A Christian convert, Jindal aims to convert America next

By ISABELLE CHAPMAN

On paper, Bobby Jindal has the tools to be a serious contender in the 2016 election. He's a minority, and a Republican. He has the potential to appeal to Indian-Americans who typically vote Democrat, and still garner votes from the GOP base. But the once the rising star is tied for last in the polls in a crowded Republican field. It seems that Jindal is fighting an uphill battle as he tries to convince Americans to make him their next president, but he's personally familiar with unlikely conversions.

Today Jindal is a proud Christian, who calls himself an "evangelical Catholic," but he didn't begin life in the church. Before he was a Rhodes Scholar and a Brown University graduate at 20, he was the child of Hindu, Indian immigrants, born in Baton Rouge just a few months after his parents arrived. As a child, Jindal requested to go by "Bobby" instead of his given name "Piyush" -- and as a teenager, he also began studying the Bible.

Jindal's story of conversion is almost unheard of. Few Hindus leave their religion, and fewer leave for Catholicism. According to a Pew study, 80 percent of Americans raised as Hindus identify as Hindus in adulthood -- the highest retention rate of any major religion. In fact, in out of the more than 35,000 Americans who participated in that particular survey, none converted from Hinduism to Catholicism.

That's not Jindal's only unique quality. He's also the first Indian-American to become a governor. But as an evangelical Catholic he's in good company, as a whopping 45 percent of Americans call themselves "evangelical" or "Catholic," according to another Pew study.

Jindal often talks about his adopted faith, but he has gone out of his way to avoid acknowledging his old one -- and his status as a minority. He rejects the idea of what he calls "hyphenated Americans," like "Indian-American" and "African-Americans."

He has shown in Louisiana that being a South Asian former Hindu is no barrier to support among conservative white Republicans, but he doesn't poll as well with other racial minorities. Some experts worry that may hurt his chances in the general election.

"The Indian-American community may be dispensable, but I don't think he can really write off all minorities. He can't write off blacks and Hispanics," Shikha Dalmia, a senior analyst at Reason Foundation said. "[His behavior] signals to minorities that what it takes to be a part of the GOP is giving up who you are."

Bobby Jindal Presidential Candidate Profile InsideGov