Egyptian Hassan al-Banna was the founder the Muslim Brotherhood, with goals of expelling the British from Egypt and re-establishing the Caliphate.
1906-1949
1859-1916
Benedict XIV (Bernard Garnier) was made pope by a splinter group of cardinals in 1425. As there was already an antipope, Benedict XIV became counter-antipope.
-1433
St. Thomas Becket, England’s Archbishop of Canterbury, refused to give King Henry II power over the church. He was murdered in 1170 and became a saint in 1173.
1118-1170
Benedict XVI served as pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013. He is best known for his rigid views on Catholicism and topics such as birth control and homosexuality.
1927-
Born in India in the 6th century B.C., Buddha was a spiritual leader and teacher whose life serves as the foundation of the Buddhist religion.
600-300
St. John Chrysostom was archbishop of Constantinople and an important early church father.
349-407
Constantine I was the first Christian Roman Emperor. He ruled at the beginning of the 4th century and began the evolution of the empire into a Christian state.
280-337
-962
Dorothy Day was an activist who worked for such social causes as pacifism and women’s suffrage through the prism of the Catholic Church.
1897-1980
St. Martín de Porres is the patron saint of interracial harmony, known for his social work and miraculous healing powers.
1579-1639
1001-1200
Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret formed the Order of the Solar Temple and allegedly set fire to Swiss OST buildings, killing themselves and 46 others.
1924-1994
1858-1955
1611-1660
1877-
Louis Farrakhan has led the Nation of Islam, an African American movement that combined elements of Islam with black nationalism since 1978.
1933-
Father Divine was a prominent African-American religious leader of the 1930s who founded the Peace Mission, an important precursor of the Civil Rights Movement.
1880-1965
Saint John Fisher was a Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal who was martyred when he resisted King Henry VII's encroachments on the Church.
1469-1535
Minister and lecturer Sylvester Graham was a major figure of the 19th century dietary reform movement and was also known as the person behind Graham crackers.
1794-1851
1607-1638
1450-
1098-1179
Anne Hutchinson was a Puritan woman who spread her own interpretations of the Bible, leading to the Antinomian Controversy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1591-1643
Warren Jeffs, the former leader of the polygamist sect Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was convicted in 2011 for the sexual assault of underage girls.
1955-
Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme religious leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, following many years of resistance to Shah Pahlavi.
1902-1989
The foremost leader of the Scottish Reformation, John Knox set the moral tone of the Church of Scotland and shaped the democratic form of government it adopted.
1514-1572
Dalai Lama, Tibet's political leader, has strived to make Tibet an independent and democratic state from China. He and his followers are exiled to India.
1935-
British religious leader Ann Lee, also known as "Mother Ann," had a vision of the second coming of Christ, which led her to found an American society of Shakers.
1736-1784
1-100
1527-1576
1933-2008
Sun Myung Moon was founder and leader of the Unification Church, a religious movement whose followers were labeled "Moonies."
1920-2012
Elijah Muhammad rose from poverty to become the charismatic leader of the black nationalist group Nation of Islam, and mentor of Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan.
1897-1975
St Clare of Assisi was one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. She became the abbess of the convent of San Damiano, near Assisi in 1216. In 1958 she was declared the Patron of television.
1194-1253
1567-1622
1644-1718
St. Polycarp was a 2nd century Greek bishop whose Letter to the Philippians formed the basis of Christian literature.
69-155
853-
Rabbi and author Chaim Potok wrote The Chosen, along with several other novels featuring characters grappling with clashing secular and religious views.
1929-2002
Hashemi Rafsanjani, an ally of Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iranian Revolution, served as president of Iran from 1989 to 1997 before his defeat by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
1934-
Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created the spiritual practice of dynamic meditation. He started the Rancho Rajneesh commune in Oregon in the 1980s.
1931-1990
Rasputin is best known for his role as a mystical adviser in the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.
1869-1916
Pat Robertson is a television evangelist best known for founding the Christian Coalition, an influential conservative political organization.
1930-
1772-1833
Apostle Saint Mark was one of Christ's 70 disciples, one of the four evangelists and the traditional author of the second Gospel, The Book of Mark.
-68
1805-1844
675-754
Desmond Tutu is a South African Anglican cleric who is known for his role in the opposition to apartheid in South Africa.
1931-
1863-1902
1506-1552
Andrew Young, Jr is a clergyman and was an activist during the civil rights movement. He was also a member of congress and twice elected at the mayor of Atlanta.
1932-
Brigham Young was an American Mormon leader and colonizer who significantly influenced the development of the American West.
1801-1877