In the sociology of religion, secondary conversion is the religious conversion of an individual that results from a relationship with another convert, rather than from any particular aspect of the new religion. For example, someone might join a religious group primarily because their spouse or partner has done so; such a person would be a secondary convert. Secondary converts are people who join a religion only because of a relationship with the other convert.
Secondary conversion can greatly expand a movement's influence, particularly after a conquest, such as the Muslim Moorish conquest of Spain and Catholic Spain's conquests in Latin America.
Famous quotes containing the words secondary and/or conversion:
“Cloud-clown, blue painter, sun as horn,
Hill-scholar, man that never is,
The bad-bespoken lacker,
Ancestor of Narcissus, prince
Of the secondary men. There are no rocks
And stones, only this imager.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The conversion of a savage to Christianity is the conversion of Christianity to savagery.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)