Editing Religious conversion (section)

== Fostering conversion ==
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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.

[[Religious enthusiasm]] for proselytism can play a role. For example, the [[New Testament]] chronicles the personal activities of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]] and their followers in inspired [[preaching]], [[miracle]]-working and the subsequent gathering of followers. Freshly-converted [[Hiberno-Scottish mission|Irish]] and Anglo-Saxon priests [[Anglo-Saxon mission|spread their new-found faith]] among pagan British and Germanic peoples. Missions of the 19th century spread against a background of North Atlantic [[Christian revival|revivalism]] with its [[emotion]]alism and mass-meeting [[crowd]] psychological behaviours.

[[Messianism]] may prepare groups for the coming of a [[Messiah]] or of a [[savior (disambiguation)|saviour]]. Thus the 1st-century [[Levant]], steeped in expectations of overturning [[Judea (Roman province)|the political situation]], provided fertile ground for [[Jewish Christians|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 [[philosophy|philosophical thought]] as a pathway to adopting a new religion. [[Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul]] [[Areopagus sermon|in Athens]] fits here, as do some of the [[Indic religions]] (such as [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]]). The historical [[God-fearer]]s may represent a philosophical bridge between Hellenism and [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic faith]].

A religious creed which can capture the ear and support of secular power can become a [[social prestige|prestige]] movement, encouraging the mass of a people to follow its tenets. Christianity grew after becoming the [[Armenian Apostolic Church|state religion in Armenia]], in the [[Roman Empire]], and in [[Ethiopian Church|Ethiopia]]. [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] expanded when it gained [[Christianization of Kievan Rus'|official sanction in Kievan Rus']].

Some people convert under the influence of other social conditions. Early Christianity attracted followers by offering [[Christian communism|community material support]] and enhanced status for disadvantaged groups such as women and slaves.<ref>{{bibleverse|Galatians|3:28}}</ref> [[Spread of Islam|Islam allegedly spread]] in North Africa through just administration, and in the Balkans by integrating new believers with improved tax conditions and social prestige. [[Colony|Colonial]] missions since the 19th century have attracted people to an implied nexus of material well-being, [[civilisation]], and European-style religion.

Force can – at least apparently – coerce people into adopting different ideas. [[Religious police]] in (for example) [[Guidance Patrol|Iran]] and [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|Saudi Arabia]] answer for the correct religious expression of those in their purview. The [[Inquisition]] in France and in Iberia worked to convert [[heresy|heretics]] – with [[Conversos|varying success]]. [[Francia|Frankish]] armies spread [[Latin Church|Roman Catholicism]] eastwards in the Middle Ages. Religious wars and suppression shaped the histories of the [[Northern Crusades|Baltic tribes]], the [[Hussites]] and the [[Huguenots]].

On the other hand, [[Religious persecution|persecution]] can drive religious faith and practice underground and strengthen the resolve of oppressed adherents – as in the cases of the [[Waldenses]] or the [[Baháʼí Faith]].