People can underestimate the impact that a simple, vulnerable testimony can make in the public square. There is something particularly refreshing about the hopeful joy of a new Christian that simply can’t be captured in the well-worn arguments of a seasoned apologist. A changed life is its own apologetic, its own witness to a watching world. Arguments have their time and place. But Ayaan Hirsi Ali is in the right place at the right time—and headed in the right direction.

Richard Dawkins had come to New York with a simple plan. He intended to convince his dear old friend Ayaan Hirsi Ali that, despite the title of her Christian conversion essay, she is not really a believing Christian. He was all ready to explain that she might be a political Christian—someone who sees Christianity chiefly as a means to the end of fighting off more insidious cultural forces—but that’s not the same thing as believing. As we’ve covered here at WORLD, Dawkins even thinks of himself as something of a “cultural Christian.” He discusses all these distinctions in a Substack written in March, enthusiastically looking forward to his planned May conversation with Hirsi Ali. This seemed to be his way of processing the initial shock expressed in his open letter when she first shared her testimony last year. “Seriously, Ayaan?” he asked. Seriously?

But when the anticipated day arrived, and the two friends took the stage after sharing a warm embrace, Dawkins was in for another shock. With great affection and winsomeness, teasing her “dear Richard” ever so gently, Hirsi Ali explained that becoming a Christian wasn’t just a political calculation for her. It was very real.

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