Author: Lilah Hosni

By Lilah Hosni — When a church leader and his family were all killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2014, it sent a shockwave of fear over the underground church. “This fear affects people,” says Ramazan Rafee, an Afghan who became a Christian. “But at the same time when you’re thirsty, it is not matter what will happen. I know it is dangerous. I know it is it is hard for me and for my family. But it is worth it.” Ramazan eventually escaped Afghanistan. His bears witness that the church under the iron grip of Islamic rule in…

By Lilah Hosni — Once upon a time, Silicon Valley, where geeks become billionaires, was a stronghold for atheism where techies prefered biohacking to Bible, psychedelics to Psalms, Burning Man to to the Body of Christ. The ACTS 17 Collective is changing the zeitgeist of the California community that gave rise to Apple, Google, Meta, Tesla, Intel and Oracle. “I’ve worked in Silicon Valley since 2005, and my initial impression was that it was anti-Valley to talk about religion and belief systems,” says Nate Williams, an entrepreneur. “But now it’s becoming more normalized to wear it on your sleeve.” In…

Re-written from Science by Lilah Hosni — Blessing Okosun was was right in the middle of her her thesis for a PhD when she learned she was pregnant. “It felt as though the floor had been pulled out from under my feet. I had fought to carve out a space for myself in science as a hard-working Black mom” said the Nigerian. “An unplanned pregnancy seemed like certain professional doom.” Ordinarly in America, the answer is to abort. But Blessing chose to carry to term. She already had an 18-month old and had a husband. She had juggled parenthood and…

By Lilah Hosni – Nhermine served Allah for 33 years, but when she was struck with ovarian cancer, she asked Jesus, if he was real, to reveal himself. “I heard a voice telling me to turn around,” she says in French. She was skeptical and didn’t turn. The voice repeated. She turned. “I took several steps backwards there was the head of Jesus, enormous,” she tells, as translated from French on ExMuslim Testimonies. “His eyes are not like our eyes. “There are all the universes in his eyes. He looked at me and pierced my heart. For a Muslim woman,…

By Lilah Hosni — Matt Fradd loves Jesus and cigars. His Catholic podcast Pints With Aquinas is blowing up, and his cigar lounge, Chesterton Cigars, in Steubenville, Ohio, is blowing smoke. Eyebrow raise: What does a good Christian boy have to do with destroying the temple of the Holy Spirit with tobacco? “Our bodies are sacred, we should treat them with respect” Matt acknowledges. So does he puff away? For the pleasure it brings. The life insurance industry has downgraded the danger of cigars on their actuarial tables. Will the church follow suit? Cigars have historically held a place in…

By Lilah Hosni – After six months in jail, the woman who spread black paint over the Black Lives Matter street sign in New York City and demanded the police be refunded was released to her husband and 2-year-old daughter, pardoned by Trump from a 41-month sentence for ministering outside an abortion clinic. “They placed me in a social trash can,” remarked Bevelyn Williams. President Trump called the previous administration’s prosecution of 23 pro-lifers “unjust” and “disgraceful.” Bevelyn was sentenced to 41 months in jail – a long sentence for “blocking” the entrance to a clinic in New York. Bevelyn…