RUTHFULLY YOURS

The West has waged war against Islamist extremists for decades. Raising arms against such evil to ensure security and stability for innocents at home and abroad is justifiable and laudable. But there are other reasons for the fight, and Ms. Romano’s story suggests that many Westerners have forgotten them.

The former hostage is innocent of wrongdoing, the victim of a tragedy that cost her dearly. No one yet knows, and it’s possible no one will ever know, whether genuine belief or incessant brainwashing motivated her conversion. Yet I can relate to Ms. Romano. I too come from Milan, an industrial city with a proud history of hardworking people now suffering from spiritual decay. As a freelance journalist in North Africa, I also spent significant time living among Muslims.

Still, we are very different. I was never held captive, and the Muslims I knew were law-abiding and faithful. The strong impression left by the Islamic world helped lead me back to Christianity.​I rejected aspects of Islam, such as its treatment of women and religious minorities, but also found much to admire.

I received great hospitality as a foreigner. Islam’s strong sense of community and family was impressive. The moral decadence in the Western countries I had lived in became impossible to ignore. A 2016 review of reviews in the journal Brain and Behavior suggests that anxiety disorders are more prevalent in the West, and my experiences among these religious communities confirmed that.

Over the course of her career the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who spent extensive time in the Islamic world, became an increasingly vociferous opponent of Islam. She became even more critical after 9/11, urging the West to wake up to the threat Islam posed. Fallaci, a self-identified “atheist Christian,” produced important work. But she did not sufficiently address why many Westerners living in Islamic societies start to doubt themselves and their homelands. Like Fallaci, I found a new appreciation for freedoms once taken for granted. But I also questioned what purpose those freedoms were meant to fulfill. I came to realize that freedom is not an end itself but a means to pursue a higher purpose.

The Italian government has denied that it paid a ransom for Ms. Romano’s release. But Italian newspaper reports suggest otherwise. An Il Giornale article indicates that Italian, Somali and Turkish security forces collaborated to cut a deal for her freedom in April, with the Italian government allegedly paying €4 million to the militant group. Meanwhile, La Repubblica reports a spokesman for the terrorists claimed the ransom funds would be “used to finance jihad.” He also said, “Of course we did not mistreat her, she was an important trading good for us. And she is a woman. At al-Shabaab, we have a lot of respect for women.”

The group clearly sees her release as a propaganda coup: Italy suffered a humiliation while the terrorists secured a complete victory. They allegedly were paid, and their captive returned home a Muslim defending her captors. If security forces rescued Ms. Romano and killed or captured militants, al-Shabaab undoubtedly would be weaker today. But no one knows whether Silvia would still go by Aisha.

Some Italians, believing their government is financing terrorism, feel a sense of betrayal. But the deepest anger surrounds her conversion. As in the rest of the West, religious observance is declining in Italy, especially among those in Ms. Romano’s age cohort. Yet for many Italians, seeing a young person from the historically Catholic country convert to Islam under the influence of Islamist terrorists was difficult to accept.

Ms. Romano’s story shows why European nations should follow the U.S. policy of refusing to pay ransom for hostages and seek other ways to release captives. More important, the West also needs to regain a strong sense of spiritual purpose to win the long fight the evils of radical Islam. The soul of the West is at stake.

Ms. Bocchi is a writer in Rome.