What causes cross-cultural conversions?

[Yelnoc]

It seems to me that most people "convert" to religions that surround them cultural.  The man in the southeastern US who has a religious experience joins a protestant church, a woman in Spain joins the Catholic Church, a family in Morrocco converts to Islam; you get the point.  My question is, what usually causes people to convert to religions from other cultural spheres.  Why, usually, do some Canadians follow Buddhism, or some Pacific Islanders join the LDS Church, etc?  Are people convinced by missionaries, or impressed by miracles, or just naturally curious?

I realize nobody can give a sweeping answer, but it's a topic I would like to see discussed.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

It depends on the context. The sociopolitical and cultural context of a Samoan who converts to the LDS is very different to a Middle-Class North American who becomes a Buddhist.

Of course even that above comment is far too broad a brush.

[Gustaf]

Well, my dad's uncle converted to mormonism back in the day after some missionaries showed up at his doorstep. So that's one example.

[useful idiot]

Some sort of escapism or dissatisfaction with one's own culture? I'd reckon that's generally the case with the upper middle-class white Westerner who becomes a Buddhist or a Muslim. In Asia many people have converted to Christianity because it's a sort of status symbol (esp. in Korea). I'm sure some Vietnamese became Catholic for advancement back in the day, for instance.

Christianity isn't as much of a culture shock compared to other world religions though. Buddhism is very much tied to east Asia and Islam is an Arab religion that happens to be practiced by mostly non-Arabs. Christianity is much more malleable, but then again it is a proselytizing religion whereas Buddhism isn't and Islam isn't really any more. It's cross-cultural aspects have made it more palatable.

Between Protestantism and Catholicism it depends on the place I suppose. A Catholic becoming an evangelical in Indiana or Brazil isn't that uncommon, but in Italy or Poland it's rare. Likewise a Protestant becoming Catholic isn't unusual in places like the US or the UK. I actually think a Protestant becoming a Catholic in a majority-Catholic country would be strange nowadays, unless it was for a marriage or something.

[Insula Dei]

The only Pentecostal I (sort of) know, was converted by a Prayer Healing in a sporting arena. There also are some evangelical micro-communities over here established back in the 19th and early 20th century by US missionaries, and for a substantial part probably made up out of expats. There are also some efforts made by Dutch calvinists to bring us to the light: i.e. holding info evenings and giving away bibles on the street.

All of this obviously having very little to do with the thread theme.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Christianity isn't as much of a culture shock compared to other world religions though. Buddhism is very much tied to east Asia and Islam is an Arab religion that happens to be practiced by mostly non-Arabs. Christianity is much more malleable, but then again it is a proselytizing religion whereas Buddhism isn't and Islam isn't really any more. It's cross-cultural aspects have made it more palatable.

Buddhism's history is very much that of a proselytizing religion. It just ran out of places to proselytize within the bounds of its cultural and geographic knowledge for a while. Buddhism [spreading in the West/spreading in the West to a greater extent than it already is] [is/will be] a reversion to a historical norm, not something new, within the context of twenty-five hundred years.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It seems to me that most people "convert" to religions that surround them cultural.  The man in the southeastern US who has a religious experience joins a protestant church, a woman in Spain joins the Catholic Church, a family in Morrocco converts to Islam; you get the point. 

Erm, I'm pretty sure that such conversions are pretty rare. Most people in such places are probably in those churches their entire lives.