She was a refugee from Somalia, where she was subject to genital mutilation. A man she worked with on a documentary was killed, and she was warned she was next. Activist and former Dutch politician Aayan Hirsi Ali was born a Muslim and later an atheist. She recently converted to Christianity. Her testimony ought to be listened to and she and her family prayed for.
It's not easy to convert under the public eye. She's being criticized by atheists and even Christians. Some worry her initial essay announcing her embrace of Christ sounded more intellectual than spiritual. Give the woman some breathing room! Hirsi Ali is one of the most courageous people in the public square today.
Living under the Muslim Brotherhood in Kenya, she was taught to curse the Jewish people "multiple times a day."
Contrast that with the Liturgy of the Hours in the Catholic Church. We pray from Scripture: "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand wither." And: "The Lord will make a river of peace flow through Jerusalem."
These lines are a constant reminder of the communion we have with the Jewish people. I went to Caffe Aronne in Manhattan recently. The staff had recently quit because the owner declared support for Israel. Like others, I wanted to offer my thanks by becoming a customer. It was beautiful to see a healthy crowd there on a Sunday night. But there was a police presence, too. It's so wrong that that had to be the case.
What I saw at the cafe is a people whose insistence on living won't be extinguished.
Hirsi Ali also made, even if unintentionally, an invitation that could save lives in a time where loneliness has been called an epidemic: "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?" Assessing the world today, she quotes English writer G.K. Chesterton: "When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything."
What is right and just and true? Young people who, in recent days, have made Osama bin Laden and his criticisms of America a viral sensation on TikTok are lost beyond anything we should be able to tolerate. Clearly, we have not been passing on our wisdom. If you think the United States and Israel are the worst of civilization, you should consider what life is like for a Catholic priest in Nigeria. Kidnapping and murders are par for the course there.
To honestly and transparently pursue the truth is a beautiful thing. And Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been doing that. I'm overjoyed she's found some solace in Christ, and I pray that it only ever increases. Some cities in the West are already awash in Christmas decorations. As the holiday parties and all other seasonal trappings commence, may we reflect on what the season's actually about. And how it connects us. Or may my right hand wither!
(Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book "A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living." She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan's pro-life commission in New York, and is on the board of the University of Mary. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.)
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