With all the insanity in the world, it's easy to lose sight of what truly matters. Former "New Athiest" movement leader Ayaan Hirsi Ali provided a powerful reminder when she shared her conversion to Christianity with Richard Dawkins. 

Dawkins is an infamous atheist who has mocked Christianity as "nonsense" for decades, along with other figures like the now-deceased Christopher Hitchens. Originally from Somalia, Hirsi Ali left her home country in her early 20s and dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of women subjugated by Islam. That led to her being put on an Al-Qaeda hit list, as well as being targeted legally by Muslim groups. At one point, she was sued for discrimination for pointing out that Islam's Muhammad married a six-year-old when he was 53. She ultimately won that battle despite the court chastising her use of language. 

For years, Ali was a thought leader and lecturer in atheist circles, having rejected religion due to her experiences with Islam. That all changed in late 2023, though. In an essay, she shared her fear of what she described as the global rise of Islam and authoritarianism, concluding that Judeo-Christian values were the only possible defense. That led some to question whether her conversion was purely pragmatic and political. 

Ali put those questions to bed in her exchange with Dawkins. Even as he continued to trash Christianity during their conversation, she spoke with humility, and shared a powerful testimony of salvation. 

What Dawkins (bless him, with his DNA tie) really wanted to drill down to was whether she thought it was all true. She still seems hesitant to move it outside the realm of the subjective but she also fits that into a newfound humility springing from spiritual experience. pic.twitter.com/qVeAyjL8wq

— Hannah Long (@HannahGraceLong) May 5, 2024

HIRSI ALI: So I think because you, and I know you very well, we've been friends for a long time. In fact, in some ways, I think of you as a mentor. I'd say you're coming at this from a place of "there is nothing," and what was happened to me is that I think I have accepted that there is something, and when you accept that there is something, there is a powerful entity, for me, the God that turned me around, I think what the vicar is saying no longer sounds nonsensical. It makes a great deal of sense, and not only does it make a great deal of sense, it's also layered with the wisdom of millennia. 

And so, like you, I did mock faith in general, Christianity in particular, but I don't do that anymore, and again, I think that's where humility comes into it, is that it doesn't seem in 2024 after I went through that experience (her suicidal depression), it doesn't seem nonsensical to me, and I don't mock it. I've come down to my knees to say perhaps those people who have always had faith have something that we who lost faith don't have, and people who have faith also, like the women who told me, "You fight everything and you've lost hope, you've lost faith. Try it [and] pray." I think in just that one word there is so much wisdom that it's, I am suffering, and I'm just trying to say no, it's not stupid. 

(Dawkins suggests Christianity is obsessed with sin)

I've learned that Christianity is actually obsessed with love, and in the figure, the teachings of love. 

(Applause)

The teaching of Christ as I see it, and again, I'm a brand new Christian, but what I've finding out, which is the opposite of growing up as a Muslim and the message of Islam, but the message of Christianity of love, it's a message of redemption. It's a story of renewal and birth, and so, Jesus dying and rising again for me symbolizes that story, and in a small way, I felt I had died and was reborn. And that story of redemption and birth, I think makes Christianity actually a very, very powerful story for the human condition, of human existence.

When the panel finished, Ali told Dawkins that she regrets ever mocking Christianity, before embracing her old friend.

The tone was set by Hirsi Ali’s obvious air of vulnerability, humility and joy, but also how much affection and respect she obviously has for Dawkins. To paraphrase one bit: “I used to mock Christianity, as you are doing now, my dear Richard, but…I regret it.” pic.twitter.com/5mxBgldT4J

— Hannah Long (@HannahGraceLong) May 5, 2024

While Hirsi Ali may have some things left to figure out, I wouldn't dare nitpick her words. Spiritual maturity doesn't happen overnight, and it is clear her conversion is genuine. To see her speak with such grace despite the pushback she was getting from Dawkins was inspiring. 

That aside, she also shared her theory on Islamism being celebrated on college campuses. 

I’d also say I didn’t really find her argument that campus chaos is a result of Islamism filling the moral vacuum that atheism left convincing. Maybe a little.

Though it was really fun to hear her emphatically say “G.K. Chesterton was right!” pic.twitter.com/FspMATkaf6

— Hannah Long (@HannahGraceLong) May 5, 2024

While the above poster may not have bought the argument, I think Hirsi Ali is correct. What we are seeing on college campuses and in society more broadly is a crisis of purpose. Having rejected Christianity, people are left desperately trying to fill the void in their lives with something else. Atheism and "reason" were never going to be enough, and the far-left's joining of Islam with oppression ideology has provided a new shiny object.