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 former religion and theism and became nontheist. The list is organised by former religious affiliation and theism.

Former Hindus

 * Kamal Haasan – despite being born into a Hindu Brahmin family, declared himself an atheist
 * 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."
 * Ram Gopal Varma – born into a Hindu family; claimed himself atheist
 * Vinayak Damodar Savarkar – president of Hindu Mahasabha; founder of the Hindutva movement; atheist; did not define "Hindutva" by religion, and used to publicly advertise lectures on atheism and the non-existence of God
 * Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather of Windsor and Maidenhead – first Hindu woman in British politics; described herself as a "Hindu atheist"
 * Rajeev Khandelwal – Indian film and television actor; states himself an atheist

Former Muslims

 * As'ad Abu Khalil – Lebanese professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus; describes himself as an "atheist secularist"
 * Zackie Achmat – South African anti-HIV/AIDS activist; founder of the Treatment Action Campaign
 * Ismail Adham – Egyptian writer and philosopher
 * Mina Ahadi – Iranian-born pacifist, founder of the German organization Central Council of Ex-Muslims
 * Javed Akhtar – Indian writer, lyricist, TV show host, secular and nationalist activist
 * Mirza Fatali Akhundov – 19th-century Azerbaijani playwright and philosopher
 * Waleed Al-Husseini – Qalqilyan blogger, writer, secular humanist, and founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims of France
 * Ramiz Alia – Albanian communist leader and former president of Albania
 * Bisi Alimi – Nigerian gay rights activist based in the United Kingdom
 * Kareem Amer – Egyptian blogger
 * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – Turkish field marshal, statesman, secularist reformer, and author; a deist or an atheist
 * Humayun Azad – Bangladeshi author, poet, scholar and linguist
 * Hassan Bahara – Moroccan-Dutch writer
 * Pelin Batu – Turkish actress and television personality
 * Hafid Bouazza – Moroccan-Dutch writer
 * Parvin Darabi – Iranian-born American writer and women's rights activist
 * Turan Dursun – Turkish author; was once a Turkish mufti; later authored many books critical of Islam
 * Afshin Ellian – Iranian professor
 * Enver Hoxha – Communist dictator who declared Albania the first atheist state
 * Ismail Kadare – World-renowned Albanian writer
 * 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
 * Raheem Kassam – British conservative activist
 * Al-Ma'arri – blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer
 * Lounès Matoub – Algerian Berber Kabyle singer and activist
 * Asif Mohiuddin – Bangladeshi blogger and secularist
 * Seema Mustafa – Indian journalist, political editor and Delhi Bureau Chief of The Asian Age newspaper
 * Maryam Namazie – Iranian communist, political activist and leader of the British apostate-organization Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
 * Kumail Nanjiani – Pakistani American stand-up comic and actor
 * Taslima Nasrin – Bangladeshi author, feminist, human rights activist and secular humanist
 * Armin Navabi – Iranian-born atheist and secular activist, author, podcaster and vlogger, known as founder of the popular website Atheist Republic.
 * Aziz Nesin – Turkish humorist and author of more than 100 books
 * Barack Obama Sr. – Kenyan senior governmental economist, and the father of Barack Obama
 * Catherine Perez-Shakdam – French Jewish journalist, political analyst and commentator; formerly a marital convert to Sunni Islam
 * Ibn al-Rawandi – 9th-century early skeptic of Shia Islam, of Persian origin
 * Salman Rushdie – British-Indian novelist and essayist
 * Nyamko Sabuni – Politician in Sweden
 * Zohra Sehgal – Indian actress who has appeared in several Hindi and English language films
 * Anwar Shaikh – British author of Pakistani descent
 * Dr. Younus Shaikh – Pakistani medical doctor, human rights activist, rationalist and free-thinker
 * Ali Soilih – Comorian socialist revolutionary; president of the Comoros
 * Wafa Sultan – Syrian-born American psychiatrist; controversial critic of Islam; describes herself as a "secular humanist"
 * Arzu Toker – Turkish-born German writer, journalist, publicist and translator; founder of the German organization Central Council of Ex-Muslims
 * Cenk Uygur – Turkish-American co-founder and main host of the progressive talk radio show The Young Turks; agnostic
 * Ibn Warraq – British Pakistani secularist author; founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
 * Rishvin Ismath – Sri Lankan atheist and humanist; co-founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of Sri Lanka