Why I Am Now A Christian

          Bari Weiss is a liberal Jew and a former editor of the New York Times. She left the Times to start her own online publication, The Free Press, in order to pursue independent, fact-based, non-woke journalism. She began her column this week by saying, “One of the biggest stories of the past few days didn’t happen in Washington or Gaza or Tehran, but was an invisible change that happened inside the heart and mind of one woman: Ayaan Hirsi Ali…. Ayaan is one of the great heroes of our time…. She has also been, since the early 2000s, among the most prominent atheists in the world. Or at least she was until late last week, when she announced in the pages of UnHerd that she has converted to Christianity.”

The Egyptian intellectual Hussein Mansour wrote in reaction to the news that, “Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s announcement of embracing Christianity is one of the biggest pivotal moments culturally since 9/11 and I don’t know how many people actually realize that.”

I have viewed Ayaan Hirsi Ali as one of the most important public intellectuals in the world over the past two decades. The first time I remember reading her was more than ten years ago in the Wall Street Journal. It was not long after 9-11. She said that the Islamists who bombed the towers had an extremely high evel of religious commitment. She said they intended to conquer the world. Liberals, she argued, were ineffective due to a lack of commitment and willingness to sacrifice. She felt the only force capable of defeating Islam was Christianity. Christians possessed the requisite level of commitment and sacrifice to combat the Islamists. She said this as an atheist.

Let me strongly encourage you to read her essay yourself, which I have linked below. But for now let me share some of her thoughts.

She begins by saying she felt “compelled” to write her essay. She really wants the world to know what has happened inside her soul.

In the first part of the essay she describes her life as a Muslim and why, twenty years ago, she moved from Islam to atheism; “It was a relief to adopt an attitude of skepticism towards religious doctrine, discard my faith in God and declare that no such entity existed. Best of all, I could reject the existence of hell and the danger of everlasting punishment.”

I have enjoyed reading her for the past twenty years and found myself disagreeing with her atheism but agreeing with many of her foreign policy positions.

So, it was much to my surprise last week when I opened one of my online publications—the British magazine, Unherd, and saw the headline. “Why I am now a Christian,” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

So, what changed? Why does she call herself a Christian now?

Part of the answer, she writes, is global.  Western civilisation is under threat from three different but related forces: First, the dictatorships of Russia and China; second, Islam; third, the Progressive Left, or if you wish, the forces of “woke.” In the organization of my YouTube channel you see that I have an entire section on Christianity’s competitors and her chief competitor is the Progressive Left.

She says, “We can’t fight off these formidable forces unless we can answer the question: what is it that unites us? The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition….As Tom Holland has shown in his marvelous book Dominion, all sorts of apparently secular freedoms — of the market, of conscience and of the press — find their roots in Christianity.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali was powerfully affected by Dominion and let me strongly encourage you to read the book. If you can’t immediately do that at least watch my synopsis which I link below. I will be publishing the 12^th and last in my video series on the book later this week. In an interview this week, Ayaan Hirsi Ali said, “What I want to transmit to my children is summed up in Tom Holland’s book, Dominion.”

She points out, for instance, that critics of Christianity give their lectures in the confines of Christian countries and Christian culture where they are free to do so. Could you give a lecture on Why I am an atheist, in Saudi Arabia? Decidedly not.

But the civilizational war is not her only reason for becoming a Christian.

“I have also turned to Christianity because I ultimately found life without any spiritual solace unendurable — indeed very nearly self-destructive. Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?....Bertrand Russell and other activist atheists believed that with the rejection of God we would enter an age of reason and intelligent humanism. But the “God hole” — the void left by the retreat of the church — has merely been filled by a jumble of irrational quasi-religious dogmas. The result is a world where modern cults prey on the dislocated masses, offering them spurious reasons for being and action — mostly by engaging in virtue-signaling theatre on behalf of a victimised minority or our supposedly doomed planet.”

She says, “I no longer consider myself a Muslim apostate, but a lapsed atheist.”

She is humble about her conversion. She admits,

“Of course, I still have a great deal to learn about Christianity. I discover a little more at church each Sunday. But I have recognized, in my own long journey through a wilderness of fear and self-doubt, that there is a better way to manage the challenges of existence than either Islam or unbelief had to offer.”

A major thrust of my ministry is to declare to all that Jesus Christ and His followers have built the marvelous world you live in and enjoy. We need to give Him all the glory. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has discovered this and is now giving Him the glory He richly deserves. May many more turn to Him in gratitude and worship. Not only is He the only one who can defeat the vicious enemies of civilization. He alone can fill that yawning void in your soul.

More: See my video, “Atheists for Jesus.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s husband is one of the atheists I feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX5Mi-pVgGY

Ayaan Hirsi Ali announces her turning to the Christian faith: https://unherd.com/?p=490695?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3

And “An Atheist Admits the Necessity for Christian Missions;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQEDBrykPo

All episodes of my synopsis of Tom Holland’s Dominion are found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHlTST983SrRLzY-1quBpEsd46bog7jA

From World Magazine, “Let Them Come In,” inviting the likes of Ayaan Hirsi Ali into the Christian faith even though they have a limited understanding of it: https://wng.org/opinions/let-them-come-1699911311

Recent interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali in which she explains her conversion: https://unherd.com/2023/11/ayaan-hirsi-ali-answers-her-critics/#19

The Free Press touts Ayaan Hirsi Ali: https://www.thefp.com/p/ayaan-hirsi-ali-why-i-am-now-christian-atheism?utm_campaign=email-post&r=ljoms&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email