I have followed the career of Ayaan Hirsi Ali from the moment she became a household name when her friend Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamist for the film "Submission." She has been a fighter for human rights and a voice of warning these many years. Persons with her fortitude are needed now more than ever.
Ayaan, in 2015 I shared my conversion testimony from atheism to Christianity with you, calling you my atheist sister. Welcome to the flock my Christian sister. God bless you and I pray that He keeps on guiding you every step of the way.
Christians everywhere are rejoicing. Welcome, Ayaan, into the congregation of the faithful who know Jesus and his message of love and forgiveness. I pray that word of your conversion starts a wave of Muslims bravely abandoning Islam and becoming followers of Jesus Christ.
This is a pragmatic reason to adopt Christianity, which is a good start. But ultimately, Christianity isn't a religion of pragmatic rules and ethics to improve your life or society. It isn't a religion at all, whereby one earns salvation through righteous living. It's primarily good news that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life we couldn't and paid the penalty of our sin, so we wouldn't. It's the trust and celebration of what Christ did on our behalf -- that we are free from having to "earn it." And all of those pragmatic benefits to society come as a result of that freedom.
I hope to never understand the feeling of people wanting to kill you for your views, but history shows how easily that can happen. You are a brave and remarkable woman. I have a friend who is reinforcing her Jewish faith in light of current events and we both agree that the rock of both our faiths is necessary to move forward in this world.
I am so proud of The Free Press for sharing this. I hope Ayaan experiences the fullness of a life of faith as a Christ follower! I agree with her assessment of the global situation. As she grows in belief, may she know peace and have the very genuine hope in the future both here and in death.
I read your book Infidel over 9 years ago. I loved you then, and now, reading this, I love you more. You are so brave. And welcome to Christianity. I hope to meet you someday.
The world has been and always will be a set of tribes within tribes that are held together by their individual and group stories. Religions and their stories are one of the most powerful and have directed the lives of millions of people for thousands of years. The power of their story sustains them. The American story is unique. It brought together many different tribes of people from around the world through a shared belief in human rights and freedom that has led to incredible success and a way of life for Americans. Our story is no longer cherished and is fading for various reasons. As we lose our story, we will no longer be willing to fight for our way of life. The October Hamas attack on Israel is a direct attack on their very existence, and Israelis have responded that their story is worth fighting for. Hopefully, America will stand with them and fight if necessary. Otherwise, we will fail together.
Ayaan..I have watched and respected your bravery for years. As a practicing Catholic I am thrilled that you’ve chosen to become a practicing Christian! You are absolutely right about us losing our way due to the rush to embrace secularism in the European tradition. I pray people open their eyes before it’s too late. God Bless you and keep you well!
Hirsi Ali has been fighting the fight against darkness for decades. With real skin in the game. Her voice is one that needs to be heard loudly and widely across America and the world. Let us not forget that her voice was cancelled by many colleges who today preach about the right to free speech. Perhaps they would like to now invite her now to address their students to hear "her truth" AKA THE TRUTH
Ayaan and Bari both give me hope. Bari for her publishing a Christian essay and Ayaan for her pursuit of the Truth where ever it leads and it lead her into several changes, profound changes of her heart and mind. Alexander Solzhenitsyn had a similar change from Communism to Christianity and he gave a famous Commencement Address at Harvard University June 8, 1978 at Harvard. He began his address with "truth eludes us as soon as our concentration begins to flag, all the while leaving the illusion that we are continuing to pursue it. This is the source of much discord. Also, truth seldom is sweet; it is almost invariably bitter. A measure of bitter truth is included in my speech today, but I offer it as a friend, not as an adversary." He went on to state: "A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There remain many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life." May God give us more courageous individuals and leaders. Ayaan, thank you for speaking the Truth publicly to the Powerful.
I'm a big admirer of your writing and your work and your bravery--this conversion surprises me. It's as if you equated atheism with nihilism, if that's not putting the thought too strongly. The values of Christianity (at least since the Reformation!) have been increasingly in line with Enlightenment values: love of life, individual liberty--many democratic values coalesce with Judeo-Christian traditions. But it's always been enough for me to feel the purpose of life is to love it and live it! I always thought of Jesus as a great psychologist and the King James translation of the Bible as a fount of poetry, interesting stories, and wisdom. I'm trying to wrap my head around someone with your enormous intellectual and moral vision--not to mention your sense of humor--believing in the virgin birth, Jesus as not just a man but "the word made flesh" literally and the resurrection. I'm thinking--really? Are you okay? I don't mean to sound rude, but maybe rediscovering your sense of not just humor and the human comedy, but of the absurd might be the way to go in these dark times. Maybe a dash of Bertolt Brecht and Hannah Arendt instead of church?
There is still enough courage left in the U.S. that a Jewish woman publishes an essay written by a Muslim woman turned atheist turned Christian.
May God Bless the U.S.A.
I have followed the career of Ayaan Hirsi Ali from the moment she became a household name when her friend Theo van Gogh was murdered by an Islamist for the film "Submission." She has been a fighter for human rights and a voice of warning these many years. Persons with her fortitude are needed now more than ever.
May she only go from strength to strength.
Ayaan, in 2015 I shared my conversion testimony from atheism to Christianity with you, calling you my atheist sister. Welcome to the flock my Christian sister. God bless you and I pray that He keeps on guiding you every step of the way.
Christians everywhere are rejoicing. Welcome, Ayaan, into the congregation of the faithful who know Jesus and his message of love and forgiveness. I pray that word of your conversion starts a wave of Muslims bravely abandoning Islam and becoming followers of Jesus Christ.
This is a pragmatic reason to adopt Christianity, which is a good start. But ultimately, Christianity isn't a religion of pragmatic rules and ethics to improve your life or society. It isn't a religion at all, whereby one earns salvation through righteous living. It's primarily good news that Jesus Christ lived the perfect life we couldn't and paid the penalty of our sin, so we wouldn't. It's the trust and celebration of what Christ did on our behalf -- that we are free from having to "earn it." And all of those pragmatic benefits to society come as a result of that freedom.
I hope to never understand the feeling of people wanting to kill you for your views, but history shows how easily that can happen. You are a brave and remarkable woman. I have a friend who is reinforcing her Jewish faith in light of current events and we both agree that the rock of both our faiths is necessary to move forward in this world.
I am so proud of The Free Press for sharing this. I hope Ayaan experiences the fullness of a life of faith as a Christ follower! I agree with her assessment of the global situation. As she grows in belief, may she know peace and have the very genuine hope in the future both here and in death.
I read your book Infidel over 9 years ago. I loved you then, and now, reading this, I love you more. You are so brave. And welcome to Christianity. I hope to meet you someday.
The world has been and always will be a set of tribes within tribes that are held together by their individual and group stories. Religions and their stories are one of the most powerful and have directed the lives of millions of people for thousands of years. The power of their story sustains them. The American story is unique. It brought together many different tribes of people from around the world through a shared belief in human rights and freedom that has led to incredible success and a way of life for Americans. Our story is no longer cherished and is fading for various reasons. As we lose our story, we will no longer be willing to fight for our way of life. The October Hamas attack on Israel is a direct attack on their very existence, and Israelis have responded that their story is worth fighting for. Hopefully, America will stand with them and fight if necessary. Otherwise, we will fail together.
Stories like this is why the Free Press is such a gem.
Ayaan..I have watched and respected your bravery for years. As a practicing Catholic I am thrilled that you’ve chosen to become a practicing Christian! You are absolutely right about us losing our way due to the rush to embrace secularism in the European tradition. I pray people open their eyes before it’s too late. God Bless you and keep you well!
May her courage and CLARITY be contagious.
Praise God.
As a former atheist and now Catholic priest, this resonates completely. Amen and Amen!
Hirsi Ali has been fighting the fight against darkness for decades. With real skin in the game. Her voice is one that needs to be heard loudly and widely across America and the world. Let us not forget that her voice was cancelled by many colleges who today preach about the right to free speech. Perhaps they would like to now invite her now to address their students to hear "her truth" AKA THE TRUTH
Ayaan and Bari both give me hope. Bari for her publishing a Christian essay and Ayaan for her pursuit of the Truth where ever it leads and it lead her into several changes, profound changes of her heart and mind. Alexander Solzhenitsyn had a similar change from Communism to Christianity and he gave a famous Commencement Address at Harvard University June 8, 1978 at Harvard. He began his address with "truth eludes us as soon as our concentration begins to flag, all the while leaving the illusion that we are continuing to pursue it. This is the source of much discord. Also, truth seldom is sweet; it is almost invariably bitter. A measure of bitter truth is included in my speech today, but I offer it as a friend, not as an adversary." He went on to state: "A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, in each government, in each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There remain many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life." May God give us more courageous individuals and leaders. Ayaan, thank you for speaking the Truth publicly to the Powerful.
I'm a big admirer of your writing and your work and your bravery--this conversion surprises me. It's as if you equated atheism with nihilism, if that's not putting the thought too strongly. The values of Christianity (at least since the Reformation!) have been increasingly in line with Enlightenment values: love of life, individual liberty--many democratic values coalesce with Judeo-Christian traditions. But it's always been enough for me to feel the purpose of life is to love it and live it! I always thought of Jesus as a great psychologist and the King James translation of the Bible as a fount of poetry, interesting stories, and wisdom. I'm trying to wrap my head around someone with your enormous intellectual and moral vision--not to mention your sense of humor--believing in the virgin birth, Jesus as not just a man but "the word made flesh" literally and the resurrection. I'm thinking--really? Are you okay? I don't mean to sound rude, but maybe rediscovering your sense of not just humor and the human comedy, but of the absurd might be the way to go in these dark times. Maybe a dash of Bertolt Brecht and Hannah Arendt instead of church?