Hey, everyone, it's Andrew Claibman, with this week's interview with Ross Dowthat.

His new book is called Believe Why Everyone Should Be Religious.

And I just think this is a really important topic. Before I started podcasting, which is like 10, 12 years now,

I was still predicting that there would be a religious revival from the top down, meaning from the intellectual set down. And I think that's actually happening.

There was a piece in the free press by Peter Savodnik, which said, something profound is happening

instead of smirking at religion. Some of our most important philosophers, novelists, and public

intellectuals are now reassessing their contempt for it. I knew this was going to happen for a lot of different reasons.

Many people say to me, how do you make such brilliant predictions?

No one ever says that to me.

No one has ever, not even my wife.

My wife, I'll say, do you remember I predicted that?

She'll be like, yeah, I wasn't listening.

But among the truly intelligent people talking about religion is Ross Douthat, a columnist for the New York Times, and a great columnist

for the New York Times. I recently made a joke about the New York Times opinion page, which I sometimes

call knucklehead Row, being like a cocktail party in an insane asylum where every now and again,

Ross Douthat comes up to you and grabs you by the arm and says, I'm not supposed to be here,

please get help. His column is terrific. His books are terrific. I'm reading this book. Believe why everyone should be

religious. I recommend it highly. Ross. It's great to see you again. How are you doing?

It's great to be here. And Andrew, I've always wanted to ask you, how do you make such correct

predictions? I've been thinking this to myself for years, and

finally, finally I have the chance, I have the chance to ask it. It's just amazing how many people

don't say that to me. So let's talk about this. It's called Believe, why everyone should be

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