Critical Discussion: Ben Shapiro and Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the West’s Greatest Challenge

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro talked with Somali-born author, human rights activist, and former Dutch Parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali about the strange alliance between the Left and radical Islam and asked her about the biggest challenges facing the West during the latest edition of “The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special.”

Ali was born into a devout Muslim family in 1969, but fled to the Netherlands to avoid an arranged marriage to one of her distant cousins. The Somali woman has since become a fierce free speech and human rights advocate. She converted to Christianity after being a prominent atheist in part because of Christianity’s positive influence on Western civilization.

“I want to start with what may be the biggest crisis facing the West and there are really two aspects of this. One is a failure of the West to understand itself, and one is a failure of the West to understand other parts of the world,” Shapiro said before asking Ali to share her thoughts.

“Let me start by the first part of your question,” Ali replied. “Which is ‘what’s the biggest challenges facing the West?’ And in my view, the biggest challenge by far is the West’s insecurity about its own legacy, about its own Judeo-Christian traditions, about the institutions it has built, about its own prosperity, and the values that led to that prosperity.”

Ali then dove into what she believes is the culprit behind Western society losing its Judeo-Christian traditions.

“At some point, the West has allowed itself to feel guilty and that guilt was weaponized against it,” she said.

“So why do you think that the West has lost its way?” Shapiro asked. “There are a lot of people who posit that it’s a loss of religious faith. There are a lot of people who posit that in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the West basically has no confidence in its own ability to shape the world. But where do you place the blame for the West having lost its confidence?”

“It’s both. But I think that the loss of faith and the loss of faith in the Christian core,” Ali said, adding. “I think that is a very, very important point that was neglected and maybe so neglected to the point where we literally are on the brink of losing everything.”

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Later in the interview, Shapiro and Ali discussed how the West straying from its Judeo-Christian roots has resulted in the culture witnessing an alliance between the far Left and radical Islam, which has been especially noticeable in the recent anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the U.S.

“The only commonality between the far-Left and radical Islamists is their desire to tear down the civilization,” Shapiro said.

Ali agreed, adding that there is a disconnect between the younger generation and the faith and principles that guided most people throughout the history of Western civilization.

“I think most of them maybe didn’t grow up with faith and don’t really know what their roots are. That’s not just faith … they’ve also been guilt-tripped,” Ali said. “So they’ve been left to the wolves to pick on their minds and culture — their minds, their hearts, their souls. And that method of fighting is proving to be much more effective than the use of military tools alone.”