rejected organized religion because of their negative personal and political experiences, and she herself became a convinced atheist in high school. When she began to study philosophy as an undergrad, she was surprised to discover that there were intelligent people in that field who also happened to believe in God. Watch Jennifer’s story.
A FEW GREAT WRITTEN STORIES
Amazing Grace Saved Me
by Michelle Gower
“I drove to the hospital with my brother and friend. Upon arriving, we were told that my dad had passed away. Apparently, he had died of a heart attack. I didn’t understand… From that moment, I decided that there was no God, and if there was, I didn’t like Him. What God would take a dad away from his daughter, especially on her graduation day?” Read Michelle’s story.
How My Non-Belief Was Obliterated
by Patrick Flynn
“I began to think that, at best, all religion was superstitious, and at worst, and more commonly, a severe detriment to human advancement. Religion caused wars and fighting and backwards views on things, especially morality. Religion didn’t want people to be free, and it most certainly didn’t want people to be happy…” Read Patrick’s story.
Catholicism Was My Enemy
by Marc Lozano
“As I made my way through high school, I did well in both sports and academics. I always wanted to be the person with the best grades, the best player on the basketball team, and the strongest guy in the weight room. It was all very much ego driven and pushed me ever more towards atheism. My thought was that the only people who needed the mushy feel-good nonsense of religion were those who were not winners.” Read Marc’s story.
More Inspiration for the Journey
Explore the full archive of conversion stories from former atheists and agnostics.
Explore Full Archive
RECOMMENDED BOOKS & OTHER RESOURCES FOR ATHEISTS AND AGNOSTICS
Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It
by Jennifer Fulwiler
Raised in a happy, atheist home, Jennifer had the freedom to think for herself and play by her own rules. Yet a creeping darkness followed her all of her life. Finally, one winter night, it drove her to the edge of her balcony, making her ask once and for all why anything mattered. At that moment everything she knew and believed was shattered. In Something Other than God, Jennifer tells the remarkable story of how she was led from atheism to faith in Christ and membership in the Catholic Church.
Atheist to Catholic: Stories of Conversion
edited by Rebecca Vitz
Many of the former atheists in this book had investigated religion’s claims to truth, rejected them — and were shocked to then find themselves turning to faith. They include: a university professor unexpectedly attracted to the faith when a student describes her retreat at a monastery; a young woman impressed by a colleague’s Mass attendance, who writes, “I wanted to find her ridiculous, but quite unexpectedly, I felt like the ridiculous one”; a Polish immigrant who shared Communism’s disdain for religion. These seekers ended up some place they never intended to go — the Catholic Church — and yet went there and found that they were home.
Race with the Devil: My Journey from Radical Hatred to Rational Love
by Joseph Pearce
Before he was the world’s foremost Catholic biographer, Joseph Pearce was a leader of the National Front, a British-nationalist, white-supremacist group. Before he published books highlighting and celebrating the great Catholic cultural tradition, he disseminated literature extolling the virtues of the white race, and calling for the banishment of all non-white from Britain. Race with the Devil is one man’s incredible journey to Christ, but it also much more. It is a testament to God s hand active among us and the infinite grace that Christ pours out on his people, showing that we can all turn—or return—to Christ and his Church.
Surprised by Joy
by C. S. Lewis
In this book, C. S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—takes readers on a spiritual journey through his early life, his experiences in WWI, his atheism and eventual embrace of the Christian faith at Oxford, where he became “the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” As he recounts his lifelong search for joy, Lewis demonstrates its role in guiding him to find God.
Navigating the Tiber
by Devin Rose
In Navigating The Tiber, Devin Rose ( author of Protestant’s Dilemma) draws from his own experience as a convert from atheism to evangelical Christianity to Catholicism and shows you how to help your friends and family members make the crossing to Rome by journeying with them, offering the information, arguments, and most of all the prayerful support they’ll need to reach their spiritual home.
Not God’s Type: An Atheist Academic Lays Down Her Arms
by Holly Ordway
This is the story of a glorious defeat. Ordway, an atheist academic, was convinced that faith was superstitious nonsense. As a well-educated college English professor, she saw no need for just-so stories about God. Secure in her fortress of atheism, she was safe (or so she thought) from any assault by irrational faith. But then something happened . . . How did she come to “lay down her arms” in surrender to Christ – and then, a few years later, enter into the Catholic Church? This is the moving account of her unusual journey. It is the story of an academic becoming convinced of the truth of Christianity on rational grounds – but also the account of God’s grace acting in and through her imagination.
