Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim and renowned critic of Islam, has revealed her conversion to Christianity, describing her journey from Islam to atheism and ultimately to Christianity.

On Nov. 11, 2024, activist and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali published an essay titled “Why I am Now a Christian.” Her declaration has understandably made waves. For 20 years, Ali has written, spoken, and acted as a committed atheist. Rejecting the Islamic teachings she was indoctrinated with during her teenage years, she has long argued for secularism as the needed lens for furthering humanity and countering the world’s evils so often perpetrated by religious dogma. Hence, her conversion to Christianity is not being well received by the media.

Ali grounds the explanation for her conversion on the usefulness of Christianity. I do not mean “useful” in a trite way, as one might find a spoon more helpful to eat soup than a fork. Ali sees the use of Christianity as fundamental on a societal and personal level. In this way, Ali grounds her turn to Christianity on the same principles that led her to reject God and organized religion. She now sees Christianity not as a foe to her cause but as a needed ally.

Hirsi Ali traces her initial disillusionment with Islam following the 9/11 terrorist attacks when she questioned the justifications for the attacks in the name of Islam. During her teenage years in Nairobi, Hirsi Ali says she was influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, which instilled in her a strict interpretation of Islam.- This period was characterized by a strict adherence to religious practices and a deep-seated disdain for non-Muslims, particularly Jews. However, her later exposure to atheism through figures like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins provided a stark contrast to her previous beliefs.

Hirsi Ali attributes her turn to Christianity to a broader concern for the challenges facing Western civilization. She cites threats from authoritarian regimes, global Islamism, and “woke” ideology as catalysts for seeking a unifying force. Christianity, in her view, offers a foundation of values and traditions that uphold human life, freedom, and dignity, and counters the divisiveness she associates with atheism.

Responding to her embrace of the Christian faith, conservative Christian philosopher Dr. Robert George wrote on Facebook: “Two decades ago, under the influence of the writings of Bertrand Russell, she became an atheist. Her thought was that atheism was smart and sophisticated — it was allegedly what really intelligent people believed (the ‘brights,’ as Daniel Dennett embarrassingly labeled himself and his fellow unbelievers). It was the way to a world of rationality and civil liberty. Hirsi Ali is not the first to have gone down that misguided path. She now sees that it is indeed misguided and that there is, if I may quote scripture, a more excellent way.

Hirsi Ali’s embrace of Christianity also stems from a personal quest for spiritual solace and meaning in life.

Hirsi Ali critiques atheism as leaving a “God hole,” which she believes has led to the rise of irrational ideologies and the erosion of Western values. She argues that Christianity provides a unifying story and foundational texts, similar to those in Islam, that can engage and mobilize people.

Christians should be thankful for Ali’s essay. It no doubt took plenty of courage to make, given her past commitments and social circle. The author of this article Adam Carrington, an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College made the following comment. “We also should exercise cautious support of her. She mentions at the end of her essay that “I still have a great deal to learn about Christianity. I discover a little more at church each Sunday.” Judging by her essay, she still might need guidance in seeing the centrality of grace in Christianity and how that grace is most manifest in the person and work of the Son of God, made flesh. Sometimes, those truths take time to know and to feel. In some sense, we spend our entire lives trying to rest in God’s grace, not save ourselves as is the normal human inclination.

But we also should be thankful that Ali sees the political and social goods of Christianity, historically and today. In its witness, we see the dignity of humanity made in the image of its Creator. In its doctrine, we see the need for politics that protects the innocent, punishes the guilty, and guards the right. In Christianity, we also see the need for mercy, not just from God, but with each other as neighbors and citizens.

That such commitments to dignity, law, and mercy seem obvious to so many of us is not the insight of secular humanism. Ali has joined us in seeing its origins in the God revealed in the Bible.