https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2023/11/11/ayaan-hirsi-ali-ditches-atheism-becomes-a-christian/

She found meaning and purpose through Jedeo-Christian monotheism, which she couldn’t find in atheism.


She is one of my greatest heroes because of her courage to face the abusive religion she was born into, that mutilated her genitals to remove her clitorus, against her will, then to write about it and make movies about it, even after your collaborators care killed and she was threatened with death by Muslims all over the world.

So now it’s just interesting how she couldn’t bear the lack of any kind of meaning, or purpose, or anything to unite around except, nothing.
“God is Dead” is not a rallying cry.
And she thinks we are headed for civilization change and clashes between Islam, Christianity/Judaism and China/Russia/Iran/North Korea
She’s choosing sides now, she’s team Jesus.

Me, I’m choosing team pragmatist,
Let’s do what works best!
Hopefully we can all agree on that.
And destroy what doesn’t work.

Obviously what’s happening in Gaza isn’t working, for anyone.
Whatever is at the root of that,
Needs to be destroyed
And the community remedied.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2023 07:59PM by schrodingerscat.

That was interesting.

Good for her. My take away is that she is more comfortable with tribal structure (aka rules).

She seems a little fearful. I'm not sure Christianity will provide what she claims just because she didn't find it in atheism. Atheism is not a doctrine like she implies. She didn't provide any evidence for the core beliefs of Christianity being factual.

The comments at the end of the article were interesting. One said, "...that she is trying to identify as a member of a united and politically powerful front that might muster resistance against the threats that she cites (Islamic extremism, expansion of Chinese power, etc.). She wants to be in that fight, and let’s face it, atheism is about as useful against those issues as a wet noodle. We atheists are not a united or a politically connected bunch!"

Some of the threats she fears actually do have Christian components.

I don't find her reasons compelling myself, but I think I can understand her reasons.

She is a politician after all.
I get her hatred of Islam as a woman who grew up in a Somali village, and had no choice but to get circumcizer before being forcibly 'married' to a relative at 14yo.
I'd hate Islam if I were her too.
I'm with her on her criticism of Islam, 99%.
She's probably even more extreme than me still on Islam.
I'm willing to admit that she's probably right about it, from her point of view.
But she doesn't even mention that you can say the same thing about Buddhism that she says about Christianity. I'm sure there's a Buddhist community in NYC or wherever she lives where she'd be welcomed with open arms too.
If she was an Infidel before, she's really one now that she's switched teams!
Like they didn't want to kill her before?
Wow, talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire!

I discussed the variables about Christian conversion, and put a link to another celebrity's conversion. I didn't see anything provocative or controversial.

(Asking for a fiend)

More power to her. I'd like to find God. I've tried to, all my life, but He remains elusive.

Why not become one of those rare individuals who just makes up a ghawd?

That is one of the rewards of religious liberty!

But just to be safe, don't make up a non-White ghawd, or a ghawd who will tolerate unghawdliness!

Why limit ourselves to the Judaeo-Christian gods?

I mean, consider the available options. Granted, for some reason I have a visceral reaction against Quetzalcoatl, but Huitzilopochtli is cool and Xipe Totec has the best earrings in all of the underworld.

Fortunately, there's no reason to choose. Gods are like Lays Potato Chips: it's hard to stop at just one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2023 12:41AM by Lot's Wife.

There is a God for everyone. Your God can even be an animal if you have a general dislike of humans. I have no problem praying to Ganesha.

Ganesha is one of my favorite Gods.
There are 300million to choose from in the Hindu pantheon alone. One for everybody in America.

Well, both Muslims and Christians are "people of the book," and Jesus is regarded as a prophet in Islam, so it's not really such a far leap. However, since she is a woman who was deeply traumatized by the patriarchal religion of her birth, jumping to yet another patriarchal religion doesn't seem like the most psychologically healthy step to me.

Her basis for her Atheism was sadly lacking. Now she is claiming to be "anti-woke".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/2023 12:53PM by Dave the Atheist.

"Woke" is a word that long ago lost any coherent meaning, as you know.

#################

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2023/03/16/anti-woke-author-who-cant-define-woke-goes-viral/?sh=64f043415b3e

The word “woke” is thrown around absurdly often, from college campuses and M&M candies, to Silicon Valley Bank, but what does it actually mean?

During an interview on The Hill’s online program Rising, conservative author Bethany Mandel became visibly flustered after co-host Briahna Joy Gray asked her to define the word “woke.”

Mandel was promoting her new book, “Stolen Youth,” which proposes that the youth of today are being ideologically poisoned with leftist theories about race and gender. According to Mandel, she and co-writer Karol Markowicz spent an entire chapter defining what “woke” means. Despite all of that research, Mandel wasn’t able to define the word.

###################

Dog whistles are not good at conveying information.

Very different topic, but one that you personally may find of interest: six minutes on the biology of transsexualism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QScpDGqwsQ

“Yet I would not be truthful if I attributed my embrace of Christianity solely to the realisation that atheism is too weak and divisive a doctrine to fortify us against our menacing foes. 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?“

In this nihilistic vacuum, the challenge before us becomes civilisational. We can’t withstand China, Russia and Iran if we can’t explain to our populations why it matters that we do. We can’t fight woke ideology if we can’t defend the civilisation that it is determined to destroy. And we can’t counter Islamism with purely secular tools. To win the hearts and minds of Muslims here in the West, we have to offer them something more than videos on TikTok.

The lesson I learned from my years with the Muslim Brotherhood was the power of a unifying story, embedded in the foundational texts of Islam, to attract, engage and mobilise the Muslim masses. Unless we offer something as meaningful, I fear the erosion of our civilisation will continue. And fortunately, there is no need to look for some new-age concoction of medication and mindfulness. Christianity has it all.

That is why I no longer consider myself a Muslim apostate, but a lapsed atheist. Of course, I still have a great deal to learn about Christianity. I discover a little more at church each Sunday. But I have recognised, 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.“ Ayan Hirsi Ali

Christianity has it all? LOL
That mentality kept Western Civilization mired in the dark ages for 1,000yrs until the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Northern Europe seems to be getting along just fine w/o religion. So does most of Asia and Australia.

While I understand that some people need the structure and sense of community that a religious faith provides, I have to question Christianity's ability to give purpose and meaning to life.

The only meaning that Christianity imparts is that if you accept Jesus as your savior, and repent of your sins, you go to heaven (a lovely, peaceful, calm and happy place) to be with your loved ones. That's pretty much it. Many Christians use their faith as a spur to do good works.

What took me years to work out was that many people believed in an afterlife long before Christianity came along. No need for Jesus's permission to go there. And why the need to be a perfect human being? How about being a passably decent human being? Why would ordinary people living ordinary lives somehow not be pleasing to God? Do people really need that weekly, lifetime instruction in how to be a decent person? And for those who do attend church, are they getting that? Or are they instead being shamed for perfectly ordinary things that harm no one such as drinking coffee, using birth control, having sex with a loved one, etc.?

I don't know enough about her reasons for converting to judge, but for some Christians it more is about the social teachings of Jesus rather than accepting him as savior and going to heaven.That may be common but it is also simplistic I know his teachings aren't unique but he presented them in a compelling way and is a very compelling figure for some. I wish her well and hope she made her decision with thought and research. If she changes her mind, she can leave. It is her decision,not ours

>> ...for some Christians it more is about the social teachings of Jesus...

If that were true, there there would be any number of people that they could follow, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The entire basis of traditional Christianity is in accepting Jesus as divine, as literally God come to Earth. That's why Jesus's teachings carry so much weight with them.

I didn't say all or most ignore Jesus as Savior. Besides all those attemting to follow Jesus nd his social message aren't famous. As far as going to heaven or hell, there are Christians who don't believe in hell or believe it is simply separation from God or if it actually exists, isn't for anyone but the most evil. I am aware that many Christians don't think like that, but some do. Christianity is more diverse than you seem to think

I was raised Catholic in a mixed Catholic/Protestant family. I attended Catholic church as a youth, and mainstream Protestant churches off and on over a number of years. So I understand the faith better than you might think.

I was raised in a mixed faith household! I attended a number of churches, made a point to read theology of both traditional faiths and progressive, liberal ones. I have also taught comparative religion. What you said applies to many but not all Christians.Inever said it did or that is a majority opinion. I didn't want to start an argument, but I do stand by what I said.

Some, sure. Most, no.

Is there any reason you can't stick with a single user name?

Good point.

The user names look like spam codes. Maybe they can't tell the difference.

I think you are correct L.A. Exmo. Those look like captcha codes. I think they may be a bit confused.

...is that life has no purpose or meaning other than the purpose and meaning you give to it.

I think she seeks dogma, not spirituality.

Whoever dies with the most dogma wins.

Believed by more people than one might think.

Minds structured to seek order will find it whether it exists or not.

She says she has found meaning of life and her purpose in Christianity. “It has it all” according to her.
Of course that worldview is what got Western Civilization stuck in the Dark Ages for 1,000yrs, but Nevermind the Elightenment or the Renaissance, the Age of Reason.

“Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?“ AHA

Atheism never pretended to offer any answers to the question of meaning of life or purpose,

Other than to say we should be able to agree upon certain facts of reality, rather than the superstitious beliefs we inherited through a long line of dupes.

I don’t see it as black or white as her.
I’m neither atheist or theist.
There are other alternatives,
Like Buddhism.
Or Pantheism
Or pragmatism

We tried Christian Nationalism it was called the Dark Ages for a reason! Then it was called Fascism.

I was wondering why she didn't turn to the UUs. And I have to wonder exactly which flavor of Christianity she's embraced -- one that treats women like equals, or one of the more restrictive denominations? Somehow I'm expecting the latter.

Give her time and she’ll become disillusioned with patriarchal Christianity too.

Who does she have to please but herself?