Religious conversion
Baháʼís regard their own faith as the most recent (but not the last), and believe its teachings – which are centered around the principle of the oneness of humanity – are most suited to meeting the needs of a global community.
This includes acknowledgement of Bahá'u'llah – the Founder of the Faith – as the Messenger of God for this age, awareness and acceptance of his teachings, and intention to be obedient to the institutions and laws he established.
Even a recent convert may be elected to serve on a local Spiritual Assembly – the guiding Baháʼí institution at the community level.
Even Christian communities not known for proselytization, such as the Armenian Apostolic Church, are known to have accepted converts among Muslims, Yazidis, and Jews in the nineteenth century.
[17] In addition, Latter Day Saint theology requires that baptism may only be performed with one who has been called and ordained by God with priesthood authority.
[22] Following baptism, Latter Day Saints receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands of a Melchizedek Priesthood holder.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a valid temple recommend (beginning in the year they turn twelve, and after being ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood for men and boys) have the opportunity to practice baptism for the dead as a missionary ritual.
This doctrine, in combination with others regarding the time between an individual's death and resurrection, also explains what happens to the righteous non-believer and the unevangelized by providing a post-mortem means of repentance and salvation.
[28] As late as the 6th century, the Eastern Roman empire and Caliph Umar ibn Khattab were issuing decrees against conversion to Judaism, implying that this was still occurring.
[32][33] Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, and atheism among others.
Hinduism has no traditional ecclesiastical order, no centralized religious authorities, no universally accepted governing body, no binding holy book nor any mandatory prayer attendance requirements.
[34][35][36] In its diffuse and open structure, numerous schools and sects of Hinduism have developed and spun off in India with help from its ascetic scholars, since the Vedic age.
For example, groups like the International Society for Krishna Consciousness accept those who have a desire to follow their sects of Hinduism and have their own religious conversion procedure.
[45][46] In recent decades, mainstream Hinduism schools have attempted to systematize ways to accept religious converts, with an increase in inter-religious mixed marriages.
The initiation ceremony may also include Yajna (i.e., fire ritual with Sanskrit hymns) under guidance of a local Hindu priest.
[53][54] In the second half of the 20th century, the rapid growth of new religious movements (NRMs) led some psychologists and other scholars to propose that these groups were using "brainwashing" or "mind control" techniques to gain converts.
[65] Research in the United States and in the Netherlands has shown a positive correlation between areas lacking mainstream churches and the percentage of people who are members of a new religious movement.
The Parsis, a Zoroastrianism group based in India, classically does not accept converts, but this issue became controversial in the 20th century due to a rapid decline in membership.
[citation needed] Different factors and circumstances may operate and interact to persuade individuals of groups to convert and adopt a new set of religious doctrines and habits.
Missions of the 19th century spread against a background of North Atlantic revivalism with its emotionalism and mass-meeting crowd psychological behaviours.
Thus the 1st-century Levant, steeped in expectations of overturning the political situation, provided fertile ground for nascent Christianity and other Jewish messianic sects, such as the Zealots.
Some religious traditions, rather than stressing emotion in the conversion process, emphasise the importance of philosophical thought as a pathway to adopting a new religion.
A religious creed which can capture the ear and support of secular power can become a prestige movement, encouraging the mass of a people to follow its tenets.
Early Christianity attracted followers by offering community material support and enhanced status for disadvantaged groups such as women and slaves.
[69] Islam allegedly spread in North Africa through just administration, and in the Balkans by integrating new believers with improved tax conditions and social prestige.
Colonial missions since the 19th century have attracted people to an implied nexus of material well-being, civilisation, and European-style religion.
Illustrating the problems that can arise from such subjective viewpoints is this extract from an article by C. Davis, published in Cleveland State University's Journal of Law and Health: "According to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Jews for Jesus and Hebrew Christians constitute two of the most dangerous cults, and its members are appropriate candidates for deprogramming.
Anti-cult evangelicals ... protest that 'aggressiveness and proselytizing ... are basic to authentic Christianity,' and that Jews for Jesus and Campus Crusade for Christ are not to be labeled as cults.
Furthermore, certain Hassidic groups who physically attacked a meeting of the Hebrew Christian 'cult' have themselves been labeled a 'cult' and equated with the followers of Reverend Moon, by none other than the President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
However, it takes exception to what it considers illegitimate proselytizing by the Roman Catholic Church, the Salvation Army, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other religious movements in what it refers to as its canonical territory.
