A list of all real-life religious leaders and activists with their own page on this site. It's specifically intended for all people who preached, taught, founded or led a religion, not those who are just religious by faith and nothing more.
- For Christianity, this means: monks, nuns, priests, saints, and popes.
- For Islam, this means: imams and ayatollahs.
- For Judaism, this means: rabbis.
- For Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism and Shintoism: priests, swamis, yogis, fakirs, gurus,...
We also list prophets, preachers, mystics, occultists, and cult leaders in general here.
- Abraham (important prophet in all Abrahamic religions)
- Akhenaten (founded Atenism)
- Johnny Appleseed
- Thomas Aquinas
- Augustine of Hippo
- Bishop Barron
- Thomas Becket
- Robert Hugh Benson
- Helena Blavatsky (founded Theosophy)
- Lionel Blue
- Cesare Borgia
- The Buddha (founded Buddhism)
- John Calvin (founded Calvinism)
- Aleister Crowley (founded Thelema)
- Confuciusnote It is controversial as to whether Confucianism is a religion or a philosophy. For the sake of simplicity, Confucius will be listed here.
- The Dalai Lama (highest priest of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism)
- 14th Dalai Lama (the current holder of that position, and the most noted in modern culture)
- Mary Baker Eddy (founded Christian Science)
- Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand (more important as a statesman than as a religious figure)
- Billy Graham
- Henry VIII (founded Anglicanism)
- Gerard Manley Hopkins
- L. Ron Hubbard (founded Scientology)
- Jesus (founder and central figure of Christianity)
- Jim Jones (cult leader of the People's Temple; responsible for the Jonestown massacre)
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- John Lewis
- Malcolm X
- Ayatollah Khomeini
- Laozinote It is controversial as to whether Taoism is a religion or a philosophy. For the sake of simplicity, Laozi will be listed here, too.
- Anton LaVey (founded LaVeyan Satanism)
- Charles Manson (cult leader of the Manson Family; responsible for a number of horrific murders carried out by the Family)
- Martin Luther (founder of Lutheranism and important figure of Protestantism)
- The Virgin Mary
- Cardinal Mazarin (more important as a head of state than as a religious figure)
- Moses (important figure to all Abrahamic religions, and founder of Ancient Judaism)
- John Henry Newman
- The Apostle Paul (wrote 1/3rd of the New Testament)
- The Prophet Muhammad (founded Islam)
- Patron Saints
- The Pope (highest priest of Catholic Christianity)
- Pythagoras (founded his own cult)
- Rajneesh
- Grigori Rasputin
- Cardinal Richelieu (more important as a head of state than as a religious figure)
- The Rulers of North Korea (revered as gods by their people)
- Albert Schweitzer
- Haile Selassie (worshipped as a deity by Rastafarians, though not with his approval)
- Fulton J. Sheen
- Joseph Smith (founded Mormonism, or LDS movement)
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- Tomás de Torquemada (most notorious figure of The Spanish Inquisition)
- Desmond Tutu
- John Wesley (founder of the Methodist movement within Protestantism)
- John Wycliffe
- Zarathustra (founded Zoroastrianism)
- Huldrych Zwingli