A "vibe shift" is underway. Trump's re-election and the gains of populist parties internationally have reinvigorated the right wing. So is the 'surprising rebirth' in religious circles just the manifestation of the new political vibe?
In this opening two-parter of Season 2 of the award-winning The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God documentary podcast, I grab the bull by both horns and respond to a key objection to my thesis (first posed by Alex O'Connor) examining the rise of popular right wing politics in secular and religious circles!
Parts one and two have now been released, so go ahead and listen either by clicking on the YouTube players above, or through your favourite podcast provider!
Former 'new atheist' Ayaan Hirsi Ali shocked the world when she announced her conversion to Christianity in 2023.
Hirsi Ali recently spoke with Dr James Orr for a Trinity Forum Cambridge event about her new faith, her concerns about radicalisation at top Universities, and the need to educate young people about Christianity.
Hirsi Ali's story has become a significant milestone in the 'Surprising Rebirth' phenomenon. But does Ayaan see a similar rebirth among her peers? And how does she respond to criticism of her own conversion being 'political'?
I was present to ask such questions of Ayaan during the Q&A.
This interview will be released on 25 March, but you can watch the video (or listen to the podcast episode) right now, by becoming a silver or gold level supporter!
Join me for a day of teaching and discussion at ReEquip, in the beautiful Yarnton Manor in Oxford on 28 March, as we dive into the fascinating resurgence of belief in God in a world often seen as increasingly secular.
I will be unpacking the cultural, philosophical, and personal factors leading to a renewed openness to faith.
Join us for 3 sessions and a Q&A as well as lunch and refreshments.
I’ve received many encouraging messages about the Surprising Rebirth Podcast in the past month, including this one:
“Great pacing, an array of speakers and options. Coupled with Justin's thoughtful commentary and you get beautifully crafted brain food and a spiritual uplift. Something rare and precious.”
Bicwyzer, podcast listener
I can only create this podcast with the support of listeners, so if you feel able please do become a supporter!
Become a regular Patreon Supporter.
Silver supporters get early access to new episodes and bonus content. Gold supporters also receive signed copies of my books and monthly catch ups with me.
A great way to make a one-off gift - thank you!
Tax-deductible giving from the USA
If you’d like to give in this way, we are partnering with Defenders Media to make this possible. Just follow the link.
Best wishes from me and the Think Faith team!
Justin Brierley.
Join me for a day of teaching and discussion at ReEquip, in the beautiful Yarnton Manor in Oxford on 28 March, as we dive into the fascinating resurgence of belief in God in a world often seen as increasingly secular.
I will be unpacking the cultural, philosophical, and personal factors leading to a renewed openness to faith.
Join us for 3 sessions and a Q&A as well as lunch and refreshments.
Is the rebirth of belief in God a right wing phenomenon?
A "vibe shift" is underway. Trump's re-election and the gains of populist parties internationally have reinvigorated the right wing. So is the 'surprising rebirth' in religious circles just the manifestation of the new political vibe?
In this opening two-parter of Season 2 of the award-winning The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God documentary podcast, I grab the bull by both horns and respond to a key objection to my thesis (first posed by Alex O'Connor) examining the rise of popular right wing politics in secular and religious circles!
Parts one and two will release publicly on 11 and 18 March, but you can listen to the whole episode - both parts - right now by becoming a silver or gold level supporter!
Jo Swinney is director of communications for the Christian environmental conservation charity A Rocha International.
Jo's parents Miranda and Peter Harris were the founders of A Rocha. Miranda's tragic death in 2019 was a shock to all those who knew her. Jo’s book A Place At The Table: Faith, hope and hospitality pairs her own words with writings she discovered of her mother’s to celebrate her life and to explore how sharing food is at the heart of a shared life.
Belle Tindall and I heard about the events that led up to Jo writing the book and how we can re-enchant the gift of hospitality in an increasingly lonely world. Watch or listen here!
Check out my interview on EWTN Great Britain, about how new dialogues, cultural shifts and thinkers like Jordan Peterson are shaping conversations about God, meaning and morality.
I’ve received many encouraging messages about the Surprising Rebirth Podcast in the past month, including this one:
“Great pacing, an array of speakers and options. Coupled with Justin's thoughtful commentary and you get beautifully crafted brain food and a spiritual uplift. Something rare and precious.”
Bicwyzer, podcast listener
I can only create this podcast with the support of listeners, so if you feel able please do become a supporter!
Become a regular Patreon Supporter.
Silver supporters get early access to new episodes and bonus content. Gold supporters also receive signed copies of my books and monthly catch ups with me.
A great way to make a one-off gift - thank you!
Tax-deductible giving from the USA
If you’d like to give in this way, we are partnering with Defenders Media to make this possible. Just follow the link.
Best wishes from me and the Think Faith team!
Justin Brierley.
Is the rebirth of belief in God a right wing phenomenon?
A "vibe shift" is underway. Trump's re-election and the gains of populist parties internationally have reinvigorated the right wing. So is the 'surprising rebirth' in religious circles just the manifestation of the new political vibe?
In this opening two-parter of Season 2 of the award-winning The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God documentary podcast, I grab the bull by both horns and respond to a key objection to my thesis (first posed by Alex O'Connor) examining the rise of popular right wing politics in secular and religious circles!
Parts one and two will release publicly on 11 and 18 March, but you can listen to the whole episode - both parts - right now by becoming a silver or gold level supporter!
I’ve received many encouraging messages about the Surprising Rebirth Podcast in the past month, including this one:
“Great pacing, an array of speakers and options. Coupled with Justin's thoughtful commentary and you get beautifully crafted brain food and a spiritual uplift. Something rare and precious.”
Bicwyzer, podcast listener
I can only create this podcast with the support of listeners, so if you feel able please do become a supporter!
Become a regular Patreon Supporter.
Silver supporters get early access to new episodes and bonus content. Gold supporters also receive signed copies of my books and monthly catch ups with me.
A great way to make a one-off gift - thank you!
Tax-deductible giving from the USA
If you’d like to give in this way, we are partnering with Defenders Media to make this possible. Just follow the link.
Best wishes from me and the Think Faith team!
Justin Brierley.
It’s been so gratifying and humbling to discover that Season 1 of The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God has been downloaded over a million times! People are listening, and something is definitely happening in our culture!
Season 2 will be starting very soon, kicking off with a deep dive into the question of whether or not the Rebirth is “right wing”!
Episode 1 will drop on March 11th, but supporters can listen a fortnight early, on February 25th!
Re-enchanting is back for season six! Join me, Belle and a host of guests as they explore how Christianity can re-enchant culture, politics, the arts, the sciences, history, and so much more. Season four starts tomorrow, with episodes from Les Isaac, Rupert Shortt, Dame Sue Black plus many more.
Watch on Youtube, or listen to on your favourite podcast platform!
Carolyn Morris-Collier writes in The Gospel Coalition that the days are long gone when it was embarassing to be a Christian in academia! Is the Rebirth happening here?
Katherine Brown of The Evangelical Alliance thinks that 2025 could be the easiest year yet for sharing faith. She quotes my saying that there has been "a surprising rebirth of belief in God" – and throughout 2024 this showed up in unexpected places.
Thomas Casemore of The Catholic Herald thinks 2025 could prove a breakout year for Christian media!
In this conversation with Joe Reilly, we talked about my thesis, the sliding scale of faith, - that whilst many may see the merits in the story of the Bible, it’s a far way from accepting it - and we also discussed the issue of head vs. heart when approaching the problem of God, the potential origins of Islam, the burden of intellect, and whether Richard Dawkins is right in diagnosing Anglicanism. All that and so much more!
I’ve received many encouraging messages about the Surprising Rebirth Podcast in the past month, including this one:
“This goes down as the best podcast of the year for me. The range of scholarship given here, delivered accessibly, and the book that goes with it; anyone involved in teaching about Religion and Philosophy should be familiar with it.”
Savvas Costi, theology & philosophy teacher
I can only create this podcast with the support of listeners, so if you feel able please do become a supporter!
Become a regular Patreon Supporter.
Silver supporters get early access to new episodes and bonus content. Gold supporters also receive signed copies of my books and monthly catch ups with me.
A great way to make a one-off gift - thank you!
Tax-deductible giving from the USA
If you’d like to give in this way, we are partnering with Defenders Media to make this possible. Just follow the link.
Best wishes from me and the Think Faith team!
Justin Brierley.
Notre-Dame, Paris
When weeping Parisians watched Notre Dame, the city’s beloved 800-year-old cathedral, being consumed by a devastating fire in 2019, it served as a sad symbol of the decimation of churchgoing itself in France. Ever since revolutionaries began decapitating priests and nuns in the 1790s, a precipitous decline in Catholic faith has been underway in the country. The ‘Last Supper’ debacle of last summer’s Olympic opening ceremony only served to cement the country’s famously secular reputation.
However last December, against all odds, the bells of Notre Dame rang out again in time for Christmas. A remarkable reconstruction project has seen a transformed cathedral rise from the ashes. Its stained glass windows and original stones now glow luminously after centuries of grime were removed, and the building was packed with worshippers over the festive season. Perhaps, if God exists, he enjoys surprising us.
An even more remarkable story seems to be unfolding within France’s Catholic church itself. Over 7,000 adults were baptised during the 2024 Easter vigil, a rise of 32 per cent on the previous year. It was the largest intake of adult converts in France in living memory, and notably included many young people – over a third of the converts were aged 18-25. The trend looks set to continue into next year.
At Easter 2024, I wrote an article for The Spectator titled ‘A Christian revival is underway in Britain,’ which was widely shared online. I noted that an increasing number of secular influencers such as Tom Holland, Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan were persuading their audiences to reconsider the value of Christianity. Many who read the article were also encouraged by several recent conversion stories – former atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, comedian Russell Brand, and author Paul Kingsnorth have all been public about coming to faith.
I argued that these were all early signs of a ‘turning of the tide’ against the materialist story of reality that currently dominates the godless West. However, many critics accused me of naive over-confidence. My evidence was purely anecdotal. A few high-profile converts and social media influencers were hardly likely to make a dent in the terminal decline of Christianity in the UK.
At first glance, their scepticism is justified. According to the most recent UK census, less than half of people now identify as ‘Christian,’ and the unremitting downward trend in Anglican churchgoing has been noted for years on end. Except for last year.
In 2023, the number of people attending Church of England services actually increased by 5 per cent to almost a million regular worshippers. Admittedly, attendance remains lower than pre-Covid figures, but this post-pandemic bounce back is still a noteworthy contrast to the relentless decline of the previous 50 years.
In fact, the past year has yielded numerous data points that indicate the optimistic thesis of my book and podcast The Surprising Rebirth Of Belief in God may not be wishful thinking after all.
Alongside the recent upturn for Catholics in France and Anglicans in the UK is the remarkable growth of the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially in the USA. The denomination has always been relatively small in America, largely composed of expatriate communities. Yet, a recent survey by the Orthodox Studies Institute showed a 62 per cent increase in baptisms and chrismations, where new members are welcomed into the church, between 2021-2023 compared to the previous three years.
Orthodox priest Father Andrew Stephen Damick says that these figures reflect countless stories he has heard of new converts entering the church. Asked whether the astonishing influx reflects a new evangelistic strategy, he laughingly responds: “The Orthodox Church has done nothing to bring these people in.” He quotes a colleague who insists: “We haven’t changed anything to make this happen. It’s just happening.”
So where exactly are all these new converts and attendees coming from?
Again, my hunch is that a ‘meaning crisis’ has been brewing in the West for a long time. The loss of the Christian story as an overarching narrative has led to the rise of ‘expressive individualism’ – a term coined by philosopher Charles Taylor for the vast variety of stories individuals now choose to live their lives by.
However, in recent years these stories have increasingly bumped up against each other in our never-ending culture wars. Now, a generation of millennials and Gen Zs, exhausted by the demands of constant self-invention, are looking for a better story to make sense of their life.
Encouraged by a set of prominent video and podcast hosts, the search for a story is leading some of them back to church. Some of these converts are doubtless ex-evangelicals choosing to swap tribes, but Orthodox and Catholic churches can also thank hugely influential YouTubers like Jonathan Pageau and Bishop Robert Barron for an uptick of genuinely new believers in their congregations.
Again, recent research seems to bear out the hypothesis that a younger generation is looking for meaning in the Christian story once more.
The Bible Society in England and Wales has been uncovering evidence suggestive of a new ‘openness’ to faith among many groups of the population. The proportion of non-Christians who now appear ‘warm’ to spirituality and the value of scripture has increased notably in recent years. Rhiannon McAleer, head of research at Bible Society, has given these seekers the avatars of ‘Stoic Steve’ and ‘Meditation Millie’ – young, intelligent, and successful, they nevertheless feel disillusioned by the materialist culture around them. Seeking guidance from a variety of sources, some have become aware of the Bible’s cultural importance and are increasingly turning to the ancient wisdom of scripture as a guide to life.
A surge in Bible sales during 2024 seems to support the findings of McAleer’s research. While the general book market remained flat, sales of the Bible rose by an astonishing 22 per cent in the USA.
Perhaps most surprising of all is the fact that Gen Z (born 1997-2012), the generation least likely to be found in church, are nevertheless the most receptive to spirituality. They have been dubbed ‘the open generation.’ You only have to look on TikTok to see how this openness is often expressed. From ‘Manifesting’ to ‘WitchTok,’ there are all kinds of esoteric supernatural beliefs being practised.
However, for a generation that isn’t carrying the religious baggage of its parents and grandparents, there is also a remarkable openness to Christianity.
Three-quarters of non-Christian students say that, if asked, they would accept an invitation to church. That’s according to Fusion, a Christian student organisation that surveyed thousands of students across UK campuses. Roscoe Crawley helped to compile the research. He says that Fusion’s staff teams have been encountering ‘unprecedented’ numbers of students coming to faith and beginning to attend church in the past two years.
Which leads us to another unexpected trend. Young men are starting to become more religious than women.
The typical gender split in most congregations has always been one third male to two thirds female. However, The New York Times reported in September that, for the first time, more Gen Z men are now attending church than their female counterparts in the USA. The same phenomenon has since been recorded in Australia, where 39 per cent of Gen Z men now identify as Christian compared to 28 per cent of women. This demographic flip has never been seen before, yet it mirrors recent findings in Finland which showed a more than doubling of young men in churches between 2011-2019. Likewise, the boom in Orthodox parishes is being led by young male converts. Many Anglo-Catholic, evangelical, and charismatic churches are seeing the same thing.
Anglican minister Glen Scrivener told me of an encounter with one such millennial male who turned up ‘out of the blue’ at his church. The young man explained that he had become convinced that Christianity was the bedrock of British culture. He had decided to purchase a Bible (the King James Version) and try out his local church.
“So how long have you been on the ‘Tom Holland train’?” asked Glen.
The man looked confused. “What’s Spider-Man got to do with it?”
The bewildered response was evidence that neither Tom Holland (the historian, not the Marvel actor) nor any individual influencer is single-handedly responsible for the new appreciation of Christianity. Holland’s thesis that the West owes its moral foundations to Christianity is fast becoming a widespread belief.
Naturally, if there is a rebirth underway then it will throw up all kinds of complications. I’ve no doubt that a reaction against ‘woke’ identity-politics is among the factors involved in this trend, especially among young men who are growing more conservative than young women. The same forces that put Donald Trump back in the White House may also be responsible for sending men back to church.
Likewise, there are those who want to bring back ‘cultural Christianity’ for a political agenda. Writer Carolyn Morris-Collier pithily summarises the danger, writing: “There’s a difference between Christianity and Christendom. While Tom Holland’s book Dominion makes a convincing case that Western values are rooted in Christian foundations, the reverse is not true. Christianity does not depend on Western civilisation—and is indeed flowering throughout the Global South.”
Whatever the political dimension of this rebirth, churches who wish to receive a new wave of meaning seekers will need to find a way of transcending the usual political fault lines and offering something more substantive than a cultural Christianity co-opted for a conservative revival.
It will be some years before we know for sure whether a coming revival is underway. Big-picture transitions tend to emerge over decades. But what can’t be denied is that something is happening. Many Christian leaders have noticed something happening in their churches and in the wider culture. There had been a change in the atmosphere. It had become easier to have conversations about faith. New visitors were walking into their buildings. In particular, young men have been showing up, often looking for a stability, identity, and rule of life that isn’t on offer in the wider world.
Significantly, many of the church leaders I have heard from reported unprecedented numbers attending their Easter and Christmas services in 2024. While a ‘revival’ may still be some way off, I feel confident enough to predict that we will also hear about unprecedented numbers of people attending those same services this year.
Notre Dame isn’t the only ancient church with a story of rebirth to tell. How many will follow in years to come?
Justin Brierley
Article first published in The Spectator. (Christmas 2024)
The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Season 1 is complete! 30 episodes, totalling 48 hours of podcast listening!
Did you miss any episodes? Or do you know of friends, family or colleagues who may be interested in listening? You, and they, can now binge the whole thing from start to finish!
“What a podcast! This has to be the most thought provoking podcast on the internet. I have so enjoyed listening and learning. What I like is the two sided view of Christianity, which enables you to decide what side you wish to believe.
When I conclude the series I know I'm going to start again because there is so much to take on board.
Just excellent.“
Mark from Cambridge, UK
The podcast is available on all podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts & Spotify (including, most recently YouTube Music!)
Or you can begin here, on the podcast page of my website!
P.S. I’ve been hugely encouraged by the number of people with and without faith getting in touch to say how much the podcast has impacted their journey. We are already in the process of creating Season 2 for 2025. If you can help me to cover our production costs by supporting Think Faith, I would be so grateful!
I’ve received many encouraging messages about the Surprising Rebirth Podcast in the past month, including this one:
“This goes down as the best podcast of the year for me. The range of scholarship given here, delivered accessibly, and the book that goes with it; anyone involved in teaching about Religion and Philosophy should be familiar with it.”
Savvas Costi, theology & philosophy teacher
I can only create this podcast with the support of listeners, so if you feel able please do become a supporter!
Become a regular Patreon Supporter.
Silver supporters get early access to new episodes and bonus content. Gold supporters also receive signed copies of my books and monthly catch ups with me.
A great way to make a one-off gift - thank you!
Tax-deductible giving from the USA
If you’d like to give in this way, we are partnering with Defenders Media to make this possible. Just follow the link.
Best wishes from me and the Think Faith team!
Justin Brierley.
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