An Atheist on What He Got Wrong About Christianity’s Decline

The Russell Moore Show

Christianity Today, Russell Moore

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 914 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One may not expect Russell Moore and Jonathan Rauch, an openly gay atheist, to become friends—much less to be positive influences on one another’s lives and work. But as this conversation shows, this surprising fact is true. The two discuss their perspectives on politics, Christianity, and culture. They talk about their regular gathering on Thursday nights with fellow thinkers and the ways they see fear taking precedence in American churches. Their discussion covers race, gender, and sexuality, as well as Christian nationalism, parallels between the political left and right, and the reasons why Rauch considers forbearance to be a key aspect of liberal democracy. Moore and Rauch consider the “four Ms”—mortality, morality, murder, and miracles—and talk about why Rauch dedicated his new book, Cross Purposes, to two Christian friends who have passed—Tim Keller and Mark McIntosh. Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include: Jonathan Rauch Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy by Jonathan Rauch Brookings Institution The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention Peter Wehner David French Mark A. McIntosh “Let It Be” “U.S. Church Membership Falls Below Majority for First Time” No Compromise Tim Keller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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1:09.2	I wrote an article for the Atlantic in 2003,
1:12.9	celebrating the rise of what I call apotheism,
1:16.2	you know, a joke, apathy and theism,
1:18.2	but it said,
1:18.7	isn't it great that we're becoming so secular
1:20.8	that people don't even care about religion anymore?
1:23.2	They're not even arguing about it.
1:25.4	And that's fine because we'll all become Scandinavia and we'll get along better.
1:30.3	Their own will religion causes conflict and dogma and ignorance.
1:33.6	We'll all be better off without it.
	...

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