People have changed religion to dodge taxes and army service
Changing faith is usually pictured as a crisis of the soul, but history shows plenty of practical motives: avoiding taxes, escaping conscription, winning a political voice, or marrying. Religions differ just as much in how they receive newcomers, from a signed card in the Baha'i Faith to immersion after age eight among Latter Day Saints.
Conversion means taking up one denomination's beliefs while giving up another's, and it can happen inside a single tradition, as when a Protestant becomes Catholic or a Shia Muslim becomes Sunni. Motives vary: a genuine change of conviction, conversion on the deathbed, for convenience, through marriage, or under force. Trying to persuade someone to switch is proselytism; the person who leaves is called an apostate by the community left behind.
In an 1873 lecture, Max Muller sorted faiths into missionary and non-missionary kinds. Buddhism, Christianity and Islam actively seek followers; Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Hinduism generally do not, and Confucianism and Taoism may also belong in the second group. Christianity's drive comes from the Great Commission, Jesus's instruction to make disciples of every nation. Yet even churches that rarely recruit have taken people in: in the 19th century the Armenian Apostolic Church accepted converts from Muslim, Yazidi and Jewish backgrounds.
Entry rites diverge widely. Baptism is the traditional doorway into Christianity and has parallels with Jewish ritual immersion in the mikvah. Latter Day Saints, following doctrine set in the movement Joseph Smith founded, baptise only by full immersion and only after an age of accountability fixed at eight, rejecting infant baptism because they do not accept original sin. Protestant traditions even argue over whether grace can be refused: Calvinists call the Spirit's calling irresistible, Lutherans hold the Word can be resisted, and Arminians treat salvation as a cooperation with free will.
The Baha'i approach is notably low-key. Members are told to first 'obtain a hearing', making sure a listener is genuinely open. In most countries joining means filling in a card affirming Baha'u'llah as God's messenger for this age. With no clergy, even a brand-new member can be elected to a local Spiritual Assembly.
Source: Religious conversion
