Is There a Scientific Case for Believing in God?

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is a conversation I've wanted to have for a long time. It's about the decline of religion in America, the value of faith, the case for belief, and the rational reasons to believe in God. My guest is the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. He is a Catholic conservative. From an identity checkbox standpoint, we are very different people. But Ross is one of my favorite writers from any point of the ideological spectrum. His new book is 'Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious,' and it begins with an extremely compelling description of Ross reading the feedback he’s getting at the Times, watching that feedback evolve from “You stupid idiot, how could you possibly believe in a magical man in the sky?” to “I think I’m missing something in my life, a religion-sized hole at the center of my community or myself. Can you help me find it?” We talk about his religious journey and mine, the history of religion in America, the popular misconception that science automatically rolled back religiosity, the rational, scientific case for the existence of God, why I find that case emotionally lacking, and the case for even secular people to believe in God. And, finally, I invite Ross to give me his single best case that Christianity is true. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ross Douthat Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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1:14.8	Today, the existence of God, the decline of faith, and what the West loses when it loses its religion.
1:27.3	I grew up a Reformed Jew in McLean, Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and my relationship to the Jewish faith was always tenuous enough to be frankly comical. My dad grew up a Southern
1:29.4	Baptist and converted to a kind of staunch anti-theism. I mean, he hated Christianity with a
1:36.2	passion that would have embarrassed Christopher Hitchens. My mom descended from a family of Jewish Germans,
1:41.5	but she had this flavor of spirituality that resulted in our bookshelves,
1:45.5	often having more titles about reincarnation than Moses. We went to Temple for the High Holy Days,
	...

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