23AR28-40

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AR 28:40 - "Poster child Muslim," turns to Christ

In this issue:

ATHEISM - Ayaan Hirsi Ali comes to Christ

HOLISTIC MEDICINE - becoming THE "One" and only "Health"

Apologia Report 28:40 (1,637)
November 2?, 2023

ATHEISM

Fiery atheist and former Muslim, Ayaan Hirsi Ali <www.tinyurl.com/ms4e9vd5> has just written "Why I am now a Christian: Atheism can't equip us for civilisational war" (UnHerd, Nov 13 '23) -- "In 2002, I discovered a 1927 lecture by Bertrand Russell entitled "Why I am Not a Christian". It did not cross my mind, as I read it, that one day ... I would be compelled to write an essay with precisely the opposite title.

   "The year before, I had publicly condemned the terrorist attacks of the 19 men who had hijacked passenger jets and crashed them into the twin towers in New York. They had done it in the name of my religion, Islam. I was a Muslim then, although not a practising one. ... Was it possible for me, as for many members of the Muslim community, simply to distance myself from the action and its horrific results?

   "At the time, there were many eminent leaders in the West - politicians, scholars, journalists, and other experts - who insisted that the terrorists were motivated by reasons other than the ones they and their leader Osama Bin Laden had articulated so clearly. So Islam had an alibi.

   "This excuse-making was not only condescending towards Muslims. It also gave many Westerners a chance to retreat into denial. ...

   "When I read Russell's lecture, I found my cognitive dissonance easing. It was a relief to adopt an attitude of scepticism towards religious doctrine, discard my faith in God and declare that no such entity existed. Best of all, I could reject the existence of hell and the danger of everlasting punishment. ...

   "So, what changed? Why do I call myself a Christian now?

   "Part of the answer is global. Western civilisation is under threat from three different but related forces: the resurgence of great-power authoritarianism and expansionism in the forms of the Chinese Communist Party and Vladimir Putin's Russia; the rise of global Islamism, which threatens to mobilise a vast population against the West; and the viral spread of woke ideology, which is eating into the moral fibre of the next generation. ...

   "The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

   "That legacy consists of an elaborate set of ideas and institutions designed to safeguard human life, freedom and dignity - from the nation state and the rule of law to the institutions of science, health and learning. As Tom Holland has shown in his marvellous book Dominion, all sorts of apparently secular freedoms - of the market, of conscience and of the press - find their roots in Christianity. <www.tinyurl.com/AR-on-T-HollandDominion>

   "And so I have come to realise that Russell and my atheist friends failed to see the wood for the trees. ...

   "Could a Muslim philosopher stand before any audience in a Muslim country - then or now - and deliver a lecture with the title "Why I am not a Muslim"? In fact, a book with that title exists, written by an ex-Muslim. But the author published it in America under the pseudonym Ibn Warraq. It would have been too dangerous to do otherwise.

   "To me, this freedom of conscience and speech is perhaps the greatest benefit of Western civilisation. ...

   "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? ...

   "The line often attributed to G.K. Chesterton has turned into a prophecy: "When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything."

   "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. ...

   "The lesson I learned from my years with the Muslim Brotherhood was the power of a unifying story.... 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. ... 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." <www.tinyurl.com/4hjvjrm8>

   Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an UnHerd columnist. She is also a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Founder of the AHA Foundation, <theahafoundation.org> and host of The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast. <ayaanhirsiali.com/podcasts>

Rod Dreher, writing for the European Conservative (Nov 15 '23): "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: A Christian of Convenience? What critics miss about the Muslim-turned-atheist’s dramatic conversion," begins: "At the recent ARC [Alliance for Responsible Citizenship] conference <www.tinyurl.com/5uzyab98> in London, Ayaan Hirsi Ali stunned the audience by mentioning almost in passing that she now identified as a Christian." <www.tinyurl.com/2sc9hddb>

   Under "Defending Ayaan's Conversion" (roddreher.substack, Nov 15 '23) Dreher summarizes: "For the European Conservative, I wrote in defense of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s conversion to Christianity. <www.tinyurl.com/trshhxuy> I agreed that the way she frames it, yes, it does seem off-puttingly instrumentalist. But, I said, few of us who have converted have done so cleanly." Nearing his conclusion, he adds: "That’s how I feel about Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s conversion. She has her own internal obstacles to the total conversion that is theosis; indeed, though the saints are close, none of us in this life achieve full theosis."

   He also quotes Joseph Ratzinger: "[T]he best arguments for the faith are not the propositions and syllogisms, but rather the Church’s art and the Church’s saints," and from there concludes, in part: "Whatever the truth, Hirsi Ali reads the signs of the times more clearly than many of us who have been practicing the Christian faith for longer."

Julia Duin's take (GetReligion, Nov 21 '23) is notable: "Ayaan Hirsi-Ali’s conversion from Islam to Christianity: Such a big story, so little coverage. ... For years, Ayaan Hirsi-Ali has been the poster child in the West for the post-Islamic woman." <www.tinyurl.com/33zduu2y>

   Additional sources: 

   * - @bariweiss <www.tinyurl.com/yjjx99t9>

   * - "Ayaan Hirsi Ali answers her critics" a Nov 16 '23 video via her UnHerd column <www.tinyurl.com/33jehrt6> (paywalled)

   * - an ARC "PANEL DISCUSSION with Jordan Peterson, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, John Anderson, Os Guinness" <www.tinyurl.com/3pun349k>

   * - "Ayaan Hirsi Ali Says Christianity Is SUPERIOR to Atheism? and that Dawkins Is Christian?" from David Wood's Apologetics Roadshow <www.tinyurl.com/yvt7vbp8>

   * - Skeptic (Michael Shermer's Nov 15 '23 response video) <www.tinyurl.com/3e2dcws3>

   * - Ayn Rand Institute's Nov 15 '23 New Deal video <www.tinyurl.com/24k6d8m7>

 ---

HOLISTIC MEDICINE

"One Health, Holistic Medicine, and the Poisoning of Minds" by David Bell (The Epoch Times, Jun 1 '23) -- "The idea of a holistic concept of health - that our environment (or 'biosphere') influences our well-being - is far older than written history. ...

   "'One Health,' a modern term for this holistic approach to health, is therefore old news.... 

   "One Health is being corrupted in two ways but for the same ends and by much the same people. Understanding one tells us about the people we're dealing with; the other reveals their motives. ...

   "The medical journal The Lancet explained <www.tinyurl.com/58phs4hf> the ideology of those driving the One Health cult in January 2023: 'All life is equal, and of equal concern.' and it further stated: 'One Health will be delivered in countries … by taking a fundamentally different approach to the natural world, one in which we are as concerned about the welfare of non-human animals and the environment as we are about humans. 'In its truest sense, One Health is a call for ecological, not merely health, equity.'

   "The narrative, and its intent, are clear. Those pushing it envision a world in which any lifeform is considered intrinsically equal worth to others. ...

   "Within this 'equitable' worldview, humans become a pollutant. ... Humans become a plague upon the earth, and their restriction, impoverishment, and death may therefore be justified for a greater good. ...

   "In the hijacked version of One Health designed to control the masses, humans are at constant risk of harm from their environment and must be corralled and protected for their own good. ...

   "Through amendments to the International Health Regulations and a new 'pandemic treaty,' World Health Organization (WHO) is coupling this broad definition of One Health with a definition of 'emergency' that simply requires recognition of a threat rather than actual harm. When applied to the WHO's broad definition of health, 'physical, mental, and social well-being,' almost all aspects of normal life could be included in its scope."

   Bell adds that "in 2019, the WHO stated in its recommendations for pandemic influenza that border closures, quarantines, and prolonged business closures never be undertaken in response to a pandemic. These measures would drive inequality and disproportionately harm low-income people, destroying both economies and social capital. In 2020, refocusing priorities on a new constituency, the WHO promoted these same inequitable policies. The evidence didn't change, but the constituency did. Wealthy people and corporations had become significant directive funders of WHO programs. Those who benefit from improved nutrition and sanitation can't fund the WHO's growing staff, but those profiting from the largesse of the COVID-19 response can.

   "Evil isn't defeated by hiding from it. It's fought by exposing the ideology that drives it, the greed, the lies, and the deceit. We shouldn't be overwhelmed by the scale and depth of wrongdoing. It may now be global, but the people running it are as empty as those in past times...." <www.tinyurl.com/bddfjcce> (paywalled) 

POSTSCRIPT, Jan 6 '24: The next step we can suggest: <www.tinyurl.com/WHOworld-hel-lorg>
  What's going on? Answer: "There is a phenomenon happening at O’Keefe media and across the country right now; after our IBM story, whistleblowers are coming forward in the hundreds to our DMs on X, Signal. These whistleblowers and insiders are flooding our top lines – mostly inside corporations and inside Airlines discussing the migrant crisis.
    "There is a major shift happening as we enter 2024; something special is happening inside the hearts of people. " <www.tinyurl.com/s73s5vr6>

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