Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why I am now a Christian
Yesterday, Ayaan Hirsi Ali declared herself a Christian. I am not going to revisit her background here, but it is a remarkable story. And if you do not know it, I encourage you to look it up. The problem that I have with her declaration is it is completely devoid of faith.
Now I was raised a Methodist. Every Sunday, my congregation clearly declared what we believed. This is how it went:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,maker of heaven and earth;And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, dead, and buried;the third day he rose from the dead;he ascended into heaven,and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.
This was the creed of my congregation and of the United Methodist Church. To my knowledge, it remains so. All Christian denominations, Protestant and Catholic, recite some version of the Apostles' Creed. And in my view, if you do not believe something along these lines, you are at best a secular Christian. Which is perfectly fine. But I think it is important to understand, for yourself, that you are something short of a Christian. No matter what else one might say about Christianity, it does require faith. Absolutely.
But to declare oneself a secular Christian, that has no resonance. So I guess Hirsi Ali felt that in order to have impact, she needed to declare herself a Christian. Are there reasons why one might declare oneself a secular Christian? You bet. For a perfectly clear and well-reasoned example, just read her essay.
These are deeply personal decisions, and obviously she can believe anything she wants. But to me, it seems a bit dishonest. If you cannot clearly state: I believe in God. And I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And all the rest of it. In an essay entitled Why I am now a Christian, the only reason to omit the Christian articles of faith is that you do not share them.
Any faithful Christian, having read this essay, would first ask: Yes, but do you believe in God? Because it is completely unaddressed. This cannot be an oversight.
One can value all the gifts of the Judeo-Christian tradition without faith in God. You can even attend church and bathe in the rituals and music and fellowship. Some will refer to these folks as secular Christians.
Others call these people atheists.