The School of Life

In this powerful and timely episode, we examine the growing tensions between Islamic worldviews and the foundational values of the West—individual liberty, personal responsibility, and Judeo-Christian moral order. With a record 42 Muslim Americans elected to public office in the 2025 off-year elections—including historic wins like Zohran Mamdani as New York City's first Muslim mayor and Ghazala Hashmi as Virginia's first Muslim lieutenant governor - we're in a new moment for America. Rising mosque numbers (48 opened in Texas alone in the last 24 months) and escalating Christian persecution in Muslim-majority countries like Nigeria (7,000 Christians killed in the first 220 days of 2025) raise urgent questions about integration, influence, authority, and the future of our constitutional republic. We explore Islam's history as a political-military conquest movement (from the 7th-century expansions to modern regimes in Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and beyond), doctrinal clashes (Sharia vs. the Constitution), unholy alliances (progressivism and Islam rejecting Christianity), and why forced collectivism—whether socialist or theocratic—undermines Western freedom. Yet this is not a message of fear or judgement—it's an invitation to hope. Drawing from former Muslims like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Nabeel Qureshi, we contrast Islam's works-based path with the beauty of the Gospel: grace, self-sacrificial love at the cross, and resurrection power that defeats sin, guilt, and death while upholding human dignity. Jesus offers the most fulfilling answers to life's deepest questions. Join us for a respectful, direct, and biblically grounded conversation that calls Christians to discernment, truth-speaking in love, and unwavering hope in Christ. Apologists/Authors mentioned in the show: Nabeel Qureshi     •    Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity (2014)     •    No God but One: Allah or Jesus? (2016)     •    Answering Jihad: A Better Way Forward (2016) Abdu Murray     •    More Than a White Man's Religion: Why the Gospel Has Never Been Merely White, Male-Centered, or Just Another Religion (2022)     •    Saving Truth: Finding Meaning and Clarity in a Post-Truth World (2018)     •    Grand Central Question: Answering the Critical Concerns of the Major Worldviews (2014) Ayaan Hirsi Ali Infidel: My Life (2006 Dutch / 2007 English edition) Nomad: From Islam to America (2010) Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now (2015) Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the Erosion of Women's Rights (2021)

Nick David joins Jenna Hays and Amirah David to trace his shift from default left politics to data-driven centrism and a grappling with Christian faith. They unpack everything from COVID era trust, censorship claims, identity politics, free speech, church and state, to the myth of neutrality. The group models disagreement without contempt and ends with a simple challenge - separate people from ideas, prize truth, and keep your courage with grace.

We finally decided to do a whole podcast about the Christian worldview - applying the same grid of meaning as we have done in the past with other worldviews!

In this episode, Jenna and Amirah take a 30,000-foot look at atheism - not just as a lack of belief in God, but as a worldview with its own assumptions, claims, and consequences. From Nietzsche to C.S. Lewis, they explore the major philosophical players, the cultural rise of scientific naturalism, and why the Christian worldview still offers a reasonable, hope-filled explanation of reality.

Can we really know anything about God? In this episode, we dive deep into some logical contradictions of agnosticism and explore why, despite claiming neutrality, no one can actually live as if truth, morality, and meaning are unknowable. Join us for this deep dive into truth, doubt, and the search for meaning. Is agnosticism neutral? We explore how the biblical worldview provides a solid foundation for a rational, meaningful life. Recommended Reading for Listeners: • Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis • Total Truth – Nancy Pearcey • The God Who Is There – Francis Schaeffer Challenging Questions for Reflection: 1. If morality is unknowable, how can we make moral judgments? 2. If science can’t explain love, purpose, or meaning, does that mean they don’t exist? 3. Do you live as if truth is unknowable—or do you assume some truths are real? Subscribe & Share! If you find this episode insightful, leave a review and share it with a friend who’s exploring faith and reason.

In this episode, we explore the pressure to choose sides in America’s political and cultural divide. True healing begins when we see disagreement as an invitation, meet others with humility, and extend the most generous interpretation to their views and actions. We are advocating for a recommitment to the dignity of all people.

We respond to some wonderful points brought to us from a listener related to positive new age intentions, as well as some common objections to Christianity including holy wars and hypocrisy.

The practices of New Age while contrasting them alongside of scriptural wisdom

First, a brief life update from Amirah & Jenna. Next, in this episode we introduce what New Age Spirituality is, and how it answers the major questions (meaning, purpose, why are we here, etc.) We begin to dive into the historical and philosophical roots that have given rise to the modern day New Age movement.

We were cut off at the very end, so we pick up again in Episode 3.

A casual late night discussion about what we do with suffering.

What is Secularism? What are its implications? Let’s take a deeper look!

Continuing the conversation and specifically contrasting the dominant narrative with a biblical worldview

Exploring the importance of the philosophical nature of truth and its implications.

“The Truth shall set you free.” What does this phrase spoken by Jesus actually mean for our ordinary, daily lives?

Taking a deeper look at the popular ideas of our day and their implications, tested alongside a Biblical worldview.

Part 2 — Amirah and Jenna discuss the idea that a cohesive worldview is essential to human flourishing but that many people in the West end up self-constructing a worldview from fragments of others. They leave you with a call to examine your own foundation.

Part 1 — In this episode, Amirah & Jenna offer the context and the motivation for the School of Life podcast. They tell a bit of their own personal stories and describe their passion for understanding the worldviews that we live by, as well as survey the increasing social crisis of mental health, identity and meaning that we see in our society today.