Why do you think people change religions?

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Why do people decide to change their religion, say from Judaism to Christianity, or from Christianity to Judaism, or Judaism to Buddhism, or Christianity to Islam, well, you get the idea.....
what are some reasons why people convert?
and why do so many people in the United States, especially African Americans, convert to Islam every year?
and is it true that 6,000,000 muslims in sub saharan africa convert to christianity every year?
is there any proof that jews tend to convert to buddhism in prison?

It does depend, but at least they are thinking about it.

People convert because of family/marriage, though less so these days.

People convert becuase they are searching for something different.

I have no idea about those figure you quoted I would have to look into them.

Jews converting to Buddhism in prison sound interesting. Some branches of Buddhism don't require conversions as such.

http://www.thebuddhagarden.com/blog/how ... -buddhism/

There are a variety of reasons a person might convert to another religion.

They might have a belief network that is more compatible with a certain religion. Life experiences can influence the beliefs a person has.

They might disillusioned by their religion. Something might have happened to them in the past for this to happen.

Communities can also influence whether people stick to their religion or not. If a certain religious community is not supportive enough then some people might leave their religions and opt for another, or leave religion entirely.

There could be purely emotional reasons. One religion plays at fear or love better than another, at least in that person's interpretation.

While I have not changed religions, I have changed houses of worship a few times.

I made my first change after I graduated college because 1) the ELCA congregation I was part of for many years offered me my first professional gig (and yes, I do believe church musicians should be paid, sometimes as much as the pastoral staff. We musicians put in just as much, if not more time than the pastor, to support the church's mission, whatever that may be. There's plenty of evidence that the musicians in the Temple were paid, according to what I've seen in the Old Testament), and 2) the church I grew up in told me I was destined for Hell because of the music I was listening to (just check my posting in some of the older threads for why.) I left that congregation the first time 30 years ago, because I accepted an I.T. Position in Chicago, and joined an LC-MS congregation in the small town I moved to outside both Chicago and Rockford. When I lost that I.T. Job, no thanks to that heartless bean-counter that nearly destroyed the company, and broke up any good will those of us that were hired when it was founded had for this outfit, I moved back home, rejoined the same ELCA congregation I left 5 years earlier. I left them a second time in 2006, because of the way church council got rid of the co-music directors (a brother and sister team, who grew up in that congregation. The council president told the sister to "not let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya, else will charge you with criminal mischief and trespass." Needless to say, she told her brother what happened, and he resigned. When I found out what happened, I left, only to come back 2 weeks later, after a lot of fast talking by the soprano soloist and the head of the Music and Worship committee. I left that congregation permanently in 2014, after the pastoral staff pulled the same stunt of the then-current music director. Also, I had major issues with some of the teachings coming down from the ELCA, such as openly gay and lesbian pastors, the blessing of same sex marriages, and pastors that are in same sex relationships. As the say, screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me. I went back to LC-MS, since their views were similar to mine (and quite a few people in the congregation I joined were a lot friendlier to me than the congregation I left. Besides, the organist is a buddy of mine from high school, the pastor and his wife, and the congregation president and I are alumni of the same university (pastor and his wife graduated the year after me), and a few other people in the congregation come from the same small town in southern York county, PA I grew up in (as a matter of fact, I delivered their newspaper when I was a kid.)

In short, just like the passage in Scripture, a prophet can't do anything in their hometown. Let's just say this Aspie couldn't do anything right in his home congregation's eyes. Also, it took me a long time to rid myself of the worst teachings of Calvinism, Arminianism, Dispensationalism, predestination and predeterminalism (and I still have some problems trying to shake myself of some of those teachings.)

They learn something new. They find that something they had thought impossible is possible, or that something they had believed ceases to add up when they know more about it.