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(NewsNation) — Nalin Haley, son of former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, said a search for God and truth that began as a small child led him to convert to Catholicism earlier this year.
“When I was Protestant, obviously God is all you need. But I did feel some unexplained void in my faith. I didn’t know what it was at the time,” Haley recently told Tucker Carlson on his podcast.
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Haley graduated from Villanova University, a Catholic institution where Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, also went. But it wasn’t until after he graduated in 2024 that he attended a Catholic Mass for the first time.
“God doesn’t write in straight lines, I guess,” he said.
But the 23-year-old South Carolina resident said joining the Catholic Church has exceeded his expectations.
“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my life,” Haley said.
Nalin and his sister Rena, 27, are the children of Michael and Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations during the first Trump administration and South Carolina governor, and the last challenger to drop out during the 2024 Republican primary against Donald Trump. Nikki is a vocal critic of President Trump.
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, right, is joined on stage with her son Nalin, left, and Rena, center, at an election night event, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Nalin Haley’s faith journey
Nalin said he grew up in a household with two religions.
“So I had my parents, who were Protestant, and my grandparents have always lived with me growing up, my mom’s parents, and they were Sikh. As a result, I was very confused,” he said.
That confusion led Nalin on an unusual journey: research and questions about whether God existed and, if so, who He is.
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“I just remember that as young as third grade, when my friends would check out their books on dinosaurs and cars … I was reading on every single world religion and trying to absorb as much as I can,” he said. “I was obsessed with it.”
After years of research, around 7th grade, Nalin had an experience that he’s been reluctant to describe until now. He says he’s opening up now because it may help someone on their faith journey.
“It was as if in an instant I heard, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ And as if the knowledge, the truth of God was placed instantly, after that was said, in my mind and in my heart,” he recounted.
Nalin credits his epiphany to the Holy Spirit.
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“I was very much a skeptic of Christianity prior to the second before that happened,” he said. “It was an instant realization that was not of any of my own work. And what made it so beautiful was that not long after that, I was reading the Gospel and I found where Jesus said to Peter, then Simon, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.’”
That experience placed Nalin firmly on the path of Christianity.
“It’s just a beautiful thing when you realize that God is true to His word. Every single time. And it has never left me,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, left, hugs her son Nalin Haley at a New Hampshire primary night rally, in Concord, N.H., Tuesday Jan. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
How did Nalin Haley find Catholicism?
Nalin began to think hard about his Christian faith in his young adult years. He kept reflecting on one incisive question.
“How can I be the best Christian I can be? How can I best serve God and serve others?” Nalin said he asked himself.
His intellectual curiosity and research led him to study the Catholic faith.
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“When I did study Catholicism, and I read the early Church Fathers and the history … I felt, you know what, this may be for me,” Nalin said.
Once he became a Catholic, he said he realized what filled the void.
“When I started to partake in the sacraments, the Eucharist, confession, that’s when I was like, oh, that’s that void. That’s when I felt like, okay, I feel fulfilled now,” he described. “And that’s where I was like, this feels like not just speaking about faith, not just having it, but living it, not just a feeling, but action. When that happened, I was like, this is home.”
Nalin Haley introduces his mother, Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, at a campaign event on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Laurens, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
Is religious conversion a trend?
Nalin Haley said he is not sure why it’s happening, but men his age are definitely attracted to faith right now.
“I think when you speak about men becoming more religious, it’s more the traditional churches, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and I think it’s because in our society we are so fed up with modernity and the phones and the technology,” he said. “And we’re longing for something that is lasting.”
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Technology and modernism are a source of fatigue and anxiety for young adults, Nalin said. But he said young people should be motivated by a genuine desire for God and to develop a spirit of service.
“I’m not saying you should join a church just because it’s based and trad, and all that. No. You should do it because you actually believe in truth and you want to live out that faith and serve others,” he said.
Nalin Haley, left, and Rena Haley, children of Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, look at a motorcycle during a campaign event at Thunder Tower Harley Davidson Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Elgin, S.C. South Carolinians will participate in their Republican primary on Feb. 24. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
Nalin Haley on dating
“If you’re a Christian, yeah, it’s very hard,” Nalin said. “It’s hard to find someone who prioritizes that in their life.”
But he said he thinks it’s been difficult for every generation to find a life partner.
What Nalin is convinced of is the complementarity of men and women. He said women need men, and men need women. So, according to the 23-year-old, any ideology that tells young people otherwise is a fraud.
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“The whole point is that it brings their best characteristics together to build something amazing. They complement each other with their traits. They rely on each other. The result of that is … a beautiful family,” Haley said.
“Studies have shown that people in these traditional marriages, where they pray together, they have less divorce, they’re more happy,” he continued.
Nalin said it’s not about men dominating women.
“It’s not the view that a man is better than a woman. It’s that they have different traits, they combine them to make something beautiful. It’s partnership,” he said.
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